I have been sent the following article by Mary Ellen Johnson from the Pendulum Foundation.  I have learned one thing about blogging.  Those who spend time commenting on blogs usually need to “be heard”.  I have to say that the comments on this article and horrendous tragedy break every barrier of human decency that SHOULD be the foundation of our person hood.  But back to the issue……

This young man made some dumb choices.  He chose to take the car keys (no doubt his parents would not have given permission so he took matters in his own hands), go out drinking and had an ACCIDENT.  A car ACCIDENT.  This was not an intentional act of violence.  Yet our DA’s chose to try this young man as an adult and punish him as severely as possible for his mistakes.  No accounting for who he was, what his history was in school or his reputation in his community.  Only over zealous DA’s and mandatory laws and sentences that condemn our children for making a mistake.  Yes it cost another persons life a horror that he would have lived with all of his days…..had he lived. 

The truth is those things happen everyday….and most of the time they do not involve a teenager that has been drinking.  Most of the time it involves adults who for any number of reasons, find themselves in car accidents and ……..sometimes people die.  Horrible, tragic and devastating to all involved.  Maybe that was you or maybe it will be in the future (heaven forbid).   If so, I hope you are shown more mercy than we showed this young man.

Once again we took a child and put him in an environment that was dangerous to his well being in a facility that was unprepared an unable to deal with a juvenile offender.  You see, the law requires that a juvenile held in an adult facility be kept from adult influences.  That means that they can have no contact with adult inmates.  In most circumstances, that requires that those facilities place these juveniles in holding cells or 24 hour lock down.  They are not equipped to meet the requirements of holding juveniles in county facilities.  When my son was held in county jail during the course of the investigation and hearings on his case, he was held in a holding cell with the lights on 24 hours a day, they were to have 1 hour out of their cell a day.  This was for exercise, phone calls and a shower.  There were times that they did not take him out for two and three days at a time.  Wellness checks from me would prompt them to bring him out for a phone call.  You are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.  You should be held in an environment that will not cause you harm (mental or physical).  Jails and prisons should not create anti-social behaviors and violent tendencies……they are supposed to “Correct” behaviors. 

Who are we that we have become so heartless, condemning and self-righteous?  Who are we that we have become like those  in history who preyed on the unfortunate  and tortured them?  Read on……..

One wrong led to another

By Susan Greene
Denver Post Columnist

Article Last Updated: 11/01/2008 11:46:38 PM MDT

Richard Stewart cremated his son on Friday.

Jimmy was 17.

Days before he would have started his junior year at Wheat Ridge High School, he drank, drove and killed a man on Colfax Avenue.

He cooperated with police. He wept each time he went to court. And he wrote a six-page letter to the victim’s widow acknowledging that he messed up in the worst kind of way.

Jimmy was sorry. Very sorry. He didn’t dispute that he needed to serve his time.

Denver district attorneys chose to charge him as an adult — a move made possible under a 1993 law backed by Gov. Bill Ritter when he was Denver’s chief prosecutor. Such filings force teens into adult jails and left Jimmy unwatched in a cell long enough to hang himself with a bed sheet.

It took the city 15 hours to notify the family that their boy was dead.

And now, 11 weeks after the accident, not just one life, but two have been wasted.

“He took my husband’s life, and I’m just battling every day to keep on going,” says Iman Woods, the 28-year-old widow of accident victim Nathan Woods. “But he was in pain and needed help as a teenager, a kid. He was worthy of love, of a second chance eventually. And I keep thinking if I only could have hugged him, maybe it would have helped.”

Dead kids — even ones who commit vehicular homicide — are remembered in superlatives.

The kid whose dad wouldn’t allow him a driver’s license until he raised his grades made his family proud of his good humor and great looks.

“Weird, but he had the face of an angel,” Woods says.

The kid who had swiped his dad’s car keys, went on a drinking spree, crossed the center line and crashed into Nathan Woods’ car still dreamed of his own future beyond bars.

“I’m looking forward to spending all my time with you and to eat a lot of spaggeitte (sic) I’ll cook to stay healthy and eat right,” Jimmy wrote his dad from jail two weeks ago. “Me and you will have the best time of our lives and I’m going to help us get a two bedroom apartment and we’ll go do things that we haven’t got to do for a while like play catch . . .

“I promise, but stay strong.”

Even a kid who killed had people who adored him.

“Not for one second did we ever think of giving up on him,” Richard said after Thursday’s memorial service.

That notion was lost on DA Mitch Morrissey’s office when it chose to prosecute Jimmy as an adult, even though he had no criminal history.

Juvenile advocates persuaded lawmakers this year to pass a measure allowing teenage defendants to remain in juvenile centers rather than jails for adults. Ritter killed the bill with a veto.

So Jimmy was yanked out of a youth center and into the county jail, where visits with family consisted of brief talks on TV monitors. He told his sisters that sheriffs kept switching his antidepressants and shuffling him from cell to cell.

“Daddy,” he would say, “I’m scared to be alone.”

Denver sheriffs hadn’t put Jimmy on suicide watch. And, for whatever reason, they weren’t watching closely enough to protect a kid the system hadn’t yet convicted from his own despair.

“It makes no sense. My heart hurts over this,” says Maureen Cain of the Colorado Defense Bar.

There’s no telling what would have happened had sheriffs watched Jimmy more closely, prosecutors shown better judgment or Ritter signed the bill.

Maybe nothing could have saved him.

But a little mercy couldn’t have hurt.

Susan Greene writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-1989 or [1] greene@denverpost.com.

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• [9] Switching his meds may have contributed to his suicide. I know from experience that a sudden major disruption in antidepressant use can cause suicidal thoughts. My deepest sympathies, another example of our grossly dysfunctional justice system.
  [10] ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 [11] Permanent link to this comment[10] ben s (aka socol) | 6:14 AM on Sunday Nov 2 [13]    [14] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [16] Report Abuse
• [17] And when will legislators start using some common sense? Why put non-violent, first-offense kids in with adult murderers and rapists? Flies in the face of reason.
  [10] ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 [19] Permanent link to this comment[10] ben s (aka socol) | 6:22 AM on Sunday Nov 2 [21]    [22] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [24] Report Abuse
• My gosh, fire up the “waww-bulance.” Find someone a fiddle. Give me a band-aid for this bleeding heart. Wawww wawww wawww.

  17 years old and he already had a dead man in his past. Yet, we are supposed to grab the hanky and wipe away our tears for his self payment on this subject? I think not.

  Just be thankful he won’t be getting out to start all over again…and the next time it is your family member he might have killed.

  And to Socol, who thinks this is a misdemeanor or something:

  Umm…how non-violent does it have to be before someone dies? I mean, someone died because of this “precious angel.” What did you want to do to him? Take away his playstation? His Wii? It is people like you that scream for the early release of criminals and then cry about the deaths and mayhem the cause when released, calling for the head of the prosecutor, the judge, the jailer, and the governor. Hypocrite. [25]
  [26] john w
  Joined: Aug 10
  Points: 372 [27] Permanent link to this comment[26] john w (aka hillbillyavfan) | 6:35 AM on Sunday Nov 2 [29]    [30] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [32] Report Abuse

• [33] That’s your governor for you folks. Throw away the key for a kid, but don’t prosecute a cop who kills an innocent unarmed citizen.
  [34] Roberta K
  Joined: Aug 4
  Points: 831 [35] Permanent link to this comment[34] Roberta K (aka Lazy R) | 6:35 AM on Sunday Nov 2 [37]    [38] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [40] Report Abuse
• [41] Hey, Captain Over-Reaction (john w)- Of course he should do his time (he said so himself, did you read the article?) But this was not an act of violence and, as he sounded despondently remorseful, what makes you think there’d be a next time? How many times have you gotten behind the wheel after too much to drink, especially in your teens? He made a horrible decision, which he was about to pay for, but I don’t think he was on the path to recitivism.
  [10] ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 [43] Permanent link to this comment[10] ben s (aka socol) | 7:05 AM on Sunday Nov 2 [45]    [46] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [48] Report Abuse

socol wrote:Hey, Captain Over-Reaction (john w)- Of course he should do his time (he said so himself, did you read the article?) But this was not an act of violence and, as he sounded despondently remorseful, what makes you think there’d be a next time? How many times have you gotten behind the wheel after too much to drink, especially in your teens? He made a horrible decision, which he was about to pay for, but I don’t think he was on the path to recitivism.

I’m sorry for both families. This was an unnecessary, heartbreaking tragedy. [49]
[50] donnybrook
Joined: Jun 21
Points: 56555 [51] Permanent link to this comment[50] donnybrook (aka gardengirl) | 8:15 AM on Sunday Nov 2 [53]    [54] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [56] Report Abuse

Lazy R wrote:That’s your governor for you folks. Throw away the key for a kid, but don’t prosecute a cop who kills an innocent unarmed citizen.

So he’s tough on crime, and he’s a bad governor? If he had let it pass, you’d tell him he was too soft on crime, no? Would he have been able to win with you? [57]
[50] donnybrook
Joined: Jun 21
Points: 56555 [59] Permanent link to this comment[50] donnybrook (aka gardengirl) | 8:20 AM on Sunday Nov 2 [61]    [62] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [64] Report Abuse

• Thanks for the clarification, donnybrook-
  The point that I want to make is that putting a kid in with an adult population of violent, sociopathic recitivists (I assume after sentencing he would have gone to prison rather that juvy) is probably going to turn that kid into a societal problem when he’s eventually released. The psychological, mental and physical abuse he’d receive in adult prison would probably turn him into a disfunctional part of society when released and he’d most likely end up back in prison. Aside from being unjust and unnecessary, it’s also a further burden on our overcrowded prison system and us, the taxpayers. I’m all for putting teenage gang-bangers, murderers, rapists, etc., in with the adults, they made a premeditated choice to kill, hurt, rape, etc. This kid’s act, while statutorily classified as violent, was not premeditated or intentional. Let him do his time in juvy, he stands a better chance of being a productive member of society upon release, which is better for all of us. [65]
  [10] ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 [67] Permanent link to this comment[10] ben s (aka socol) | 8:43 AM on Sunday Nov 2 [69]    [70] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [72] Report Abuse
• Although I feel horrible for the family, there are some things that aren’t being fairly portrayed here. First of all, Sheriffs have no authority to “switch” anyone’s meds. If this kid’s meds were being changed, then it was the medical staff (not the Sheriffs) who switched them. These Doctors and nurses are the only ones who determine what meds (and what doses) inmates receive. Although they work at the jail, these medical personnel are NOT Sheriffs. They are employeed by Denver and do not answer to the Sheriffs.

  As far as them switching this kid’s cell repeatedly, there are many reasons for this. Mainly the fact that the Denver Jail is well over capacity at any and all times and they’re constantly shuffling inmates about to make room. Certain inmates must be kept in certain areas. You cant just throw inmates into the first open cell.

  I dont have any way of knowing what his behavior record was, but this could be another reason he was moved about the jail. Individual Sheriffs cannot just move inmates because they feel like it. All moves have to be approved.

  Finally, with well over 2000 inmates in a facility designed for 1500, how anyone expects the Sheriffs to have a permanent person assigned to watching just one inmate is beyond me. There aren’t enough Sheriffs to do this and the layout of the (ancient) facility makes it impossible to have a clear view of everyone at all times. If someone is determined to kill themselves, they will.

  If the Sheriffs weren’t doing their rounds, it will show. (They’ve got electronic measures in place to track this) If this is the case, heads will roll. The Sheriffs dont have the same teflon coating that DPD does. (Compare their disciplinary reports to DPD’s at the Independant Monitor’s website if you doubt me) Knowing that their movements can be tracked, these Sheriffs would be idiots to NOT do their walk throughs. If that is the case, someone will answer for that.

  Ultimately though, this kid made several bad personal choices. He chose to swipe the car keys and to go on a drinking spree. This resulted in an innocent person dying. He also chose to commit suicide. I do feel bad for the family… but these were all choices he made. When its all said and done, all of the tragedy associated with this story can be traced directly to him and his decisions. [73]
  [74] Chad K
  Joined: Nov 2
  Points: 0 [75] Permanent link to this comment[74] Chad K (aka WatchingU) | 12:01 PM on Sunday Nov 2 [77]    [78] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [80] Report Abuse

socol wrote:Hey, Captain Over-Reaction (john w)- Of course he should do his time (he said so himself, did you read the article?) But this was not an act of violence and, as he sounded despondently remorseful, what makes you think there’d be a next time? How many times have you gotten behind the wheel after too much to drink, especially in your teens? He made a horrible decision, which he was about to pay for, but I don’t think he was on the path to recitivism.

Socol, why don’t we just get together, we’ll urge the governor to just open up the jails and let everyone out. They deserve another chance. And it will alleviate the overcrowding problem in our jails. Yeah. lets do that. Let’s just open up the doors, make the guys pinkie swear that they will be good, and then let them go. That would be great. [81]
[26] john w
Joined: Aug 10
Points: 372 [83] Permanent link to this comment[26] john w (aka hillbillyavfan) | 12:21 PM on Sunday Nov 2 [85]    [86] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [88] Report Abuse

• [89] GG–you probably weren’t here yet, but when Ritter was Denver DA he exonerated cops no matter what they did and there were some pretty high-profile shootings that certainly sounded like an abuse of power. The cops cost the city quite a lot in settling lawsuits as well. These are the facts, madem, they have nothing to do whether I’m pleased or displeased.
  [34] Roberta K
  Joined: Aug 4
  Points: 831 [91] Permanent link to this comment[34] Roberta K (aka Lazy R) | 12:53 PM on Sunday Nov 2 [93]    [94] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [96] Report Abuse
• [97] hillbillyvan- Wow, I can’t believe you don’t think he deserved another shot at life. You really think he should have spend the rest of his life behind bars? There’s something drastically wrong with you. Do you honestly believe he was as likely to repeat in the same way that a sex offender is likely to repeat? Ever heard the saying “follow your bliss”? Congratulations, you’re already there. Enjoy your ignorance.
  [10] ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 [99] Permanent link to this comment[10] ben s (aka socol) | 2:15 PM on Sunday Nov 2 [101]    [102] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [104] Report Abuse
• The point is that the system is broken! People are going to make bad choices occasionally. There will be consequences. Those consequences are established by law and are generally just to fit the offense. I’m not asking the folks who are perfect to understand those of us who are not.

  As a former officer of DOC I have seen the short comings of the system first-hand. It is called corrections but should rightfully be called human warehousing. We are not giving these individuals the tools necessary to correct their decision making skills. We lock up murderers with someone who commited check fraud. We warehouse violent offenders with folks who were just plain dumb in their actions but not intentionally “violent”.

  The reality is that all of these people then do what is necessary in this prison culture (and it is a culture unto itself) to survive. They join gangs, assault other inmates, participate in riots, abuse drugs to mentally escape, etc. After seeing this happen time and time again, I firmly believe that it is this environment that contributes to recitivism. Check out our rate of recitivism in this state. It’s deplorable!

  We really need to look at how we are dealing with crime, criminals, the distinctions between offenses, and how we deal with offenders. There are far too many incidents like this that we do not hear about in the current system. In order to truly be a civilization we must try to maintain civility.

  My deepest condolences for the families that are grieving. [105]
  [106] Colorado N
  Joined: Sep 19
  Points: 1114 [107] Permanent link to this comment[106] Colorado N (aka American Girl) | 2:50 PM on Sunday Nov 2 [109]    [110] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [112] Report Abuse

• [113] American Girl -Well said.
  [10] ben s
  Joined: Oct 17
  Points: 250 [115] Permanent link to this comment[10] ben s (aka socol) | 3:04 PM on Sunday Nov 2 [117]    [118] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [120] Report Abuse
• If he had killed my family member, I wouldn’t worry about him getting out to repeat the crime. The only way for him to pay back society for his deed was exactly what he did–a sheet noose. I am sure this was not his first time drinking, nor his first time driving, nor his first time to combine the two.

  My grandfather happened to be a victim of a drunk driver. He was going down the road, and a car driven by a drunk teen-ager (from my school) and 3 of his buddies were in my grandpa’s lane. Gramps nailed them head on. 4 drunk teens died that night, and my grandfather had trouble walking for the rest of his shortened life. The good news, though, is that those 4 teens never drank again. [121]
  [26] john w
  Joined: Aug 10
  Points: 372 [123] Permanent link to this comment[26] john w (aka hillbillyavfan) | 3:35 PM on Sunday Nov 2 [125]    [126] (must be [15] logged in to vote)   [128] Report Abuse

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