Hated to see....

**Ironlung** · May 21st, 2011, 05:58 PM

Cedric Mitchell's name in that latest arrest round-up. He'd been working at Payless in Appalachia and I'd gotten to be around him some and he's a really good kid. He worked his ass off, was always on time, dressed nice, and was very polite. I'd assume this is from something that happened a while back since the release said some of the stuff was back as far as 98. I hope the kid can get off with little trouble since it looked like he was doing the things he needed to do to be a good citizen.

**starbuck** · May 21st, 2011, 07:07 PM

that first part is good to hear but the list is sad to hear. Always hoping a kid can turn their life around and lets hope that is the case. that this is something he has to take care of because of some past incident and not where he is at currently in his life

**1inStripes** · May 21st, 2011, 11:35 PM

I was just talking about Cedric to a coworker from Big Stone last week and wondered where he was at nowadays after talking about some really talented kids in the past 5 years or so. I hope he is getting things straightened out also.

**pvfan** · May 22nd, 2011, 01:02 AM

Cedric's a good guy, anybody that has ever known the guy will say the same thing. I've known him practically my entire life and have always enjoyed being around him. I hope he gets off with nothing, of course I have some pretty weird views on drugs.

**Biggin** · May 22nd, 2011, 03:20 AM

I really do hope Ced gets something worked out, but Im afraid he gets seriously fucked.

It doesnt matter his life is straightened up now, they wont let him off for that even tho hes a young guy who made a dumb mistake when he was young. He has a baby on the way too.

**Gotch** · May 22nd, 2011, 12:11 PM

This may be a good example of what is so terribly wrong with our justice system and it impacts every one of us.

If they lock this young man up as Biggin points out they probably will and statistics say they probably will, then they directly impact the rest of his life, the life of his unborn child and probably others around him as well. It also indirectly impacts you and me by taking a productive member of the work force out of the tax paying column and places him in our care, probably for the rest of his life.

I'll explain some of this. The United States accounts for about 5% of the world population but we account for an astounding 1/4 of the world's imprisoned people. We have almost a million more people imprisoned than communist China which has more than 4 times the population that we have. This is not necessary by any standard. We lock people up for reasons and terms that astound and sicken even conservative experts from Europe and other industrialized parts of the world. By doing this we are taking potential taxpayers and turning them into dependents, in most cases for the rest of their lives. This in turn become generational and snowballs.

Politicians make more and more laws in order to court votes and sensible politicians are afraid to take a stand for fear of being branded as soft on crime while we continue to lock up thousands of non-violent, non-dangerous criminals and teach them to be dependent upon us for their needs while also training them in violence and hate.

Stupid beyond belief in my opinion.

**Unchained** · May 22nd, 2011, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by Gotch

This may be a good example of what is so terribly wrong with our justice system and it impacts every one of us.

If they lock this young man up as Biggin points out they probably will and statistics say they probably will, then they directly impact the rest of his life, the life of his unborn child and probably others around him as well. It also indirectly impacts you and me by taking a productive member of the work force out of the tax paying column and places him in our care, probably for the rest of his life.

I'll explain some of this. The United States accounts for about 5% of the world population but we account for an astounding 1/4 of the world's imprisoned people. We have almost a million more people imprisoned than communist China which has more than 4 times the population that we have. This is not necessary by any standard. We lock people up for reasons and terms that astound and sicken even conservative experts from Europe and other industrialized parts of the world. By doing this we are taking potential taxpayers and turning them into dependents, in most cases for the rest of their lives. This in turn become generational and snowballs.

Politicians make more and more laws in order to court votes and sensible politicians are afraid to take a stand for fear of being branded as soft on crime while we continue to lock up thousands of non-violent, non-dangerous criminals and teach them to be dependent upon us for their needs while also training them in violence and hate.

Stupid beyond belief in my opinion.

Problem with that is that there has to be accountability for an action. You can't just say "I am straight now-please wipe the slate clean". Yeah the timing sucks,but it is what it is. In a perfect world,officials will consider what he has done as of late and give probation/go lean,but that also is what it is. I hear so much about how many Americans are locked up,but truth be told,we are missing many that should be. We paroled a killer a few months ago from my pod at work. This guy laughed at us as we took him to the gate. Weeks later he killed an innocent family whom he was jacking,and 3 more died because a judge went soft. There are two ways at looking at this folks

**1inStripes** · May 22nd, 2011, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by Gotch

I'll explain some of this. The United States accounts for about 5% of the world population but we account for an astounding 1/4 of the world's imprisoned people. We have almost a million more people imprisoned than communist China which has more than 4 times the population that we have. This is not necessary by any standard. We lock people up for reasons and terms that astound and sicken even conservative experts from Europe and other industrialized parts of the world. By doing this we are taking potential taxpayers and turning them into dependents, in most cases for the rest of their lives. This in turn become generational and snowballs.

Or we are eliminating a big portion of unemployment percentage. Just depends upon how you want to look at it. There are plenty of messed up things about the court system. Both that lock people up for too long, let them out too early, or let them off scott free when they should be thrown under the jail.

**pvfan** · May 22nd, 2011, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Unchained

Problem with that is that there has to be accountability for an action. You can't just say "I am straight now-please wipe the slate clean". Yeah the timing sucks,but it is what it is. In a perfect world,officials will consider what he has done as of late and give probation/go lean,but that also is what it is. I hear so much about how many Americans are locked up,but truth be told,we are missing many that should be. We paroled a killer a few months ago from my pod at work. This guy laughed at us as we took him to the gate. Weeks later he killed an innocent family whom he was jacking,and 3 more died because a judge went soft. There are two ways at looking at this folks

This in a nutshell is the problem with our justice system. People view drugs the same way as killers. Legalize (some) drugs and end the insanity.

**pvfan** · May 22nd, 2011, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by Gotch

This may be a good example of what is so terribly wrong with our justice system and it impacts every one of us.

If they lock this young man up as Biggin points out they probably will and statistics say they probably will, then they directly impact the rest of his life, the life of his unborn child and probably others around him as well. It also indirectly impacts you and me by taking a productive member of the work force out of the tax paying column and places him in our care, probably for the rest of his life.

I'll explain some of this. The United States accounts for about 5% of the world population but we account for an astounding 1/4 of the world's imprisoned people. We have almost a million more people imprisoned than communist China which has more than 4 times the population that we have. This is not necessary by any standard. We lock people up for reasons and terms that astound and sicken even conservative experts from Europe and other industrialized parts of the world. By doing this we are taking potential taxpayers and turning them into dependents, in most cases for the rest of their lives. This in turn become generational and snowballs.

Politicians make more and more laws in order to court votes and sensible politicians are afraid to take a stand for fear of being branded as soft on crime while we continue to lock up thousands of non-violent, non-dangerous criminals and teach them to be dependent upon us for their needs while also training them in violence and hate.

Stupid beyond belief in my opinion.

This is one of the best posts I have ever seen on here.