Is any argument that criminals can be reformed now moot? Lindsay Lohan fails rehab and commits her second DWI. James Madis,The Mad Hatter, (on probation for murder) gets caught robbing a bank, Harrel Franklin Braddy, was out on parole when he apparently threw a child into an alligator pit. Now, Joshua Komisarjevky (age 26) and Steven Hayes(age 44) , both parolees with long criminal records, were arrested in Cheshire , Conn on charges alleging they broke into a doctor's home, forced a withdrawal of cash from a bank and set fire to the house. The doctor's wife and two daughters were killed in the fire.Both Komisarjevky and Hayes have multiple convictions for burglary and were out on parole at the time of this incident.
As for prison education working, how smart could these thugs be? The suspects were caught driving the family's SUV as they left the burning home. The brilliant thugs had taken one of the hostages (assumed to be the wife ) to the bank to force a withdrawal. They apparently returned to the home and set it on fire. They were caught driving the families SUV shortly after setting the home on fire.
Jennifer Hawke-Petit (48), Hayley Petit (17) and Michaela Petit (11) all apparently died in the course of this tragic crime. Dr. William Petit Jr., 50, was severely injured in the attack but survived.
Joshua Komisarjevky, and Steven Hayeswere charged with arson, assault, burglary, kidnapping, robbery, and sexual assault. Bail is $15 million each. Additional charges (including murder) are likely.
Jennifer Hawke-Petit (48), Hayley Petit (17) and Michaela Petit (11) all apparently died in the course of this tragic crime. Dr. William Petit Jr., 50, was severely injured in the attack but survived.
Joshua Komisarjevky, and Steven Hayeswere charged with arson, assault, burglary, kidnapping, robbery, and sexual assault. Bail is $15 million each. Additional charges (including murder) are likely.
Dr. Petit, 50, is a specialist in diabetes and endocrinology at the Joslin Diabetes Center Affiliate at The Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain. Jennifer was a nurse and co-director of a health center at a private boarding school. The waste of three lives and the injury and the emotional trauma to Dr. Petit is inexcusable and warrants revisiting the archaic belief that prison reform and early parole make for a better society. When does the madness end?
Short official answer: State officials claim they will re-examine their parole policies. However, Robert Farr, chairman of the Connecticut Board of Pardons and Parole, said neither suspect had a history of violent crimes. Both were free on parole after serving prison time for burglary convictions in 2003. They spent time last year in the same halfway house in Hartford this spring. (Great so not only did prison fail to reform them, it made them become violent!)
Short official answer: State officials claim they will re-examine their parole policies. However, Robert Farr, chairman of the Connecticut Board of Pardons and Parole, said neither suspect had a history of violent crimes. Both were free on parole after serving prison time for burglary convictions in 2003. They spent time last year in the same halfway house in Hartford this spring. (Great so not only did prison fail to reform them, it made them become violent!)
Update 10-5-10: Steven Hayes, 47, was convicted of capital felony, murder, sexual assault and other counts by a jury that heard eight days of testimony.
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39 comments:
Maybe Lohan will get the message. Associating her name with these other convicts may open her eyes to realize that what she is doing is not glamorous. It is stupid and it is a crime!
Shell
These guys deserve to be thrown into the flames of hell!
Oh yeah, they are innocent until proven guilty.
They tied up these folks and left them to burn to death. They then took the SUV and rammed the police cars. They are EVIL...
Jim
Where is the Great Rev J.J. advocate of prisoner rights and reform?
They can be reformed! Only 20 burglaries, 3 murders and rapes... have a heart! Give them a chance!
I am here. As a man of the cloth, I am not dodging the issue. I have always said in order to reform, the prisoners must repent. This begins with becoming closer to the Lord. I know nothing of these gentlemen. (I don't even know if they are Christians.) But I do say, if while imprisoned, they turned to the Lord and learned a trade, they could become productive members of society.The death penalty is not appropriate for these men, as they can change. Harrel Braddy is an example of a man that can change. These men, I assume can too, if they turn to God.
J.J.
J.J. it is a total waste to try to turn trash into something useful.
Most who read this comment cannot fathom the evil that resides in these men. The crime is just another notch in their rap sheet. Rev. JJ says they can repent...tell that to the victims. He says they can learn a trade...hell, they have one: torturing, rape, theft, arson and murder - quite a resume. People revert to what they know best when put under stress and you can heartily expect any criminal to do exactly that. There should be no parole for any felony conviction.
Viperkat, I believe in people, as I believe in the Lord. All things are possible in God. Surely, some nice folks have been convicted of murder and are worthy of parole. How about the woman who finds her husband in bed with another woman. She in a temporary rage kills him. Surely, she is not likely to commit the offense again. If she turns to God and is truely sorry, I see no reason such a "convict" can not return to a normal life in our society after a few years of reform.
J.J.
Look, prison reform is the right thing to do. But by reform, let's give them more education and training istead of punishment. Even though Arnold S. is a Republican, he has the right idea.
A prison agreement agreed to in April of 2007 in California approved by Schwarzenegger completes a major reform of California's prison system. It shift's California's corrections system away from a model of massive, remotely-located prisoner warehouses that breed more crime to smaller facilities with improved rehabilitation and community reentry programs. This will ultimately get these inmates reformed and back on the streets sooner.
The cost of $7.7 billion to add 53,000 prison and jail beds in two phases and promote true rehabilitation for California's prisoners is nothing if it gets results. Prisoners will have better sleeping facilites, dayrooms and gyms. They will have the opportunity to study in the field of their choice.
Hillary
Iron Mike said...
Hillary, you are a bleeding heart liberal who does not have a clue. These guys are rapists and murders. There is no amount of reform that will change them.
Iron Mike
Best argument for capital punishment,I learned from my third cousin. Here was our conversation.
Me: My Grandpa was gifted, he predicted the year in which he would die.
Cousin: That is nothing. My Gramps predicted the year, month, date and day of his death.
Me: How did he know that?
Cousin: The judge told him!
Surfer Dude
This was brutal. The wife was strangled. She was also raped. The two children died of smoke inhalation. The teen ager was also raped.
These are cold cruel a**h*les that deserve the electric chair.
Greg
I fear Robert Farr is in denial. Obviously there is a problem with the parole system if they do not detect people that may be violent on the out side. If they learned to be violent in prison, then they still should not be released early until they are convinced they are not a danger to society.
What concerns me is the message to citizens. "We are releasing convicts who are we are not sure are violent. So, arm your home with Tazers, Pepper spray and baseball bats. Any unlawful intruder in your home needs to pay a price."
Is this what society has become?
You fail to mention, though, that the legal system is doing a lot of good things, too. For example, thank God they got those two 13-year-old boys in Oregon off the street. You know, the ones who smacked some girls on their butts. Put them in jail immediately! I don't care how many serial killers you have to release to make space. Finally, the real criminals are captured! Justice prevails!
These guys need the death penalty. It sounds like they met in the prison reform system.
Shell, I don't think Lindsay Lohan is in their league, so I'm not sure why you bring her up on this part of the blog, unless you meant to post it elsewhere.
Prison reform - what is that? A person "reforms" only when he/she wants to and is willing to jump through all the pain ... Prison, is just place to keep them so society will be safe. (That's how I look at it, anyway)
I don't believe in capital punishment but I do believe in prison WITHOUT PAROLE. I don't believe in torture but I also don't believe in freakin' cable tv and air-conditioning for these thugs either. . . These guys should be put to work in the summer heat until they are so tired all they want is to come back to their cell, shower and sleep. . .
I find it telling in how the language is used by many discussing this matter. I see the term gentleman, guys, and men used to refer to theses animals.
They are most certainly not “gentlemen”. Gentleman is a term used to indicate “from a good family”, “a man noble by personal qualities”, “a man of good moral character”, and/or “courteous conduct”. It is a title that can not be used in reference to such animals as these without losing its meaning entirely. They are not “gentlemen”.
As for the term “guys”, I find it also inappropriate. I’ve seen guys. They are hanging out at the beach surfing, at the lake fishing, playing with their kinds in the yard, living their lives without determinant to others in a non-predatory manner. Those who eat their own kind are not fit to neither be among them nor be referred to in the same language. These animals are not “guys”.
They are certainty not men either. Men mow their lawns on the weekend, fish with their daughters, laugh with their wives, protect and feed their families, work hard so that those who depend on them can have a better life. They respect those they are stronger than, and view their size and strength as responsibility not privilege.
No, the gentleman, the guy, the man in all of this is the one devastated by the actions of these animals…the good doctor. He is the one who carries these titles as he has, by his actions, not forfeited them.
I understand (but don’t agree) with J.J.s position, as he seems to be stuck on “save their soul for the future”. That’s fine, save them for God. Send them to God as pure as the day they were born (which in these thing's case might not be all that pure!). But send them to God. Kill them.
Maybe I’m stuck on “I don’t give a damn who or what you are, you’ve acted worse than an animal and you are no longer fit to be considered human or to live among us.” Well… scratch the maybe…that’s my position.
Put the animals away…in places worse than how the average law-abiding citizen lives. AND DON’T LET THEM OUT! EVER!
I understand that there are a multitude of little transgressions that don’t warrant such extreme actions. But there are many, much more, that do. Many of these horrible incidents that occur could be prevented if the system would incapacitate these animals sooner. This kid glove approach does not work!
I arrest people with 30-40-50 pages of criminal history! Such people are not uncommon. How many arrests can you print on a page? How many times do you have to do something before you actually get caught? These people are living their entire lives in a criminal manner.
They get up, think about what house to break into, go steal a car, break into a house, beat somebody up, get their shopping done a Wal-Mart (without paying of course), get a new digital camera at Best Buy (what, me pay?), drive drunk back to the “crib”, run from the cops by running mom and the kids off the road, get to the “crib” and play video games on their stolen equipment while they laugh about the day and plan out tomorrow.
And the above is just the property crime criminals….it does not describe those who rape, murder, molest children, etc.
This type of behavior….this is OK? These are “gentleman” who are deserving of compassion and mercy? NOT!
L.S.
Where to begin! DYSTT (Ian), I too thought it was funny that the boys who slapped girls and other boys on the butt on Fridays were treated as felons. I almost did a story on the arrest, but just continue to believe that the prosecutors must be see something the rest of us are not seeing...
Shell, I doubt Lohan gets the message. The publicity reinforces her belief that she is an important person worthy of headlines.
Ron, I suspect you are a Lohan supporter. Being from California, you are suspected of being guilty by association... Would you hire her at your fortune 500 company?
Ms. C. as always, right on point as far as the conservative anti capital punishment crowd. Anti capital punishment does not mean you do not support life without parole.
Viperkat, good contribution from a new comer. Hope you become a regular poster.
Rev J.J. Keep up the good fight for what you believe in. You and Hillary ought to get together...
L.S. awesome post. Hope you become a regular for our readers. Your vantage point as a police officer adds great perspective.
As for the 1100 plus who read the thread without posting, feel free to comment or not comment. You enjoy freedom of speech on this forum, and of course, silence is an exercise of that right.
Just a bit more to show that “People do what people are”:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3419610&page=1
Ya’ll (Hillary?) sleep well. I’m putting on body armor to go deal with these people. Pray I’m good enough to keep them off you. If I’m not…
They’ll eat you!
L.S.
L.S. I for one appreciate what cops and soldiers do for us. I also agree these folks are animals.
But as a member of the humane society, I am against euthanizing animals, so it is not surprising that I am against euthanizing people. Even bad dogs like Braddy..
Brenda
LS,
I'm so glad you vented . . . and I agree with 95% of what you say. However, I cannot call these "guys" animals because its quite frankly it's not fair to the animals. How about we compromise and call them "pond scum"?
Oh, and if you need to talk, take a deep breath and call me . . .
Prison reform is a waste of tax payer dollars.
Bring back hanging. It is short, it is cheap. It is fair.
Ralph
Never too late to save a soul!
J.J.
J.J. you are delusional!
It is too late for both of these dudes.
These boys need to start studying about cruel and unusual punishment, because that is what they deserve.
No penalty would ever be enough.
How you expect to have a reform if that happen to your family, rape, murdered, tortured, burned by horrible sinner people, what you expected to feel about it, just ignore and say i forgive, oohhh what kind of mind you have, thinking about that easily, tell that to the family who experience that, should be ashamed to yourself of saying something like that, how can we get justice if we want reform, is that easily to get life of an innocent people.
AMA
J.J. are you their brother thats why you protect them, hahaha
AMA
j.j. I got an idea take these two scumbags into your house with wife and children, and when they do it to your family, lets see if you still have the same opinion, your mind is so far gone, I think you need serious help, there is noway to fix losers like that,and if you think there is at who's expense? Yours??? I got another Idea you go tell the state you will take them under your wing and when they do this again, you can go to prison along with them....
pba
I am a man of the cloth. I fear no judgment of man. We are commanded to turn the other cheek. Judge not lest you be judged. Leave it up to God to reform these individuals. All things are possible through our savior.
J.J.
J.J. these Men are not gentlemen as you seem to call them, and there is noway to reform people like this, their criminal record is as long as your house,first of all I blame the state for this, because Connecticut is suppose to have a 3 strikes law, but they are far past that, and the state of Connecticut still allowed them to walk to the streets,to cause more problems,which THEY DID end up doing,and would surely do again!!!! Another noticeable sign they can never be reformed, they plead NOT GUILTY,even know they were caught while trying to run from the police in the victims vehicle,that should tell you right there, that they will never find god and never change their lives, besides all that after what they had done to this poor family, they shouldn't get another chance to cause harm to anyone ever again. I also believe holding them in prison for the rest of their lives isn't very smart either since our tax dollars have to feed them, I think the death penalty is what they need, since they will never see the outside of a prison again anyways.....
PBA
PBA,
I hear your concern and I read your words which contain wisdom. Yet the words I must speak are words of divine inspiration that sometimes fly in the face of what we consider logical. In the Lord, all men are capable of being saved. Some admittedly need more work then others. But putting these men to death will serve no purpose other then to remove them from our eye sight.
I advocate not that these men escape punishment. Perhaps reform within prison walls shall take their entire lives. But to kill another man because he has killed certainly is not the path to our savior's justice.
J.J.
No reform for the truly wicked, J.J.
If it happened to you, would you sympathize, sorry evil exists, good poeople find it hard to fathom this. stick up for them as long as its not you or your family. unfortunately, some people only learn the hard way. Prison was way too easy for these pure evil people, after the first time get tougher, make them fear commiting a crime.
Update 10-5-10: Steven Hayes, 47, was convicted of capital felony, murder, sexual assault and other counts by a jury that heard eight days of testimony.
Just cause some don't learn should no one ever get a second chance?
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