the random musings not worthy of new thread thread

[Father Demon]

A video which allegedly shows American singer R Kelly having sex with an underage girl will be shown in court to members of the public and the media

A judge in Chicago ruled the tape was "the whole crux and lynchpin of the case" against the double-Grammy winner.

Kelly - who has sold more than 23m albums worldwide - has denied 14 counts of child pornography.

It is three years since the allegations were first made against him, but the case has still not come to trial.

Explicit

Prosecutors claim the tape was recorded when the girl in question may have been as young as 13.

Along with defence lawyers, they had asked Judge Vincent Gaughan to restrict the viewing of the video to only himself, jurors and the legal teams in court.

They claimed the contents were so explicit that they would embarrass the girl, who is now 21.

But the judge ruled there was no "overarching interest" in banning the tape from public view.

How can showing this to anyone except the judge, lawyers for the case, and the jury be labeled anything but kiddie-pr0n?

[Diomedes]

Who cares.  Link to video, please.

[phattymatty]

if they can cut their own meat they're fair game

[Susquehanna Birder]

How can showing this to anyone except the judge, lawyers for the case, and the jury be labeled anything but kiddie-pr0n?

There's probably a team of S.W.A.T. guys waiting in the next courtroom. As soon as the tape plays, they'll all swoop in and charge everybody as sexual predators.

[reese125]

aside from all that...he does have the hottest chicks in his videos...and no matter who he teams up with (no punt intended), or solo...always makes a smash hit.

[rjs246]

No punt? I think you meant 'pun'. Ask Rome if you're unsure, he knows and loves puns.

[reese125]

No punt? I think you meant 'pun'. Ask Rome if you're unsure, he knows and loves puns.

thank god your here for clarification on all misspellings and pronunciations--I mean...

[Wingspan]

No punt? I think you meant 'pun'. Ask Rome if you're unsure, he knows and loves puns.

thank god your here for clarification on all misspellings and pronunciations--I mean...

that was neither misspelled or mispronounced...it was just the wrong word.

unless of course he really did go for it on 4th down

[MDS]

lohan slut

"I've become like the guy in relationships. Lately I just cannot be in a monogamous relationship. But there are people I want to date

[reese125]

no it was the right word--I said team up--which is exactly what R Kelly did with all of his boys and that pissgirl

[reese125]

lohan slut

"I've become like the guy in relationships. Lately I just cannot be in a monogamous relationship. But there are people I want to date

welcome to Hollywood bitch

[PhillyPhreak54]

This is a topic that I will defend for the most part. I cannot speak for every CO in America. There are some bad eggs. Just like there are bad eggs in every profession.

Bravo, Phreak. Of course, there is no knowing about how many of these horror stories are offset by non-stories. We're not going to read things like, "nothing happened while I was in jail." So it's easy to take what we read and assume that it happens all the time.

I live about a mile away from the Camp Hill facility, and I have known a few COs. I appreciate the job they do, and I know it ain't easy by a long stretch. Kudos to you, Phreak, for being one of the good guys.

Thanks, man. It's a good job and it is difficult at times thats for sure. There are horror stories for every thing in life though and you're right - we'll rarely hear the "nothing happened" line.

But the stuff that is put out there is not something that happens a lot. Most of the day it is like being paid to babysit. There are a lot of young guys locked up and they are definitley harder to deal with than guys who know how to do time.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Of course kudos to Phreak for doing his job correctly. One would hope that he is the norm rather than the exception, but the stories coming out of prisons don't just materialize out of thin air and even some of the things that Phreak mentioned are extremely troubling.

116:1. Holy farging shtein. Unsafe and irresponsible are the first words that come to mind. Blind spots does begin to describe the holes that can form in that kind of situation.

There is also an inherent problem with the notion, which seems to be accepted by the COs, that "this is jail. we have our own way of handling stuff." That is also irresponsible and comes off as a method of condoning bahavior that would NEVER be acceptable anywhere else in society.

His first point is the one that ties this all together as a problem. Not all inmates are animals. Most inmates aren't incarcerated for life and many are only going to be short-timers, but they are still spending 24 hours a day in the company of humanity's worst. There is a massive difference between someone who has driven drunk/sold pot/stolen something/defended his girlfriend in a regluar fight and a rapist/murderer. Those are two very different kinds of people/criminals that are all living in the same environment. Do the lower-level criminals who are in for a short time under the concept of being 'rehabilitated' deserve to be ruled by lifers who have committed hideous crimes? To allow these populations to 'govern themselves' is folly beyond what could be considered humane.

The bottom line is that there are big problems with the system when one CO is responsible for 116 inmates and has accepted the idea that the inmates will 'handle their own stuff.'

Yeah, the inmate to officer ratio is not in our favor by any stretch. We have to rely on instinct and the set up of the facility to be our protection. But I am out in the population 95% of my night so if they wanted to get me, they would and can. If something goes down, it is time for me to haul it back to my control room. If I can't make it, then it could be bad. In the big units in Texas where they have chow halls, if you are one of the officers who are asigned to the chow hall and something kicks off - you will be locked in. They will sacrifice you and the other CO's in there to contain the mass. We were taught that if something happens or the power goes out to find the nearest corner and back into it and start swinging. Oh, and wait for the tear gas that will be coming. And when the situation is under control you will be handcuffed and taken out like the inmates until they can verify that you really are a CO and not an inmate who stole a CO's uniform after beating his ass.

But in the place I work now we serve chow on the wing. So they eat at tables that are bolted to the floor in the middle of the tier. And when I did Death Row we fed them in their cells.

As for the "this is jail...." thing;

We do not condone that. But there is only so much we can do if the inmates don't give us information. But if we sense a problem could occur the problem offenders will be separated and moved to different cells to avoid a conflict. And if there is an aggressor in the situation he will be taken to segregation and written up for whatever offenses he has committed.

Many times we do not know what is going on because we never hear about it until we have a big ass fight and two or more guys have beaten each other. When we question them later on is when we find out that there was a problem and they never said anything and chose to handle it on their own.

I'll give you an example...

A couple of weeks ago I had a situation where two inmates got into a fight in their cell. I could not see in there from where I was so I had no idea what happened until the guy who started it came up to me and said "Hey boss, I just punched my cellie because he stole commissary from me". And sure enough, the other guy was bloody and had his glasses cracked. I never knew about the theft until it was all said and done. So how are we supposed to deal with stuff like that if it is never brought to our attention? If the inmates tell an officer then they are labelled a snitch. And that's the worst thing to be called in prison.

I never ever will tell an inmate who brings a problem to my attention to handle it on his own. That is irresponsible and wrong of me and doesn't fit into my job description of maintaining the safety and security of the offenders.

Also, another thing I have to correct you on.

In prisons there are classification systems. They are set to prevent maximum level offenders from being housed with the minimum guys. They are not exactly foolproof, but they do work.

In Texas we had several different custody levels;

Trusty
Minimum
Medium
Close
Administrative Segregation

They are housed together. You will never have a minimum level bunking with a close custody inmate.

And if they cause trouble in prison, we write them up. They have to go to court (not criminal court, but disciplinary court) and if they accrue a number of writeups and are chronic offenders or if an offense is severe enough they lose custody levels.

So a minimum level security guy who beats an inmate to a pulp will ne placed in ad-seg for an amount of time as punishment. After that time is up he will start all over and have to owrk his way back up to a minimum level.

They also do not eat together, recreate together or do anything together. They are separated for a reason. So that some real bad ass murderer will not be sharing a cell with a guy who violated his parole. Unless that parole violater deserves to have a higher level of custody status, that is.

They do not govern themselves with or blessing. LIke I said above, they do that BEFORE we know about problems. We usually never find out that an inmate had a problem with another inmate until the deed is done.

And if an inmate is being repeatedly raped and he never says anything to anyone about it - it is his fault to some extent. Its not his fault that he was raped, but it is his fault if it happens and he never says anything afterwards so we can take the steps to ensure the offense never happens to him again. He can be placed in protective custody.

And if an inmate says that he is raped night after night and tells the officers and they do nothing, I call bullshtein. Why? Because the inmate can go to medical and they will notify the superior officers (sergeant, lieutenant, captain, major, warden, etc) and then something will be done. Or the inmate can tell his lawyer, have a medical exam and document the times and names of who he told and when and take up legal action. If the proof is there, which it would be if he's being raped, then he stands on a high ground to have a case against the state or county for failing to take action.

No CO wants to go to court and testify that he blatantly ignored an offenders cries for help and essentially allowed a brutal rape to occur. No CO wants to be fired. And no CO wants to have criminal charges filed on him.

If an inmate would tell me that everynight his cellie is raping him and assaulting him and I pass it on to my supervisor and the supervisor ignores my information, I would go to the next in command and keep on going up. Why? Well because its wrong and also because I am not taking the fall for anyone's ignorance.

[General_Failure]

[MDS]

I have a boil/zit thing on my left ass cheek and it farging hurts when I sit down. Suggestions in how to get rid of it?