A Death Sentence I Didn’t Deserve

Lacks sentence someone to death and carried out the sentence in 1994. Now , he got COVID. The difference is; the corona virus does not murder. Lacks did. The State did not purposely bring COVID into Osborn. Lacks purposely murdered someone.

I'm supposed to feel sorry for this guy? He only got 35 years. That's a gift. Getting quality healthcare and recovering is not a death sentence - you got sick. You recovered. Great. Serve your sentence and when you get out, do something productive. Your debt to society will never be paid by simply serving your sentence - what Lacks took from his victim's family will last a lifetime and beyond ... and all the memories or contributions that person could have made to the world is lost forever.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind CityYankee.

CityYankee did Lacks tell you personally? Because I know many behind bars for crimes they did not commit. You're probably in favor of the 2 who shot Ahmaud Arbery though for a crime he "may" have committed. Lacks is a human being serving his time, regardless of a person's history, Covid shouldn't be "ok" for anyone whether it was given purposely or not.

So, I totally understand that facts don't actually matter these days, but Mr. Lacks did not actually kill anyone. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ct-court-of-appeals/1235099.html

If Mr./Ms. CityYankee's perspective is followed by the state correctional department. we would be giving the Correctional system the power that Connecticut has taken away from the Judicial system.

The State correctional system has no more right to allow an inmate to die than the Judicial system has to sentence them to death.

CityYankee seems to believe that one's crime should dictate how they are treated (or not) in prison. CityYankee is wrong.

Rev. Ross-Lee

@ CityYankee and Noteworthy.How about this.

Trump Pardons Soldier Convicted in Afghanistan Killings

President Donald Trump on Friday granted clemency to two Army officers, one of whom is in prison after being convicted in the killing of two men in Afghanistan.Trump signed an order that gave a full pardon to Lieutenant Clint Lorance, who had ordered soldiers under his command to open fire on three men who were moving toward them on a motorcycle "with unusual speed," according to a White House statement.The president also pardoned Major Mathew Golsteyn, a Green Beret who has been charged with an unlawful killing in Afghanistan and was facing a court martial.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-16/trump-pardons-soldier-convicted-in-afghanistan-killings

Navy Seal pardoned of war crimes by Trump described by colleagues as 'freaking evil'

The explosive testimony was published Friday by the New York Times, which obtained previously unseen video interviews and text messages from several former members of an elite commando unit once led by special operations chief Eddie Gallagher.Gallagher was convicted in July of posing with the dead body of a teenage Islamic State captive he had just killed with a hunting knife. He was granted clemency by the president in November in a decision that angered military chiefs.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/27/eddie-gallagher-trump-navy-seal-iraq

I graduated from Uconn Law w/ Senator Chris Murphy. For a final project I was shocked to learn that at least in Connecticut, the vast majority of incarcerated persons are incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. This was borne out by research, data and facts. This is the result of a perverted "plea bargain" process in Connecticut so let me briefly explain.

Assume Defendant A is charged w/ a "pretty serious felony." The prosecutor, not wanting to waste the time or money to try the case, will offer the Defendant "a deal" - plead guilty to a slightly lesser charge - one the defendant did NOT commit mind you, he committed a more heinous crime, and save the state the time and dime. This is classic game theory, and many defendants strategically avail themselves of this option, and get convicted of a "kinda serious felony," not the "pretty serious one" they actually committed.

Now consider the converse, where Defendant A says "no way" to a plea for whatever reason s/he's not pleading guilty. In that case, the prosecutors tend to "overcharge" in the hopes of gaining leverage and concessions from Defendant A. Now, instead of being rightly charged with a "pretty serious felony," s/he is charged with "grossly heinous one," in an attempt to leverage a plea but if s/he does not cop to one, the state proceeds and most time secures a conviction on an "overcharge." Now we have more harm done.

Thus, my data showed that the vast majority of convicts serving time in CT prisons are either serving time for a reduced plea and thus a crime they did not commit, or a trumped up charge they are innocent of, one that was used as a leverage to extract a confession but never let go of.

So, roughly half of inmates in some ways got a lottery ticket to serve a sentence that doesn't comport w/ the gravity of their crime, while the other half get royally screwed and are serving sentences for trumped up charges that do not reflect what they did.

This is Connecticut (in)justice

Lawlor - I understand in your world, you've never met a guilty criminal, that they're all mistreated and maligned - but here's the reality: The law says if you're part of a posse that robs and kills people, you're just as guilty as the triggerman. According to the "facts" laid out in the appeal - Lacks didn't pull the trigger - he was just an active participant in the plan to rob people which resulted in death. Bottom line: An innocent person was killed in the act of robbery using a deadly weapon. So what's your point? Lacks got sick, now he's well. Louis Hood is dead.

Usual suspects with predictable comments. I'm sure they have convinced themselves everyone in prison is actually guilty. I guess they haven't read countless articles about people exonerated through DNA after decades being behind bars for crimes they did not commit. I suspect those same people with the self righteous attitudes think differently if their loved one was behind bars right now in the middle of the pandemic getting sick and dying. We have seen people being released who have victims who will suffer a lifetime of pain because of their actions yet I haven't seen the same outrage expressed . One might question the blatant injustice and selective outrage in that.

Noteworthy why should anyone find you credible when you were so clearly wrong in your first post about the charges? Now you're supposed to be an expert on law and the crime?

Mr. Noteworthy: In my world people comment under their own actual names. On a related matter, the original story included an editorial note at the end that stated that Mr. Lacks had been convicted of murder. I reached out to the editor and pointed out that that was not the case and the note at the end of the story was amended to reflect that fact.

In this situation, the particulars of Mr. Lacks' guilt or innocence are immaterial: he's in the custody of the Department of Corrections which has a legal and ethical obligation to safeguard his well-being and provide him with necessary medical care, in line with all applicable ethical guidelines.

What the "let them rot" crowd doesn't understand or won't confront is that a commitment to reasonable and compassionate treatment of incarcerated people is what makes the rest of us not the kinds of people they imagine all imprisoned people to be.

Remember: the child rapist, soul murderer, is out temporarily. He is white, male and privileged.
Mr. Lacks has already spent almost all of his penalty time in prison.
We do not inflict the death penalty for any reason any more in CT, but refusing adequate medical treatment violates our stated policies.
Those who want to inflict additional punishment on inmates say more about their own humanity than they do about the inmates.

ShadowBoxer: So, in your world everyone who accepts a plea bargain is innocent? Yes, a limited number of totally innocent people accept the deal. Having actually practiced criminal law (not currently) most are guilty, at least of a lesser offense than the original charge, and more often of a greater offense, bargained down by the state to clear the docket.

Challenge: One of the major problems in our justice system is a reliance on eye-witness identification of strangers, and confessions, both of which are notoriously unreliable. I believe the greatest number of actually innocent people were convicted at trial. The state often skips over evidence identifying the defendant to concentrate in arguments about the horror of the crime.

I don't know what -up with the commenters to this story. This is an opinion piece by Mr. Lacks regarding his positive result to the virus and how the correction dept. handled his case and the others who tested positive. ((Opinion) I'm at the Osborn Correctional Institution. My story begins on April 20, well after the prison knew about the seriousness of the coronavirus.) I want my story to be told, because it is wrong to be punished for something we have no control over. I know a couple of the brothers that passed away (alone). I feel for their families. No one should have to go through unnecessary suffering." The correction has said nothing about the facts leading up to Mr. lacks conviction.

The commission did respond almost 30 days after lacks opinion piece.
For Immediate Release
Asymptomatic Positive Test Results for COVID-19 Virus Prompt Lockdown of the Osborn Correctional Institution
Friday, May 15, 2020

The Connecticut Department of Correction's Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers, CT has been placed on lockdown after 105 asymptomatic offenders tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The Department of Correction began the process of testing all staff and offenders, starting at the Osborn facility, on Wednesday, May 13, 2020. After two days of testing a total of 617 offenders, the results of 339 tests have returned with 105 of those confirmed positive for the virus. The final 278 tests are pending results from the laboratory.

A portion of the offender population opted out of being tested. Out of an abundance of caution these offenders will be treated as if they are asymptomatic carriers of the virus. The isolation period will last for 14 days.

The current incarcerated population of the Osborn facility is approximately 1,060 individuals.

As has been the Department's practice, all offenders will be monitored and if anyone becomes symptomatic, they will be isolated, tested, and if positive transferred to the Medical Isolation Unit

Faccheck: Maybe you can do more fact checking because within less than a month 7 men died inside Ct prisons. A full month when no one did anything. Maybe you can read The Ct Junkie to see how badly people are being treated today (since the opinion piece). Confused about your point.

challenge: Using the May 13th number of 83 deaths in New Haven, the general population mortality rate in New Haven is greater than that of the prison system. The data does not support the hypothesis that prisoners are at heightened risk of death.

1644 I'm only going to give you a minute of my time because you appear to always be in a head space I can't compete with. My final words to you. If one person died unnecessarily the fact that more died somewhere else does not diminish that loss of life. Imagine how the families of the 7 who died needlessly feel if you could possibly walk in their shoes. One was never even convicted of anything. At least 2 others had served decades and were on their way home and never made it.

@CityYankee

Couldn't agree with you more

@Alex

I'm good with a walking stick

@ Rev. ST Ross

Who says your right??

Regardless of how you feel about inmates, the fact remains that the State has an moral obligation to follow the best medically recommended practices in controlling and treatment of the virus transmission within the prisons and jails. To not do so is dangerous to its staff and their loved ones as much as it is to its prisoners. Compassion is required for human souls who are in danger from this virus, because the virus doesn't have any compassion and it travels inside and outside the prison walls with the employees.

challenge: Are the deaths in prisons more "needless" than the deaths outside? The relevant question is: is it safer outside than in? The data says no. Mr. Lacks would be just as at risk, or more so, living in New Haven than living in prison.

It does not matter what any prisoner did or why they are incarcerated. The State is responsible for the health and safety of all prisoners in their custody period.

I would feel better having this guy living in my neighborhood than Rabbi Greer

@DMH464,

Ethics says I'm right.

Morality says I'm right.

The Law says I'm right.

Human Rights says I'm right.

Now, who says I'm wrong?

Rev. Ross-Lee

There are 11K inmates in CT, with 530 who tested positive of COVID19, which is about 5% of the prison population. There are 3.7 million people in CT, with 37K who tested positive for COVID19, which is about 1% of the population. If more people in the general public were tested that number would be closer to the 5% number. CT reported 5 deaths of inmates from COVID19, which is about a .04% death rate. There were 3,400 deaths in the State Connecticut from coronavirus, which is about a .09% death rate for the general public. The odds of dying from coronavirus on the outside are thus higher than the odds of dying of it on the inside. The coronavirus was used as a smokescreen to get a prominent rabbi with political connections out of jail, but it won't work for inmates who cannot afford high priced lawyers. Justice is (color) blind.

EPDP: Precisely. One can play with the numbers: is it five or seven dead, etc., but it is actually safer inside than out, possibly because the corrections officers are the only vector for the virus to enter, as opposed to many more sources on the outside. Lacks is totally wrong in portraying his illness as a punishment, or a death sentence. In my circle of friends (and it is a very small circle), a neighbor who is a retired office manager has become very ill, as has an investment banker in Short Hills, a computer programmer in Denver, and my spouse and I, who had relatively mild cases. None of us were hospitalized, but all but my spouse and I were very sick, the programmer still sick going on eight weeks of roller coaster. I know much of the NHI commentariat will think the investment banker's illness is karmic justice, as is mine, but what of the others? No, we were not punished, we just got sick, just like Lacks did, and we, like him, recovered., as most do.