Life for SHOPLIFTING ???? For stealing a purse? Just another example of stupidity at its finest - it'll cost her state tens of thousands per year to house her in prison. For stealing a purse. Good job, judge! :roll:
She's been convicted 30 times in 4 different states. Keep that in mind. That number is probably what led the judge to hand her a lifetime sentence for the latest shoplifting crime.
I do, however, agree with Jiro, and the judge should have ordered her to get mandatory treatment in a very well-run drug rehab center and then a 5 year stay in a supervised halfway house or group home to make sure she stays clean.
(I know one woman who was ordered by a judge to stay in a special group home (and this is a VERY good group home, in my opinion) for at least 5 years before she would be allowed to live on her own. This group home is one of the several group homes that a girl I cared for stayed in, and it was the best I had ever seen. Lots of close supervision, very clean, not crowded, completely up to code for fire and health and food, plenty of food for all the women, and they were given medications on a very strict schedule, and everything had to go by schedule to give the women a consistent kind of care and to keep everything organized and in control. The women were even allowed to have a pet if they have proved that they can take very good consistent care of an animal, which amazed me. This group home was probably the best thing that had ever happened to this woman I know, and it was the best thing that had ever happened to the girl I cared for, but unfortunately she didn't see it that way, and trashed the lady that ran the home, and then moved out...)
Anyway, the woman that had the 30 convictions would benefit greatly from 6 months to a year in a drug rehab/treatment center, and then 5 years in a good well-run halfway house or group home with lots of close supervision and rules and a consistent schedule, and where the psychiatric medications are given on a very strict and consistent schedule, and she should also be ordered to attend classes on life skills (such as learning to keep a house or apartment clean, how to pay the rent on time, keep a job, pay all her bills on time, etc) while in the halfway house or group home, and to attend mandatory Drug Anonymous meetings every day for the rest of her life, and should be on parole for the rest of her life and be subjected to drug testing every single week for the rest of her life in order to cooperate with parole, too. She also should be required to do a little bit of community service everyday once out of the drug rehab/treatment center, to help her shift towards independent living by learning how to keep a job, stick to a schedule, and not be late for work, etc...volunteering for a charity or a food bank or something, something she could do everyday at the same time everyday, would benefit her...a few hours a day during the week, while she is in the halfway house or group home.
But if all the above suggestions for this woman have failed, then she should spend that life sentence in a good well-run (however unfortunately there are few) mental hospital instead of prison. They will feed her 3 square meals a day and provide a bed, and group therapy and activities, and she will receive psychiatric medications and close supervision and will not be allowed to use illicit drugs at all. She will be cared for, and will not be allowed out by herself ever again, thus preventing her from shoplifting, and also keeping her off of illicit drugs for good. The article says that the woman is disabled, but doesn't specify what disability, so I am going to guess mental illness of some sort. I know I shouldn't assume, but the many shoplifting convictions and the drug addiction leads me to this conclusion. I believe that drug and alcohol addiction is often due to a mental illness, such as depression or something like that, and they self-medicate by using illicit drugs or alcohol.
I would think a life sentence in a mental hospital would be a much better solution than prison because in prison she would still have some access to illicit drugs (people smuggle contraband into the prison). She would never get clean if she goes to prison. Prison is a very, very, very expensive and BAD solution. Actually, prison is not really gonna solve anything for this woman, as she has been in prison many times already. Perhaps it's time they give her a life sentence in a mental hospital (and I hope a good one) in a locked ward with lots of close supervision.
...and a life sentence in the mental hospital or a prison should be for
THE REST OF A PERSON'S LIFE, not just 40 years. Otherwise, they need to stop calling it a "lifetime sentence" and look up the definition of "lifetime".
