Recorded (jailhouse phone) calls keep inmates locked up

[Rage for Order]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/03/26/jailhouse.calls.recordings/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Eric Persaud admitted it. He got so mad at his girlfriend that he seared her face with a hot iron. Prosecutors say she stuffed a towel in her mouth to keep from screaming. "He told her if she screams or yells, he'll burn the kids, too," says Scott Kessler, chief of the domestic violence bureau for the Queens, New York, district attorney.

Despite her injuries, Persaud's girlfriend didn't want to testify before a grand jury. That could have meant the end of the case. No testimony from a burn victim can mean no conviction. Prosecutor Kessler suspected Persaud had been talking to his girlfriend from jail and intimidating her despite a protective order forbidding any contact.

He says alleged abusers have been known to call their victims and persuade them to back off, but his office couldn't do anything about it. The Queens County district attorney's Domestic Violence Bureau was forced to dismiss about 70% of its cases due, in part, to intimidation. Kessler says the victims' fear is understandable.

"They're scared. The defendant has a lot of power, a lot of control," says Kessler. Often abusers are breadwinners and the victim has no way of supporting herself. "Her world comes crashing down and she doesn't know what to do," he adds. In Persaud's case and others, Kessler went to Plan B. He decided to use Persaud's own words against him. Not a confession. But to Kessler, just as good, if not better.




Full story at the link. It goes on to say that there are signs over the phones telling inmates that all calls are recorded, and a taped message at the start of each call also reminds them that their calls are monitored. By the way, the dirtbag Persaud got 13 years in prison.

[WhiteTara]

1. This is good news

before this program...70% of domestic abusers walked...now maybe 15% walk. This is a victory for women and children everywhere.

[littlewolf]

2. GOOD I hope he enjoys every minute of it ....

[aikoaiko]

3. A lot of criminals are idiots.