In Prison - 1/29/2010
Last week I found out my long-time best friend Martin was flopped by the Ohio parole board again. He's spent 17 years behind bars already and won't get another shot at freedom til 2015. I found out some other things, too. So on Friday the 29th I trekked to Mansfield to visit him for the first time in three years (some friend, eh?). I'd forgotten he can only get visits on even numbered days — but somehow I got in anyway. We had two photos taken together (at 3 bucks apiece) — one I left with him, and the other I've scanned to share with you and e-mail to his other friends.
Posted by Jesus Crisis at 2/2/2010 11:24 AM 
Categories: Prison
Tags: Richland Correctional Institution Mansfield Parole Martin Petersime
Categories: Prison
Tags: Richland Correctional Institution Mansfield Parole Martin Petersime
Don't know much about what flopping means.. can you explain?
What basis do they use to make their decision?
Nice photo...
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"Being flopped" is prison slang for "given a continuance."
In his case, the prison psychologists have said he's likely not a risk to society -- he's had a clean institutional record, he's successfully completed all relevant rehabilitative programs, and he's already served more than the maximum called for by the parole board's own "guideline" range. I could go on. Without going into detail, the decision has more to do with politics than any objective criteria.
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Well that's sad.. it serves no propose then in my mind to keep him there when he could be a productive member of society instead.
I can't understand why his sentence is even that long.... These things don't seem to have a rational progression to them... do they?
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i hope you got another muffing out the wall for a new poem and your friend is okay there too OH SIR ..<
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You are a good friend, John. I would guess that a lot of people in prison get forgotten by a lot of the people in their lives. You gave your friend the gift of your companionship and understanding at a time when he really needed it. I think it was the other Jesus who said, "What you do to the least of these you do to me." You seem to really embrace that idea.
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There still exist true friends in this world and John is definitely one of them.
I can only say that parole board politics
are and have been extremely unfair especially in this circumstance.
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I can certainly appreciate that. The beurocrats that run institutions are often not efficient or even logical in their decisions. Who you know can be more important than who you are. My husband is a teacher and he says that the bigger the administration building the more messed up the school. He teaches in the inner city and his administration building is five stories high. The politicing is viscious. A prison is not much different from a school. They can both be inefficient, illogical and even corrupt.
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I agree with what Tara said, John. You showed Martin compassion and true friendship, and I'm sure your visit meant a lot to him. Thank you for sharing your photograph. It's a sobering reminder that some people have a harder row to hoe than others in this life.
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John-
I drove three hours to see a relative in prison and at the security entrance to the facility they ran an ion detector over my body and claimed it registered "positive for cocaine"- a substance that I hadn't seen or been within the vicinity of for years before that point. They didn't let me in.
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Wow, man -- incredible! I'm totally unfamiliar with ion detectors -- they don't seem to use 'em here in Ohio -- just a metal detector and some sort of airport-ish x-ray machine.
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