American prison stories
Discussion
ker!DoubleTime said:
Thanks for that.
So in fact it is now a reformed law and was actually 25 years > life - so as I said, a slight CNN/Dailymail play on the facts. However it was still a crazy punishment for what sound like minor crimes.
Doesn't at least one of the offences have to be of a certain level of seriousness though?So in fact it is now a reformed law and was actually 25 years > life - so as I said, a slight CNN/Dailymail play on the facts. However it was still a crazy punishment for what sound like minor crimes.
Personally, I don't really see what the problem is. Fair enough, throwing the key away at the first offence would be a bit much, but if you've not learnt to behave yourself after already being done twice, what chance is there that you ever will?
I know people bang on about the cost of keeping someone in jail, but they never offset that against the savings of not having said prisoner out on the streets committing crimes.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/sep/01/eng...
Only thing about English in American jail I could find !
DoubleTime said:
Thanks for that.
So in fact it is now a reformed law and was actually 25 years > life - so as I said, a slight CNN/Dailymail play on the facts. However it was still a crazy punishment for what sound like minor crimes.
Just to clarify i did not say fifty to life was on the statute,it was to illustrate the length of the sentences that were handed down and still are if the offence is serious enough,many were over fifty years in length.I was also aware it was reformed in 2012 which is a good thing,the main point is it was the lobbying that resulted in the long sentences in the first place. So in fact it is now a reformed law and was actually 25 years > life - so as I said, a slight CNN/Dailymail play on the facts. However it was still a crazy punishment for what sound like minor crimes.
I do not read the Daily Mail or view the CNN channel.
These are not in any order so I may jump from the start right to the end or anywhere in between.
OK next up is...
2. Bruce Brooks
After I landed in San Francisco I was escorted, fully shackled, by 6 US Marshals with their blue and yellow marked jackets through a busy airport to a car waiting to take me to the jail. Talk about being the centre of attention.
One of the Marshals was originally from Glasgow who'd been living in the uS for about 30 years, he still had half his Glasgow accent. As we drove into the Bryant Street complex he said into the mic. 'It's the US Marshals with wan'.
The female cop said 'What was that?' so he repeated it, she was still none the wiser so he switched to all american and she got it. I managed a laugh.
So I got booked in and after sitting in one of the holding tanks on my own for a few hours one of the cops pulled me out to get changed, he handed me a sweatshirt and T-shirt both written on in marker pen 4X. I asked what that meant and he said it was the size XXXXL. He then explained that the sizes start at large because no wants to be seen wearing medium never mind small. Even if you're 5'2 and 100lbs you're a large.
I'm cutting out a week here, I may revisit processing and holding.
So before they move us from the hold floor up to the sixth floor of 850 Bryant Street we're each handed a bed roll consisting of a blanket, sheet and a towel, then we're walking down the corridor until we get to Tank 1. The cop stops us and reads out a bunch of names, another cop opens up and they go in. We move on and stop at Tank 2, I'm the only name called. He says grab a mattress, there's a pile of old worn green mattresses so I grab the top one. Time to enter my home for the next 9 months, I thought it would be just for a few weeks. How wrong that turned out be.
I'm immediately approached by an old guy with a goatee beard who says in a soft-spoken voice the bunk below him is free. The tank itself consists of 14 two-man bunks and I'm lucky I've came at a time when a bunch of guys were rolled up and there are a few free bunks otherwise I would've been on the floor with my mattress.
I take him up on his offer and he says I'll help you make your bed. The technique is you lay your sheet down first then place the mattresss on top and tie the four sheet corners together as tight as possible around the ends of the mattress. Doesn't sound like much but takes a little bit of nous to get it done properly.
I'm Bruce he says, we get chatting and he finds out I've basically just got here so he fills me in with how it all works in the tank.
I was to find out a little later he was Bruce Brooks, a musician out of Chicago. He killed his girlfriend with a hammer and threw her body into the San Francisco bay.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Blues-musici...
The SF Chronicle did one of their whole Sunday magazine pieces on him. There's some YT stuff and a facebook page on the Chicago Brother & Sister Blues Band, they were pretty good.
They had a very tempestuous relationship, that scar on his cheek is where she stabbed him with a broken bottle, she also ran him over with a car. He was a violent drunk towards her at times culminating in her drunken murder. Still, I wasn't there to judge and we became good friends.
He'd been in that same tank for 5 years awaiting trial and I said to him I didn't know how he'd done 5 in this madhouse, he replied that when he first came in there was someone else who'd also done 5 years and he said the exact same thing to him.
He then said 'Now I know'.
He was still there when I left but ended up with 15 to life.
He's now in Chino.
BROOKS, BRUCE G53227 66 03/18/2009 Chino
I'll try and get to some of your questions however the quote button doesn't work properly for me.
CloaK
OK next up is...
2. Bruce Brooks
After I landed in San Francisco I was escorted, fully shackled, by 6 US Marshals with their blue and yellow marked jackets through a busy airport to a car waiting to take me to the jail. Talk about being the centre of attention.
One of the Marshals was originally from Glasgow who'd been living in the uS for about 30 years, he still had half his Glasgow accent. As we drove into the Bryant Street complex he said into the mic. 'It's the US Marshals with wan'.
The female cop said 'What was that?' so he repeated it, she was still none the wiser so he switched to all american and she got it. I managed a laugh.
So I got booked in and after sitting in one of the holding tanks on my own for a few hours one of the cops pulled me out to get changed, he handed me a sweatshirt and T-shirt both written on in marker pen 4X. I asked what that meant and he said it was the size XXXXL. He then explained that the sizes start at large because no wants to be seen wearing medium never mind small. Even if you're 5'2 and 100lbs you're a large.
I'm cutting out a week here, I may revisit processing and holding.
So before they move us from the hold floor up to the sixth floor of 850 Bryant Street we're each handed a bed roll consisting of a blanket, sheet and a towel, then we're walking down the corridor until we get to Tank 1. The cop stops us and reads out a bunch of names, another cop opens up and they go in. We move on and stop at Tank 2, I'm the only name called. He says grab a mattress, there's a pile of old worn green mattresses so I grab the top one. Time to enter my home for the next 9 months, I thought it would be just for a few weeks. How wrong that turned out be.
I'm immediately approached by an old guy with a goatee beard who says in a soft-spoken voice the bunk below him is free. The tank itself consists of 14 two-man bunks and I'm lucky I've came at a time when a bunch of guys were rolled up and there are a few free bunks otherwise I would've been on the floor with my mattress.
I take him up on his offer and he says I'll help you make your bed. The technique is you lay your sheet down first then place the mattresss on top and tie the four sheet corners together as tight as possible around the ends of the mattress. Doesn't sound like much but takes a little bit of nous to get it done properly.
I'm Bruce he says, we get chatting and he finds out I've basically just got here so he fills me in with how it all works in the tank.
I was to find out a little later he was Bruce Brooks, a musician out of Chicago. He killed his girlfriend with a hammer and threw her body into the San Francisco bay.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Blues-musici...
The SF Chronicle did one of their whole Sunday magazine pieces on him. There's some YT stuff and a facebook page on the Chicago Brother & Sister Blues Band, they were pretty good.
They had a very tempestuous relationship, that scar on his cheek is where she stabbed him with a broken bottle, she also ran him over with a car. He was a violent drunk towards her at times culminating in her drunken murder. Still, I wasn't there to judge and we became good friends.
He'd been in that same tank for 5 years awaiting trial and I said to him I didn't know how he'd done 5 in this madhouse, he replied that when he first came in there was someone else who'd also done 5 years and he said the exact same thing to him.
He then said 'Now I know'.
He was still there when I left but ended up with 15 to life.
He's now in Chino.
BROOKS, BRUCE G53227 66 03/18/2009 Chino
I'll try and get to some of your questions however the quote button doesn't work properly for me.
CloaK
Puggit said:
So Greg showed the hiding place, but then went ballistic when the very same hiding place was used? 
_______________________________________________________________________________________________I don't think he thought like you and me though, remember this is someone who went back to his workplace with a load of guns and was going to kill everyone he had a grudge with until he ran out of ammo.
So not entirely rational.
CloaK said:
Puggit said:
So Greg showed the hiding place, but then went ballistic when the very same hiding place was used?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________I don't think he thought like you and me though, remember this is someone who went back to his workplace with a load of guns and was going to kill everyone he had a grudge with until he ran out of ammo.
So not entirely rational.
Ari said:
Captain Benzo said:
does anyone have the link to 10 pence short's thread?
i've searched but can't find it?
Seem to recall mention that it was deleted as he was going to try and turn it into a book. No idea whether that actually happened. i've searched but can't find it?
RobinOakapple said:
I notice he's left the forum, hasn't posted for a very long time.
I believe(but am not sure) that he got a little bit fed up with those who seemed to make it a mission in life to question everything he said or did. Seemed an nice enough guy, didn't always agree with his views, and some times he did get a little 'heated'. Think he left of his on volition though, rather than a ban. Expect he can be found elsewhere chewing the fat.Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff