OK.. shit happens to *all* of us. Fortunately, for most of us, most of the shit that happens in our lives might be irritating, aggravating, expensive, but until our final years, not *really* crippling devastating stuff. So some of this shit.. bad meals, uppity waiters, poor service, unsatisfactory entertainment that wastes an evening.. gets Yelped about.
But there is one young man we know who used to live in our neighborhood.. who when he was 18 suffered some really *serious,* crippling shit .. a criminal conviction that never should have happened on charges of a serious crime that most likely was never committed.. but because he was just a poor, inarticulate, poorly represented, undocumented Hispanic kid.. he unfortunately presented just another easy notch on the gun-handle of some hot-shot Santa Clara County prosecutor out to burnish his conviction record. Earl Stanley Gardener, former prosecutor himself and author of the "Perry Mason" stories, in which the innocent were *always* absolved, once asserted that in *real* life.. in his opinion half the inmates in U.S. Jails did not belong there.
That's another story for another time.. after the young man is released (though probably never absolved). .. But in the meantime, he resides at this correctional facility, which is one of *three* correctional facilities, located back-to-back, in the Southern San Joaquin Valley town on McFarland. The correctional facilities there are probably the major revenue generators for the town. Visiting him is a bitch.. long entering process.. and expensive.. Sending him reading material is a bitch..(material can be sent only thru private agencies with special contracts).. and expensive.. and not necessarily reliable.. stuff doesn't always get to him.. Talking to him on the phone is a bitch (phone calls can only be made thru private agencies with special contracts) ... and expensive..
So OK the Golden State Medium Correctional Facility does not deserve the entire blame for our friend's plight. The most outrageous actions in this whole affair were committed by the Santa Clara County DA's office (of 8 years ago), and certain individuals on the the SJ Police force.. But Golden State is certainly part of the problem.. Profiting from the incarceration of our young friend and many others like him, and Not particularly helpful to friends on the outside who are trying to supply him with the support he needs to survive. read more