Prop 66. Just learned that the Prison Guard Union is being warned

[Sugarbleus]

to vote NO on 66 or else! What kind of shit is that! They are having the guards participate in numerous conferences where they are being "scared" into voting NO on that prop. Allegedly they have been threatened with "losses" concerning their jobs if they don't vote the Union way.

I talked to an Calif. state inmate today. She tells me everyone is HANGING onto every word the state/ads have to say about this prop.
My inmate told me that the Governor is using Rovian scare tactics to freak everyone out about who and who doesn't get released if this passes. The inmates and I know this is pure bullshit.

My inmate told me, for example, there is a woman inside doing 25 to life for writing a bad check! Her former crime(from some years back) was armed burgulary.

The Gov is trying to make people believe that SERIOUS, HIDEOUS criminals will be let out enmasse. It's just a smoke screen and isn't true.

Now, the catch is this: So the prop passes--what happens next? The bastards in Sacto go behind closed doors and REDEFINE what a SERIOUS FELONY is. It could be anything from Shoplifting to drug sales/use.

All of a sudden, inmates are very interested in Politics. Woohoo
It's one thing to inprison persons who have broken the law, it's quite another to toss people away for a LIFETIME for insignificant breeches of law. If Bush were to win *gag*, one could feasibly fear that PROTESTORS are SERIOUS FELONS and be tossed away too. This is about HUMAN/CIVIL RIGHTS people...when did we Dems abandon HUMAN RIGHTS?
Just thought I'd toss that out there. VOTE YES ON 66

[elepet]

1. I did. n/t

[specter]

2. How do

u feel about sex offender laws?

[Sugarbleus]

4. A SERIOUS, VIOLENT sex offense/offender should

not be allowed to release. The MOST serious offenders in this catagory often go to Atascadero or other medical facility where the treatment is severe and getting out takes an act of god.

I'm talking about SERIOUS sex offenders: those that KILL AND TORTURE their victims, sometimes in MULTIPLES, SERIAL rapists and those that use weapons in the act..........not the grandpas that feel up the leg of a granddaughter or one occurance date rape.

What was done to Mary K L. over that student she fell in love with(healthy or not) was RIDICULOUS. SHE WASN'T A SERIAL CHILD RAPIST.

The whole issue of sex offenders needs to be kept in perspective...we've all had a "strange" uncle in the family BUT we survived and grew up and went on anyway. Geeezus

[specter]

5. Glad to see your on the side of sanity on that issue

Ive got a family member that downloaded some picks and now has to register as a sex offender. Never been in trouble in his life. I think it incredibly irresponsible of the judicial system to do this to people. Saw in the paper that a guy in tx was found stuffed in a coal shute at a powerplant. He was a sex offender. It was ruled an "accidental death".

[Sugarbleus]

9. Thanks. This is one of those "hot button" issues; it's risky to

Talk out about such things, lest one finds themselves mobbed!

For a goodly while, I've felt that this sex offender thing has gone overboard in this country.

I too know of innocent people, an elderly man in this case, who was just "called out" as a person who might have done such and such to his own daughter YEARSSSSSSS ago. The Adult daughter claimed "repressed memory". It turned out to be completely false but it broke his heart and ruined this man's life.

I DO NOT condone sexual assualt--I sat on a jury for a man who had technically done his time for sexually assaulting several women WITH a weapon many years prior. The dude was forced to spend time in a Medical facility (Criminally insane etc)and receive treatments. He didn't do the treatments and his victims had to come back to court to testify about what happened to them 20 years earlier. It was aweful..the dude was a slime and he didn't get released. However, some of this stuff we hear everyday just doesn't merit the level of being branded a SEX OFFENDER for LIFE, IMO.

Here in America we appear to still cling to that Calvinistic view of sex. SEX IS WONDERFUL AND NATURAL. Without those natural urges we wouldn't be here and life would be pretty dull. We need to rethink our attitudes on sex; maybe just maybe there wouldn't be so many violent sexual assaults happening....

[specter]

10. Its one of those issues I welcome

a mob I got the ammunition for it lol, Heres a wonderful site to goto if you want some real stories

http://www.geocities.com/eadvocate/issues/index.html

[noamnety]

3. Great site about prop66

http://www.yes66.org/about_absurd.htm

rebuttals to arguments against 66: http://www.yes66.org/data/66argument_rebuttal.pdf

[madrchsod]

6. since you really know what

you are talking about i agree with everything you say. that world is something most people do not understand at all and the damage it does to the real world is very real and very costly. yes it is about human rights and what happens inside reflects what happens when they are released. one inmate told someone i know that he couldn`t wait to get out to go back to the street to sell dugs-why? bcause there were no jobs that paided enough to take care of his family. his family? she was the pretty young woman holding their beautiful little 6month baby sitting next to me in the waiting room. if we don`t change the system,from the inside-prison reform and outside-decent jobs and schools, this family will never enjoy the human and civil rights they are entitled to

[specter]

7. Couldnt have said it any better!!

[Sugarbleus]

8. Excellent and SPOT ON!

There was a discussion of these matters on KGO some weeks ago. The guests were from a prison reform group in Sacto (http://www.allofusornone.org). The male guest spoke of how difficult it was to FIND A JOB. Especially since NO ONE wants to hire ex felons. How about trying to find housing? That's difficult for anyone let alone the ex felon.

They spoke of reform in terms of preparing people with education, work skills, social awareness, and drug abuse and emotional counseling...etc

A few ex felons do manage to "make it".......the bulk do not PLUS their record goes with/against them for a lifetime EVEN if they never commit another crime ever!!!

Another nifty prison rights site: "Prison Focus"
http://www.prisons.org/