Tuesday, January 6, 2009
10 Years in Federal Prison Is Not 20 Years
The 5 A.M. census count has cleared and I'm writing from the quiet room at Taft Federal Prison Camp.
Before writing today's blog, I'd like to reiterate the obvious. I'm a federal inmate serving time in a federal prison. I'm not a lawyer. My opinions stem solely from my experience through the criminal justice system, while gaining both knowledge and insight from the hundreds of men with whom I'm surrounded.
Last week I received a letter from a worried mother whose son was recently arrested for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, meth and marijuana. Bond was denied and he is awaiting trial in an Arizona County jail. A few weeks ago, her son Oscar rejected a ten year plea deal, which is the mandatory minimum under the alleged drug offense.
Many drug offenses carry mandatory minimum sentences. Other crimes, like being a felon in possession of a firearm, and other factors like one's criminal history, may also expose a defendant to a mandatory minimum sentence. Apparently Oscar rejected the plea deal, largely because he cannot fathom serving ten years in a federal prison. He has surmised that 10 years might as well be 20 years, 30 years of even a life sentence. Ten years is a made up date in the future that will never arrive. Rather than serve a 10-year prison term, Oscar would rather roll the dice and hope to be one of the lucky few who prevails at trial.
I have not gathered enough evidence to make a judgment one way or the other regarding Oscar's guilt or innocence. I'm simply suggesting that the threat of a long mandatory minimum sentence does not mean one should not consider plea bargaining. On the contrary, the longer the sentence one faces, the more reason an individual ought to consider the merits of a plea.
There is no denying ten years is a long time. My sanction is only 18 months and like Oscar, I once surmised that my release date would never arrive. I encourage Oscar and all my fellow defendants to look at the glass as half full rather than half empty. Rather than dwelling on the ten years spent in prison (which is really 7-1/2 years after good time and halfway house), focus on the 10 or 20 years saved by not losing at a trial.
I'll close this blog with a short story about my running partner. He's "been down" 17 years and was once in a similar position to Oscar. He could not comprehend spending ten years locked inside prison boundaries. Instead of pleading guilty he went to trial, lost and received a 22-1/2 year sentence. Occasionally, after a run, he will quietly utter, "I do not agree that my sentence should be 12-1/2 years longer because I chose to go to trial. I acknowledge that I sold blow, s---loads of it, and I would have been home nine f------ years ago if I'd simply taken the deal. What I would do for a do over."
