http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/rocrast-mack-murder-alabama-prison-brutality_n_1107687.html The guards beat the crap out of him to the point of brain damage because of a 'small altercation with a female guard' Granted this kid was a criminal, but he was 24. he was doing 20 years for selling 10 DOLLARS worth cocaine to an undercover cop. There are literally violent rapist, murderes, pedophiles that get off any day of the week before 10 years. This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard for a 24 year old to get 20 years for selling 10 bucks of crack
Rotate the guards between shifts and even prisons to relieve stress and hedge against excessive loyalty and groupthink. Not sure if drug offenders qualify, but maybe no female guards in violent wards; but then offset that by restricting the number of male guards in low-security penns.
Nobody made him sell crack. I do feel for him and his family though, horrible way to die/lose a loved one.
No one with a clear criminal record gets 20 years for selling a dime bag of crack to an undercover. Conveniently the article leaves out his criminal history. I don't know all the facts of his underlying case (and neither do any of the posters who are saying his sentence was ridiculous), but I'd be willing to bet it wasn't his first rodeo...probably not his second or third either. But of course, that has nothing to do with his treatment in the jail. The guards behavior is completely unacceptable and I hope that he is charged and punished severely.
I've always though that female prison guards shouldn't be allowed to work in male prisons. Nothing good can come from that, ever.
You didn't read the whole thing. "Then 23, he was arrested for selling a small rock of crack cocaine, weighing just five hundredths of a gram. No other drugs were in his possession and he carried no weapon. On the advice of his court-appointed attorney, he pled guilty to felony drug distribution. The judge, citing prior felony convictions, gave him 20 years to serve. Under Alabama's habitual offender law, the harshest in the country, he could have been given 99 years. It did not matter that his two prior felonies were minor, neither resulting in prison time. It is unclear whether the judge took into account Mack's traumatic upbringing: court records indicate he was raped by a family member as a child, then abandoned at age 7 and raised in foster care and group homes." This world is so depressing.
I mostly agree. Also consider is a 20 year sentence really a 20 year sentence these days? With good behaviour, etc., etc. couldn't he have been paroled much earlier. Moreover, he may have just sold $10 worth of cocaine to an undercover cop, but that doesn't mean he wasn't selling a whole lot more cocaine to a whole lot of people, and in this instance on sold $10 bucks worth. That said, the altercation is ridiculous.
I thought these things happen daily in most prisons? Can a guard be sued if they're caught beating an inmate illegally? or is it everything that happens inside the pen stays in in the pen?
