My friend in prison

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I have a good friend in prison that is located in a very hot place in the southern US. No air conditioning, temperatures getting up to 115 degrees and people are dropping like flies from heatstroke with several fatalities.

I am worried about him. I did not know that prison was supposed to be a death sentence. Since we have the technology to provide air conditioning, I feel it is very inhumane to not provide it and allow people to die from the heat every summer.

My friend had a conviction in 1995 for what he says was a consensual relationship with a boy. Did 6 years. Naturally on a SO list forever after his release.

In 2004 my friend made the horrific mistake of helping a boy get his bike fixed. He found the boy crying and took him to his place. He tried to fix the bike, but did not have the right tools. He called a friend that did and they went over to his house. My friend chatted awhile with his friend and they finally got the bike repaired. Then they stopped off for pizza on the way home. By the time they got back home, the mother has panicked about her missing boy and had called the police.

My friend was arrested, but the boy said my friend did nothing inappropriate. They apparently badgered and threatened the boy for hours, but he refused to change his story.

The local police reported that the boy had "built a wall around himself." All he was doing was telling the truth! This was not just told to me by my friend, it was covered as such by the local media. So my friend was released, but that was not the end of it.

Not content to let the matter rest, the police later raided my friends place and seized some items that he had bought at Barnes $ Noble, including the artwork of the famous German artist, Von Gloedden.

My friend got 25 years for possession of child porn! He never made or distributed any porn. It was material available in many public libraries. During his trial the citizens of that town were outraged that such filth was in their public library!

I know the guy, he is entirely harmless. He hates to see boys in abusive or unhappy situations and can't help himself from protecting them, assisting them and befriending them. He says his only regret was not "rescuing" more boys!

So what is this guy doing there, being treated like some kind of monster?

source: 'My Friend in Prison' by 'Andrew13'; www.boychat.org/messages/1517225.htm; Boy Chat; 24 July 2018



[Reply by 'shy guy':]

I don't mean to gratuitously America-bash.

But the truth is, the US is, in a few ways -- and mostly invisible to the US media, a very brutal place. Unjust prison deaths go unreported every day. It's a hidden death penalty that people inside the system know about but few outside do. This death penalty doesn't necessarily have any connection to the specific crime committed. It is meted out by lottery. If it's your unlucky day, then you die of heatstroke, untreated disease or injury, undeserved violence, or suicide due to induced mental illness -- hell perhaps even hypothermia in some places. Few records are made or kept in a way that would allow these deaths to be tracked or acknowledged as being preventable and predictable deaths attributable to prison (and jail) conditions. But if you've seen the facilities up close for very long, it's something you just might have encountered.

California's prisons were notorious for a long time -- their medical facilities were run in such a way that a lot of people died from poor treatment or neglect. Many from conditions that would have required only minimal attention on the outside. Federal judges repeatedly ordered the state to do something. Two governors did nothing for years, until the 9th circuit court threatened to lock up the state governor for contempt of court. Then, under duress, he devised a plan to dramatically reduce the prison population (probably assuming there would be a huge public backlash, which never happened) -- and lo and behold, this plan became a major piece of a nationwide movement toward relying less on prisons and more on preventive measures -- until Jeff Sessions came in with a sledge hammer and a determination to lock up as many people as possible for as long as possible. Stock in private prisons shot through the roof.

This particular kind of brutality is hardly unique to the US. It thrives in banana republics and dictatorships all around the world (including several of America's closest allies). But the other kind of brutality mentioned by the OP is a true "only in America."

Europe is catching up to our level of hysteria. But I think the English speaking world is the only place where the scenario described in this post would have happened, and the US is the only place where the sentence would have been remotely comparable.

This is just one of the many good reasons that a lot of BC regulars who used to live in the US no longer do -- and why they have so few regrets.

Arguably, this kind of extreme injustice is why Boychat, as we know it, ever came to exist.

Peace and Love,

shy guy

source: 'Only in the USA' by 'shy guy'; www.boychat.org/messages/1517234.htm; Boy Chat; 25 July 2018



[Reply by 'ryvid':]

This makes me sad.

It seems I read every day about another "monster" they put away, and I can't help but wonder which stories are all negative spin. How many of these people had loving, wanted relationships? Or enjoyed images in private without harming anyone?

How many YFs' lives have been harmed more by the intervention of law enforcement and well-meaning child-protection advocates than they ever were by their loved AF?

How many potential YFs were denied the opportunity to have an AF because the parents had a knee-jerk reaction to an adult who was maybe a bit too friendly with their child? How many were denied simply because all the potential AFs out there were too scared to even try?

These are the real crimes. Sometimes I wish the tables could be turned and the real criminals could be put away instead. But that's not really me. I just wish all the hate would go away and we could all respect our differences.

(hugs)

-= ryvid =-

source: 'Such a crime' by 'ryvid'; www.boychat.org/messages/1517227.htm; Boy Chat; 25 July 2018