Homeless, mentally ill man spends 17 months behind bars for stealing soda

foob · 02-23-2007, 23:36

Hope the soda was worth it.

http://kxly.com/news/?sect_rank=5&se...&story_id=8776

Quote:

Homeless, mentally ill man spent 17 months in Indiana jail for soda theft
Associated Press
Last updated: Friday, February 23rd, 2007 11:46:57 AM

CROWN POINT, IND. -- How did a homeless, mentally ill man wind up spending nearly a year and a-half behind bars for allegedly stealing a soda?

Officials in Indiana haven't got an answer.

It seems jail officials thought he'd been freed a year ago. So did the man's lawyer, his court-appointed psychiatrist and the judge in the case.

Only after a new warden took over and ordered a review of all prisoners' files did they discover the truth. The man has since been sent to a mental health clinic.

The judge calls it "unfortunate." She thinks it's possible the man might have been jailed under a different name than the one on his court file.

KSFreeman · 02-24-2007, 06:15

If it was a Stewart's Cream Soda, then yes it may have been.

seamus · 02-24-2007, 07:10

I'm not trying to be devil's advocate but he had 17 months of free meals, shelter, clean clothes and entertainment which is possibly better than being homeless.

Ignition · 02-24-2007, 07:15

Quote:

Originally posted by seamus
I'm not trying to be devil's advocate but he had 17 months of free meals, shelter, clean clothes and entertainment which is possibly better than being homeless.

ive always thought homeless people would be prime for trying to rob banks. either a. you get away with it and have money; or b. you get caught and goto a nice tempature controlled, free meals everyday prison

IPDBrad · 02-24-2007, 07:50

Nice work by that prison. My guess it won't be 17 days before a big fat lawsuit is on its way.

As far as a free ride for the homeless, it happens. I have had guys say to me, usually it is extremely miserable out or they have burnt through the dollars on their Hoosier Care Cards, "take me to jail please".

KSFreeman · 02-25-2007, 10:58

Brad, don't think it was a prison. I believe it was the Lake County jail. Since I've been there a few times, I can tell you, it is just a big a madhouse as Marion County.

Ignition, the sad fact is that most of the homeless cannot make that rational decision. As you can imagine many of the poor devils have a catalogue of mental health problems.

Besides, the FBI has a conviction rate of something like 98% on bank robberies. It was what they are set up to do. I've defended a few bank robberies (state and federal), the FBI has it together on bank robberies. Other crimes are debatable, but not bank robbery.

If I wanted to go to jail, I'd swipe a bottle of wine from a liquor store, run out to the parking lot and surrender. You'll be off the streets until the weather breaks, you won't get beat up by the police or corrections guys, the other prisoners will just laugh at your offense, and since you gave up and gave the merchandise back, the prosecution would be more inclined to ditch the case.

It would have to be really dark in my life to want to go to jail. It's loud, you're surrounded by morons, and it smells like urine. Bleh!