.Arizona bill would toughen sentences for murders

Wasted Honor -

Carl R. ToersBijns is the author of the Wasted Honor Trilogy [Wasted Honor I,II and Gorilla Justice] and his newest book From the Womb to the Tomb, the Tony Lester Story, which is a reflection of his life and his experiences as a correctional officer and a correctional administrator retiring with the rank of deputy warden in the New Mexico and Arizona correctional systems.

Carl also wrote a book on his combat experience in the Kindle book titled - Combat Medic - Men with destiny - A red cross of Valor -

Carl is considered by many a rogue expert in the field of prison security systems since leaving the profession. Carl has been involved in the design of many pilot programs related to mental health treatment, security threat groups, suicide prevention, and maximum custody operational plans including double bunking max inmates and enhancing security for staff. He invites you to read his books so you can understand and grasp the cultural and political implications and influences of these prisons. He deals with the emotions, the stress and anxiety as well as the realities faced working inside a prison. He deals with the occupational risks while elaborating on the psychological impact of both prison worker and prisoner.

His most recent book, Gorilla Justice, is an un-edited raw fictional version of realistic prison experiences and events through the eyes of an anecdotal translation of the inmate’s plight and suffering while enduring the harsh and toxic prison environment including solitary confinement.

Carl has been interviewed by numerous news stations and newspapers in Phoenix regarding the escape from the Kingman prison and other high profile media cases related to wrongful deaths and suicides inside prisons. His insights have been solicited by the ACLU, Amnesty International, and various other legal firms representing solitary confinement cases in California and Arizona. He is currently working on the STG Step Down program at Pelican Bay and has offered his own experience insights with the Center of Constitutional Rights lawyers and interns to establish a core program at the SHU units. He has personally corresponded and written with SHU prisoners to assess the living conditions and how it impacts their long term placement inside these type of units that are similar to those in Arizona Florence Eyman special management unit where Carl was a unit deputy warden for almost two years before his promotion to Deputy Warden of Operations in Safford and Eyman.

He is a strong advocate for the mentally ill and is a board member of David's Hope Inc. a non-profit advocacy group in Phoenix and also serves as a senior advisor for Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council in Chino, California As a subject matter expert and corrections consultant, Carl has provided interviews and spoken on national and international radio talk shows e.g. BBC CBC Lou Show & TV shows as well as the Associated Press.

I use sarcasm, satire, parodies and other means to make you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

.Arizona bill would toughen sentences for murders

A House committee on Thursday approved a bill that would impose harsher sentences for some people convicted of murder that lawmakers call "the worst of the worst." The bill, approved by the House Judiciary Committee, would ensure that adult defendants convicted of first-degree murder or multiple violent crimes stay in prison until they die. It now goes to the House Rules committee for consideration. If approved, the bill would move on to the full House. Currently, defendants convicted of first-degree murder can be sentenced to "life" or "natural life." Those sentenced to life can become eligible for parole after 25 years.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, said parole hearings cause victims' families to relive the loss of a loved one, and the public deserves to know that exactly how long those convicted of violent crimes will be off the streets. "These aren't mistakes. This is premeditated murder," the Gilbert Republican said. "This is not somebody who accidently ran into another car and somebody died."

The harsher penalties would apply to defendants sentenced for a first-degree murder who were over 18 at the time of the crime or have a prior record of multiple violent felonies. The bill also includes tougher sentencing for those committing other crimes at the time of a murder, minors convicted of first-degree murder, and people convicted of second degree murder.

Rep. Cecil Ash, R-Mesa, voted against the bill, saying he feels that many of those convicted are young men who, mentally and emotionally, are not completely mature. Ash has advocated for the state to reduce sentences for lesser crimes. A person convicted at 18 or 25 may be fully rehabilitated by the time they're 50 or 60, he said, but they continue to take up bed space and taxpayer money in jail. "We are incarcerating men in some cases that could live a productive life," he said.

Rep. Ted Vogt, R-Tucson, said that even if a prisoner changes later, it doesn't erase their crime and the pain they caused. The bill deals with those convicted of deliberately murdering someone, criminals that Vogt called "the worst of the worst." "They thought about it, they went out and they took a life on purpose," he said.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/2012/02/02/20120202arizona-bill-would-toughen-sentences-murders.html#ixzz1lRCS6IE8

Now read the reasons why murderers make good prisoners ~~

Why murderers sometimes make model inmates

By Joaquin Palomino

When you look at the numbers, many long held truths about crime crumble. Like this one: who do you think is more likely to become a life-long criminal: a rapist or a car thief? It turns out those who commit the most serious crimes actually re-offend at lower rates. Murderers have the lowest recidivism rate out of any California prisoner. Why is that? Over the next couple days, we’ll spend time talking about a population called “Lifers.” They’re inmates, usually convicted of murder, who’ve been sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. In the first part, KALW’s Joaquin Palomino explores why lifers are so different than other inmates.

Most California prisoners have a determinate sentence, meaning they serve a fixed amount of time. So if sentenced to two years, a criminal spends two years in prison. Time can be shaved off for good behavior, but the idea is, once their term is up they’re free to go home. “The basic logic of determinate sentencing is, do the crime, do the time,” says Barry Krisberg, the research and policy director of the Earl Warren Institute at UC Berkeley. “There’s no role for rehabilitation under determinate sentencing.” Bolar says determinate sentencing turns prisons into warehouses. “There’s no therapeutics, no education, no nothing. [Inmates] just walk in circles, do flips on a bar like a monkey, run around like a wild dog, and then when it is time to go home they go home,” he says. Lifers, on the other hand, have an indeterminate sentence. Meaning they have to convince members of a 12-person parole board to let them out of prison.
Read more at: http://informant.kalwnews.org/2012/02/imprisoned-for-life-part-i/

Will keep you posted on the follow up articles by Joaquin Palamino in California and his stories on "lifers"