Florence Prison Blues
Alternate, more vulgar title, Rudolph the Red-Assed Prisoner. (yeah, I'm sick) Apparently, Olympic and abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph is finding life behind bars to be less than what he hoped for. The man who bombed the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (killing 2 and injuring 111), two abortion clinics and a predominantly lesbian nightclub. A total of four people were killed and hundreds injured. He then evaded capture for five years by living in the mountains of North Carolina living off the land and from the support of the extreme right-wing milita community. Two country songs were written about him and one t-shirt saying "Run Rudolph Run" in support of the whackjob. He was arrested in May 2003, pleaded guilty in April 2005 and was sentenced to three consecutive life terms with no hope of parole. He was sent to the Alcatraz of the Rockies, which has been mentioned here before. And he's not happy there.
Well, that is the basic diea of prison. It's not supposed to be happy in there. He is now claiming that the supermax system is giving him "diabetes, heart disease and arthritis" as well as driving him insane. He said "Using solitary confinement, Supermax is designed to inflict as much misery and pain as is constitutionally permissible." Well, it's a good thing he understands what it's there for. He is kept in a cell 23 hours a day, let out for one hour to exercise in an empty pool that is caged off. Meals are fed to him through slots and the guards take extra precautions that would make Hannibal Lecter cringe. All in all, it's a shitty existance that is really expenseive to maintain. Then again, this is the kind of treatment we reserve for the worst of the worst offenders of American law and sensibility. Men like Zacarias Mousssaoui, Ted Kaczynski and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman are kept there to ensure they can't kill anyone else. Yes, all these men are killers or attemtped killers of large amounts of people, specifcally, Americans. And, well, they tried to kill Americans, the American judicial system tried them. And short of death, this is the best we got. In some cases, this is worse than death since it's really hard to be a martyr if you're still alive.
So, Mr. Rudolph complains that life in prison is giving him all kinds of medical conditions. This assumes that the years he spent living like Daniel Boone tried to get away from had no effect on him. He spent five years living in the mountains, living on roots, nuts, twigs, berries and whatever else he could. He spent nights in the cold, the hot, the wet and the generally pretty bad. He probably did not see a doctor, dentist or any other medical personnel more highly trained than Herb down at the local general store. He claims that the prison he's been in for about a year and a half is doing more damage than the years living like our ancestors who died at 35. Note, Eric Rudolph is about 40 years old. So, he spent the better part of his thirties living worse than Boy Scouts.
Honestly, he is, in a lot of ways, living better now than he did on the run. He gets three square meals a day, regular medical care provided by the government, a roof over his head and floor under his feet. While, yeah, being locked up for 23 horus a day does suck, he doesn't deserve any better or worse. We're taking care of him, feeding him, clothing him and ensuring he has a nice long life. Hell, he even gets people like MamaRanter complaining he and other prisoners in the Supermax system are not being treated well enough. He's getting support from the Christian militia types who think that the existance of homosexuals is an affront to God. He bombed an abortion clinic to prevent abortions, which would have officially been irony if he ended up killing a woman who was there to get an abortion and got charged with the murder of the fetus. He's about the worst kind of person we can still produce in this country. He's got a cult-like following that were encouraged to carryout more bombings and other acts of violence.
And well, it's good to know we have a place for spreaders of hate and violence.
So it is written, so do I see it.
Well, that is the basic diea of prison. It's not supposed to be happy in there. He is now claiming that the supermax system is giving him "diabetes, heart disease and arthritis" as well as driving him insane. He said "Using solitary confinement, Supermax is designed to inflict as much misery and pain as is constitutionally permissible." Well, it's a good thing he understands what it's there for. He is kept in a cell 23 hours a day, let out for one hour to exercise in an empty pool that is caged off. Meals are fed to him through slots and the guards take extra precautions that would make Hannibal Lecter cringe. All in all, it's a shitty existance that is really expenseive to maintain. Then again, this is the kind of treatment we reserve for the worst of the worst offenders of American law and sensibility. Men like Zacarias Mousssaoui, Ted Kaczynski and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman are kept there to ensure they can't kill anyone else. Yes, all these men are killers or attemtped killers of large amounts of people, specifcally, Americans. And, well, they tried to kill Americans, the American judicial system tried them. And short of death, this is the best we got. In some cases, this is worse than death since it's really hard to be a martyr if you're still alive.
So, Mr. Rudolph complains that life in prison is giving him all kinds of medical conditions. This assumes that the years he spent living like Daniel Boone tried to get away from had no effect on him. He spent five years living in the mountains, living on roots, nuts, twigs, berries and whatever else he could. He spent nights in the cold, the hot, the wet and the generally pretty bad. He probably did not see a doctor, dentist or any other medical personnel more highly trained than Herb down at the local general store. He claims that the prison he's been in for about a year and a half is doing more damage than the years living like our ancestors who died at 35. Note, Eric Rudolph is about 40 years old. So, he spent the better part of his thirties living worse than Boy Scouts.
Honestly, he is, in a lot of ways, living better now than he did on the run. He gets three square meals a day, regular medical care provided by the government, a roof over his head and floor under his feet. While, yeah, being locked up for 23 horus a day does suck, he doesn't deserve any better or worse. We're taking care of him, feeding him, clothing him and ensuring he has a nice long life. Hell, he even gets people like MamaRanter complaining he and other prisoners in the Supermax system are not being treated well enough. He's getting support from the Christian militia types who think that the existance of homosexuals is an affront to God. He bombed an abortion clinic to prevent abortions, which would have officially been irony if he ended up killing a woman who was there to get an abortion and got charged with the murder of the fetus. He's about the worst kind of person we can still produce in this country. He's got a cult-like following that were encouraged to carryout more bombings and other acts of violence.
And well, it's good to know we have a place for spreaders of hate and violence.
So it is written, so do I see it.