John R. McCandless – 12/31/08

This page was last updated on January 6, 2009.

Double standard of the judicial system; John R. McCandless; Beaver County Times; December 31, 2008.

Though both live in Center Township, I don’t know if this is the same Jack/John McCandless who wrote “America needs a reality check.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“So investor Bernie Maddof [sic] is told he can be free on the streets with an electronic ankle bracelet but has to be back in his multi-million dollar penthouse apartment at night.

“The same happened during the era of the Enron scandal.”

[RWC] Mr. McCandless failed to mention the prosecutors requested Mr. Madoff be held without bail. Mr. Madoff had to post a $10 million bond in addition to monitoring.

“The white-collar criminals steal billions from their investors but are ‘free on their own recognizance.’ All the while, citizens are arrested and incarcerated for having as little as five grams of crack in their pockets. Of course, we know that the legislated war on drugs has tied the hands of the judges.

“But why are the nation’s prisons so full, and why are investors interested in building more prisons every day? Because each one is a money machine. Each full bed generates profits for the people who invest in them. Each person who does not have the money for an expensive legal appeal just ends up filling one of those beds.”

[RWC] I don’t know if it’s true everywhere, but public defenders also handle appeals.

“State prisons hold 253,300 inmates for drug offenses. At $67.55 per day, this means that the states spend approximately $6 billion per year to house drug offenders.

“And why are America’s prisons so successful? Well mostly because we have not solved the basic problems of education and job growth, but also because the drug cartels buy off the border guards, the local drug lords enslave our youth with mind-altering chemicals, the legislative and judicial systems ensure that those arrested go to prison and the prison investors just keep making money.

“Something stinks. Do you agree?”

[RWC] “[W]e have not solved the basic problems of education and job growth?” Ignoring the current recession for a moment, our unemployment rate is typically among the lowest in the world we had “full employment” for most of the previous three years.

Am I reading too much into this letter, or is Mr. McCandless implying there’s a conspiracy between “prison investors” and “the legislative and judicial systems” to load up prisons with drug offenders?