This felon was an idiot

[quinnox]

I was watching "Parole board" and this guy only had 10 months to go before he was going to get out. Then he did an escape attempt, now he is facing a possible additional sentence all the way to 2015. He is a 59 year old several time loser. Why would anyone try to escape when he was going to get out in 10 months??

[liberalhistorian]

1. Because he is, as you said,

a first-class, total I-D-I-O-T! A lot of people only think day-to-day, and without considering any long-term consequences. He probably only thought about getting out, and not about the fact that he would soon be up for parole and how getting caught would end any chances of parole.

You could fill volumes, btw, with stupid criminal stories. Like the genius who wrote a bank hold-up note on the back of his parking ticket, then he wondered how the cops found him so quickly! Or the Einstein who kept a door open so it wouldn't lock while he was robbing the place after hours with a speeding ticket he'd just received that day.

[davhill]

2. Felons are not know for thinking things out well

[grasswire]

3. there is a real reason

He probably has become institutionalized and knows he can't cope on the outside. It's not uncommon. He probably has no place to go out there.

[karlschneider]

6. "Shawshank redemption" I guess it was fiction but there's a basis in fact

I seem to recall the story came from a Stephen King book (?)

[kanrok]

4. Could be

that he can't handle it "outside." It's been known to happen.

[SingSong]

5. A different mentality sometimes takes hold in the mind

of a career criminal. Jail/prison is a safe, comfortable place where no decisions have to be made. For those that are not only used to it, but thrive in it, getting out is not such a great option. What would be waiting for him?

[MinnFats]

7. this country is going to have a problem with aging inmates....

....read recently about that problem in my state(Mn.) which has a couple hundred aging inmates...say, past 70. some are a lot older. they're frail and harmless, but got life without parole for something they did in their 20s...they don't want to get out. Most family has either died or rejected the inmate, they can't work on the outside and they have no hope of getting an income or health care...so they prefer to stay inside...but prisons have to isolate some of the oldsters to protect them, because they're completely vulnerable with the other inmates....sad, really.