No new conviction, but sent back to prison

[KamaAina]

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/no-new-conviction-but-sent-back-to-prison-b99420782z1-288939871.html

More than half of the nearly 8,000 people sent to Wisconsin's prisons in 2013 were locked up without a trial — and they weren't found guilty of new crimes.

Some were punished for violating probation or parole by doing things such as accepting a job without permission, using a cellphone or computer without authorization, or leaving their home county. Some were suspected of criminal activity, but not charged.

Re-incarcerating people for breaking the rules costs Wisconsin taxpayers more than $100 million every year. The process that forces violators back behind bars relies largely on the judgment of individual parole agents, which can vary widely. Once accused of violations, people on parole can be sent back to prison for years without proof beyond a reasonable doubt — and they are left with little chance of a successful appeal.

Hector Cubero's agent, for example, recommended he be returned to prison on his original sentence of life with the possibility of parole after he inked a tattoo on the shoulder of a 15-year-old boy.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

1. People being locked up excessively is a scandal. People being shown conditional clemency is not.

All of those people were, I assume, convicted with full due process, and given prison sentences.

If those sentences were excessive - and, in America, many of them will have been - then that is a scandal.

But people who have been tried and sentenced justly being given clemency conditional on meeting higher standards of behaviour than people who would not otherwise be in prison are required to is not, in itself, a scandal.

[ck4829]

2. If Wisconsin's been as Tea Partied as I suspect, then even the probation system is messed up

I have a family friend on probation. This is in Ohio. The probation officer has his office four counties away. This guy as part of his probation had to get a car and a driver's licence so he could see him if he ever called for the probation check (And he does not need this car for any other purpose), he never has called him. But, if he wants to do anything, then he needs to report with him.

If what I suspect is going on is happening there, then probation officers there probably have increasing caseloads, can't respond to people on probation as efficiently, have less support from other agencies, and are urged to jump to the worst possible conclusion.

Ah, Tea Party.