33 years and counting.

[DurfBarian]

33 years and counting.

I was born in 1970. I'm 33 now. I've lived in a couple countries, traveled to many, learned new languages, been drunk, made love, gotten married. I've lived a good life and had rich experiences.

In the year of my birth a man called Junior Allen stole a $140 black-and-white TV in North Carolina. He was 30 years old and he was sent to jail for his crime.

He's still there at age 63.

He has applied for parole 26 times and been turned down every single time. The parole commission that rejected his latest request gave as its reason: "Your release at this time would unduly depreciate the seriousness of the crime."

My entire life. This man has served its equal in years for theft of a television set.

Read all about it.

 

[My_Immortal6]

Good lord that's ridiculous. :xeek:

 

[Drosselmeier]

I don´t really get it.

Did he get life for stealing a TV or do you have to get approved for parole to be released no matter what crime you´ve commited?

Either way it´s horrible.

EDIT: Ooops. Didn´t see the link.

EDIT2:Junior Allen, 63, is serving a life sentence for second-degree burglary for breaking into a home in Johnston County in 1970 and stealing a television set.

OMFG! How can you get life for second degree burglary? Even if he´s black... seriously.

 

[Steel_Avatar]

That's disgusting.

 

[DurfBarian]

Yeah, well thank god that dangerous man is off the streets, where he might be on the prowl for another $140 score!

 

[Ash Housewares]

it was a B/W!

I doubt it was worth $140 unless it was 8 feet wide

 

[cky]

it was a B/W!

I doubt it was worth $140 unless it was 8 feet wide

mayb it was a $140 cuz nowadays their antiques

 

[tarnok]

Who is making the decisions around here? Really. ******** monkeys? I'm asking.

 

[DurfBarian]

Yeah, evidently the monkeys . . .

 

[Corneo]

Hmmm...apparently he beat an old lady before stealing her tv. But he is not in jail because of that. Then what the hell is he doing there for 30 years now?!!!

 

[DurfBarian]

According to the article I linked there are no records of assault charges being discussed at his trial. If he had committed that crime he would have been charged with it as well, no?

Here's another article discussing the case. Some pleasant reading:

Meanwhile, the same commission has released Howard Washington on parole in January after 10 years in prison for murder.

Glad to see they have their goddamn priorities straight. Oh by the way, on another site I found this little tidbit: "Allen's incarceration has cost North Carolina taxpayers nearly $30,000 a year, or about a $1 million so far." Think they're getting their money's worth?

 

[maccool]

It looks to me like he's served his time for the theft, but the number of infractions he's committed while in prison keep him there.

But, a million clams? I can think of at least 59 better ways to spend that kind of money.

 

[randy]

man thats really really sad.

and they wonder why there is no respect for the current justice system.

 

[masterazn]

I blame Durf for this poor man's life.

 

[ozz109]

I Bet he's glad he didn't steal a car he would probably have been hung

 

[AeroJonesy]

It looks to me like he's served his time for the theft, but the number of infractions he's committed while in prison keep him there.

Shouldn't a life sentence for a $140 burglary fall under cruel and unusual punishment?

Mac, I'm not quite sure how prison works, but I thought after your sentence ran out, they had to release you, regardless of your record in jail. Perhaps if you committed more crimes while in jail, you could have another trial for the crimes committed in jail.

I don't see how this is Constitutional.

 

[maccool]

I think the 'life sentence' may have been a literary device used by the paper, it's unclear to me. If it is not, it's absurd. If it is, then his extra time is likely from the stuff he did.

The article says he's been rejected for parole 25 times. That looks to me like his original sentence may have been 7 or 8 years. Again, it's unclear.

 

[DurfBarian]

Whatever the mechanisms used to keep this guy in jail since the Nixon administration, I have to say I liked this "persecuted for decades because of minor crime" story better when it was a work of fiction by Victor Hugo, and the guy got away in the end.

 

[Sergeant]

Regardless, the man finished his time a long time ago. The SAME commission that is keeping him there for LIFE on a SECOND DEGREE BURGLARY (63 infractions) is releasing a CONVICTED MURDERER after serving a paltry 10 YEARS (45 infractions). Now is anyone out there saying this is in anyway fair or equitable. That man ought to be released immediately.

If a black man beat a white elderly woman in the 70's, he would have damn sure been charged for it so they could really nail him to the wall. Nowhere in the charges or court records does it ever mention assault. Nowhere is it mentioned the cops even asking anyone if she had been assaulted. Without knowing all the info and facts, to me it sounds like an angry white woman doing her best to stick it to the black man who tried to steal her tv. Perhaps at the time of the crime, I might be inclined to take her word on it. Not now, not after 33 years in prison without so much as a single word of a black man assaulting an elderly white woman before stealing her tv.

He should have been out of prison 32 years ago. A crime like that today might not even warrant jail time if it's a first offense. If it's a subsequent offense, a guy might get a year in prison and some probation. In no circumstance is a misdemeanor burglary offense worthy of a felony murder sentence. This is absurdly pathetic on a geometric scale.

 

[maccool]

I just think the North Carolina Department of Corrections probably has a better handle on the situation than anyone here; no matter how outraged or indifferent we may be about the case.