Prison: A Waste of Human Life

[Sky Dancer]

I write to prisoners and I am friends with a few. What I'm struck by is that the sentences don't always match the crime and that the innocent also wind up in prison.

I would like to discuss the transformation that sometimes occurs to remarkable prisoners as a result of their incarceration.

Some truly self-heal, and IMO, it is a waste of resources to keep them locked or to execute them.

Jarvis Masters is the author of Finding Freedom. He is one such remarkable man, living on Death Row in San Quentin Prison.

Prison work has been part of my spiritual path for ten years.

Your thoughts?

 

[syrenn]

just because inmates have had a coming to jesus moment... does not lessen their crimes.

Sentences are pass out for the crime... not for the person they "become" in jail. The person they "become" has no bearing on ...anything.

 

[Ernie S.]

Just about everyone in prison claims to be innocent, Sky.
Prisons keep dangerous people away from society. Yes some can be rehabilitated. Most violent offenders, can't.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Just about everyone in prison claims to be innocent, Sky.
Prisons keep dangerous people away from society. Yes some can be rehabilitated. Most violent offenders, can't.

Yes, I'm aware of that. In the case of Jarvis Masters, I know his circumstances, his history and his trial very well. He is innocent of the charges that put him on death row, that is, sharpening the shiv that killed a prison guard.

Jarvis was mean enough to do it. At the time, he was asked to do it, he agreed to do it. The gang he was a part of took him off the task because he was too slow in accomplishing it.

This is karma. The man who actually stabbed and killed the guard has life without parole, Jarvis has life.

Jarvis has used his time in prison well. He is a transformed man, and he is benefiting people in and out of prison at this time. I don't feel his execution serves anyone.

I have a true story I can tell about how he helped a woman with MS to write a book before she died.

 

[MikeK]

Be careful.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Be careful.

I'm always careful. I've been writing to Jarvis for about 10 years now. I haven't visited him in person, but many of my close Buddhist family have.

I have a wonderful story about him. He really helped a dying woman I was working with to write a children's book before she died of MS.

 

[westwall]

Prisons should be reserved purely for violent offenders only. All others should be allowed to work off their sentences in other ways unless they are MAJOR white collar criminals like Madoff etc.

That being said, just because they may have repented their crimes and their way of life doesn't negate the harm they have caused others. For those on death row you must remember they did KILL someone! Any convicted murderer should serve a very long mandatory sentence (40+ years) and be executed in certain extreme cases.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Prisons should be reserved purely for violent offenders only. All others should be allowed to work off their sentences in other ways unless they are MAJOR white collar criminals like Madoff etc.

That being said, just because they may have repented their crimes and their way of life doesn't negate the harm they have caused others. For those on death row you must remember they did KILL someone! Any convicted murderer should serve a very long mandatory sentence (40+ years) and be executed in certain extreme cases.

Jarvis Masters didn't kill anyone, yet he is on death row. Our justice system is not infallible. As long as mistakes can be made, we should not be executing anyone.

 

[catzmeow]

I write to prisoners and I am friends with a few. What I'm struck by is that the sentences don't always match the crime and that the innocent also wind up in prison.

I would like to discuss the transformation that sometimes occurs to remarkable prisoners as a result of their incarceration.

Some truly self-heal, and IMO, it is a waste of resources to keep them locked or to execute them.

Jarvis Masters is the author of Finding Freedom. He is one such remarkable man, living on Death Row in San Quentin Prison.

Prison work has been part of my spiritual path for ten years.

Your thoughts?

It's a shame he didn't spiritually transform himself before he deprived another human being of the opportunity to live. Jarvis Masters not only committed an armed robbery, but he was an accessory to a homicide in the prison system.

Fuck Jarvis Masters. I hope they keep his ass locked up until he dies.

 

[westwall]

Prisons should be reserved purely for violent offenders only. All others should be allowed to work off their sentences in other ways unless they are MAJOR white collar criminals like Madoff etc.

That being said, just because they may have repented their crimes and their way of life doesn't negate the harm they have caused others. For those on death row you must remember they did KILL someone! Any convicted murderer should serve a very long mandatory sentence (40+ years) and be executed in certain extreme cases.

Jarvis Masters didn't kill anyone, yet he is on death row. Our justice system is not infallible. As long as mistakes can be made, we should not be executing anyone.

I am not familiar with his case but I agree the Death Penalty should be used only in extreme cases and then it should be used swiftly. In my perfect world, in the highly unlikely event that a person was condemned, they would get one appeal and after the appeal (assuming the verdict was upheld) sentence would be carried out within a week.

 

[Avatar4321]

working with prisoners can be difficult. dont let it drag you down.

 

[Sherry]

I write to prisoners and I am friends with a few. What I'm struck by is that the sentences don't always match the crime and that the innocent also wind up in prison.

I would like to discuss the transformation that sometimes occurs to remarkable prisoners as a result of their incarceration.

Some truly self-heal, and IMO, it is a waste of resources to keep them locked or to execute them.

Jarvis Masters is the author of Finding Freedom. He is one such remarkable man, living on Death Row in San Quentin Prison.

Prison work has been part of my spiritual path for ten years.

Your thoughts?

When you're locked up, it can be easy to talk the talk...but the true test comes when they are released back into society to see if they'll actually walk the walk. Many of them are also extremely manipulative, and I wouldn't trust a prison pen pal.

 

[Sky Dancer]

I write to prisoners and I am friends with a few. What I'm struck by is that the sentences don't always match the crime and that the innocent also wind up in prison.

I would like to discuss the transformation that sometimes occurs to remarkable prisoners as a result of their incarceration.

Some truly self-heal, and IMO, it is a waste of resources to keep them locked or to execute them.

Jarvis Masters is the author of Finding Freedom. He is one such remarkable man, living on Death Row in San Quentin Prison.

Prison work has been part of my spiritual path for ten years.

Your thoughts?

When you're locked up, it can be easy to talk the talk...but the true test comes when they are released back into society to see if they'll actually walk the walk. Many of them are also extremely manipulative, and I wouldn't trust a prison pen pal.

Read Finding Freedom.

 

[Tank]

I write to prisoners and I am friends with a few. What I'm struck by is that the sentences don't always match the crime and that the innocent also wind up in prison.

I would like to discuss the transformation that sometimes occurs to remarkable prisoners as a result of their incarceration.

Some truly self-heal, and IMO, it is a waste of resources to keep them locked or to execute them.

Jarvis Masters is the author of Finding Freedom. He is one such remarkable man, living on Death Row in San Quentin Prison.

Prison work has been part of my spiritual path for ten years.

Your thoughts?

You should be writing and comforting the victims of your criminal pen pals.

 

[Sherry]

I write to prisoners and I am friends with a few. What I'm struck by is that the sentences don't always match the crime and that the innocent also wind up in prison.

I would like to discuss the transformation that sometimes occurs to remarkable prisoners as a result of their incarceration.

Some truly self-heal, and IMO, it is a waste of resources to keep them locked or to execute them.

Jarvis Masters is the author of Finding Freedom. He is one such remarkable man, living on Death Row in San Quentin Prison.

Prison work has been part of my spiritual path for ten years.

Your thoughts?

When you're locked up, it can be easy to talk the talk...but the true test comes when they are released back into society to see if they'll actually walk the walk. Many of them are also extremely manipulative, and I wouldn't trust a prison pen pal.

Read Finding Freedom.

Why...is the author manipulative??

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I write to prisoners and I am friends with a few. What I'm struck by is that the sentences don't always match the crime and that the innocent also wind up in prison.

I would like to discuss the transformation that sometimes occurs to remarkable prisoners as a result of their incarceration.

Some truly self-heal, and IMO, it is a waste of resources to keep them locked or to execute them.

Jarvis Masters is the author of Finding Freedom. He is one such remarkable man, living on Death Row in San Quentin Prison.

Prison work has been part of my spiritual path for ten years.

Your thoughts?

You are completely correct. prison is a waste of human life. It makes more sense to simply kill them than to lock them up, and it would be much more humane.

FYI, most people in prison claim to be innocent, the vast majority are not.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Just about everyone in prison claims to be innocent, Sky.
Prisons keep dangerous people away from society. Yes some can be rehabilitated. Most violent offenders, can't.

Yes, I'm aware of that. In the case of Jarvis Masters, I know his circumstances, his history and his trial very well. He is innocent of the charges that put him on death row, that is, sharpening the shiv that killed a prison guard.

Jarvis was mean enough to do it. At the time, he was asked to do it, he agreed to do it. The gang he was a part of took him off the task because he was too slow in accomplishing it.

This is karma. The man who actually stabbed and killed the guard has life without parole, Jarvis has life.

Jarvis has used his time in prison well. He is a transformed man, and he is benefiting people in and out of prison at this time. I don't feel his execution serves anyone.

I have a true story I can tell about how he helped a woman with MS to write a book before she died.

Jarvis was convicted because he made the weapon that was used to kill the guard. Nice of you to clean it up and claim that he was assigned the killing and did not carry it out.

I see that your new path to spiritual enlightenment has no more concern for the truth than your old one did.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Prisons should be reserved purely for violent offenders only. All others should be allowed to work off their sentences in other ways unless they are MAJOR white collar criminals like Madoff etc.

That being said, just because they may have repented their crimes and their way of life doesn't negate the harm they have caused others. For those on death row you must remember they did KILL someone! Any convicted murderer should serve a very long mandatory sentence (40+ years) and be executed in certain extreme cases.

Jarvis Masters didn't kill anyone, yet he is on death row. Our justice system is not infallible. As long as mistakes can be made, we should not be executing anyone.

He participated in a conspiracy to kill. Only one person killed that guard, are you going to stand up and argue for the freedom of the man that ordered it because he did not kill anyone?

 

[Lokiate]

the sentences don't always match the crime

Not in all cases, no, but that's an entirely different topic in and of itself.

and that the innocent also wind up in prison.

The one thing I learned in county is that everybody is "innocent". Prisoners lie, and they'll take advantage of anything, and/or anyone that they think can help them get out of that place as quickly as possible. It's a hard truth, and yes, there are some people in prison that committed no crime, but it's reality. Prisoners are not to be trusted, no matter how sincere, or innocent they seem. They're still a person trapped in a cage, and just dying to get out.

 

[catzmeow]

The one thing I learned in county is that everybody is "innocent". Prisoners lie, and they'll take advantage of anything, and/or anyone that they think can help them get out of that place as quickly as possible. It's a hard truth, and yes, there are some people in prison that committed no crime, but it's reality. Prisoners are not to be trusted, no matter how sincere, or innocent they seem. They're still a person trapped in a cage, and just dying to get out.

The term for people like Sky Dancer is "Useful Idiots."