Possumblog

Stupidity on Parade

Judge: Man is too short for prison

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — A judge said a 5-foot-1 man convicted of sexually assaulting a child was too small to survive in prison, and gave him 10 years of probation instead.

His crimes deserved a long sentence, District Judge Kristine Cecava said, but she worried that Richard W. Thompson, 50, would be especially imperiled by prison dangers.

I have never believed that the barbarity of prison life is acceptable, and have never believed it should be the source of additional punishment for convicts. But to refuse to send a man deserving of prison time to prison due to concerns about his safety are ludicrous. ANYone (if prisons are allowed to be nothing but unsupervised dens of depravity) would be endangered if sent there, regardless of his size or level of aggression. Why not just let everyone bypass jail?

[...] "I want control of you until I know you have integrated change into your life," the judge told Thompson. "I truly hope that my bet on you being OK out in society is not misplaced."

Hey, thanks for wagering with the currency of your community's children, Judge!

Lock him up.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at May 25, 2006 08:07 AM