Father-of-two, 25, sentenced to life for stealing a POWER TOOL - Louisiana

[Liberal_in_LA]

Father-of-two, 25, sentenced to life for stealing a POWER TOOL: Thousands of inmates are being kept behind bars due to 'over-sentencing'

Patrick W. Matthews was jailed in 2009 at the age of 22, for stealing a $750 welding machine in Lousiana
He was convicted under Habitual Offender Law - because he robbed a fruit stand as a teenager with a drug problem
3,278 people are incarcerated in the U.S. for minor offenses and 65% of inmates are black, according to ACLU

The family of a young father have revealed their heartache as he serves a life sentence - for stealing a power tool.

Patrick W. Matthews was jailed in 2009 at the age of 22, for stealing a $750 welding machine, some tools and a generator, according to court documents. Matthews, who has a history of drug abuse, was sentenced to life in a Louisiana prison for his crimes.

His case has come to light after a report was released this week by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which shows the shocking number of non-violent offenders who are facing the rest of their lives in jail for relatively small-time offenses.

-------------

Matthews, who had been using meth and heroin since he was a teenager, was sentenced under Louisiana's Habitual Offender law.

The harsh sentence came because the young man had prior convictions - one for stealing from a pawn shop and another from a fruit stand while he was a teenager and high on meth.

Matthews had never spent a day in jail before he was sentenced to a life term.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2507331/Family-man-given-life-parole-non-violent-crime-stealing-power-tool.html#ixzz2kg9cuf5P

[GReedDiamond]

1. That prison sentence spounds pretty "cruel and unusual" to me...nt

[TheDebbieDee]

11. This is what happens in a society where many prison systems are "for profit".....

They'll lock someone up for life over bullshit - to the tune of $77k per year!

[Warpy]

27. It is. A long enough stretch might get him off drugs, though

The people I feel sorriest for are the wife and two kids.

Life in prison needs to be commuted down to something reflecting habitual petty theft, which all his crimes to date have been.

3 to 10 would do it, the 3 if he gets his ass into NA meetings and manages to learn any kind of trade and clean himself up.

Otherwise, he's not going to live very long.

[GReedDiamond]

28. Really? Up to TEN YEARS for a $750 fuckin dollar theft?...

...even THAT is cruel and unusual.

Fascism has many faces.

[Warpy]

29. It's a long string of petty thefts

Those are the kind of guys that make our lives miserable, they prey on the poor and on small businesses. Remember, these are only the things he's been caught for.

Three years is reasonable for that. Ten would be if he remained an asshole in prison and hurt people.

I'm just thinking of a friend many years ago, supplying his habit by theft even though he held down a full time marginal worker job. He'd have been very lucky to be sentenced to a long stretch away from drugs. As it was, he OD'd and died at 23. It might have been intentional.

Even loaded, he was smart as a whip and one of the funniest people I've ever known.

[AtheistCrusader]

30. Over $500, theft is a Felony.

Sounds like the welder was owned by a pawn shop in this case, but that could have otherwise been someone's livelihood. Two of those items in his last theft crossed the Felony threshold. The generator theft certainly pissed off the owner, she testified about it in court.

That said, the mandatory life sentence is ridiculous. Waste of money, waste of his potential, not to mention a pretty big injury to his family.

[Niceguy1]

32. hmm, yes.

It is more than $750. If someone stole my generator, welder amd tool, I don't think I could replace them. Then what???????????.

Or how about a single mom who has her car stolen?


Non violent crimes can be devestating to the victims

[cali]

35. yeah, that's the ticket. Life imprisonment as drug treatment.

Our system of "justice" and our prison system are far more criminal and cruel than this guy's petty thefts.

[Major Nikon]

81. Drug policy in the US is one big circular argument

Drugs destroy lives! Therefore we are going to put you in jail and destroy your life!

The idea that any 12 step program is the panacea to addiction is just as ridiculous.

[bluestate10]

2. I can see public service and forcing him to pay back the money over time, but

putting the guy in jail for life? That is fucking stupid.

[gopiscrap]

8. I agree, nobody should ever be jailed for life for a non violent crime

in fact in most cases I don't anyone should be jailed for a non violent crime.

[Niceguy1]

33. even for stealing and destroying

Someones car? Say a poor single mother who is barely getting by? No jail time??? Really?

Crazy

[bluestate10]

52. The punishment should be proportional. Putting someone in prison for life for

something that amounts to petty theft is a serious mistake.

[Decaffeinated]

36. Ridiculous...

White collar crime that wipes out people economically?

Theft that destroys a business?

etc.. etc...

[eqfan592]

82. Jail time, especially in US prisons, is ineffective when it comes to...

...rehabilitation, which needs to be the primary goal.

[silverweb]

3. "...with liberty and justice for all."

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]How far from that goal we have fallen!

[Tx4obama]

4. These 32 People Are Spending Their Lives In Prison For Nonviolent Crimes

These 32 People Are Spending Their Lives In Prison For Nonviolent Crimes

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024024896

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. thanks for the link

[PeteSelman]

5. And yet people are getting nothing and next to nothing for rape.

It's really sick.

[Scootaloo]

10. Well, when your culture glorifies violence, denigrates women, and regards property as holy...

These are the results you'll get.

[PeteSelman]

12. Too true.

It's depressing.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

20. yep, that's about the size of things.

You are sooooooo right. Sickening.

[gopiscrap]

7. yet in Alabama some scum bag raped a neighbor 2x when she was a child

and once when she turned 18 and only got a fine an community service.

[morningfog]

9. Man mins and three strikes laws should be ended everywhere.

They are arcane and cruel.

[TheDebbieDee]

13. These are staples for the "for profit" systems...

These laws insure there will be a steady flow of hapless inmates that they can house for $77k per year.

[polly7]

19. I've never understood those laws at all.

I remember watching a trial on Court TV once for someone who would be getting his third strike for something non-violent ... and actually gasping when they came back with a jury guilty verdict, and the judge then sentencing him to life in prison. I couldn't believe it. This was a young man who had a family crying for him in the courtroom and for whom therapy/addiction counseling would have probably made all the difference in the world.

This story is just as sad. Those poor little kids.

[russspeakeasy]

14. Holy shit ! He's white. And he still got life ??

[jmowreader]

23. He's also poor

Nonrich is as big a crime as nonwhite.

[russspeakeasy]

25. Yes it is.

[Sgent]

55. Louisiana's multiple offender law

is nuts.

If you are convicted of a 4th felony, you go to prison to life w/o parole. No one -- no the judge or even the DA, have the power to commute or shorten that sentence.

[A Little Weird]

15. Insane

Surely we can do better than this.

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. YAY for the prison for profit industry in the 'land of the free and home of the brave'.

Proud to be an American!

[90-percent]

17. Medival

This is as horrific a thing that can be done to a human being. Why not be honest and draw and quarter the poor guy or pull his limbs off on the rack?

This is simply cruel and unusual punishment. And a terrible injustice. But America has learned well how to monetize injustice and turn it into a "profit center".

-90% jimmy

[mountain grammy]

18. If there's any organization in America that needs our support, it's the ACLU.

the peoples' lawyers.

[penultimate]

21. I can't think of any non-violent crime that justifies a life sentence

Not even corrupt bankers, sorry guys and gals. Not to come off as too bleeding heart, but wouldn't that money be better spent trying to give these habitual offenders better opportunities? I know you can't force people to change if they don't want to, and some people will continue to commit crimes even if they are offered the best rehabilitation program ever devised, but they still shouldn't get life. Longer sentences, I suppose, but not life.

[scheming daemons]

37. Bernie Madoff? i think life is appropriate for him

[Fumesucker]

41. True, he stole from the wealthy, that is unconscionable n/t

[morningfog]

71. No. Not even for him.

[defacto7]

79. He was a public fall guy.

That's all. It's like the emperor who gives the thumbs down to appease the populace. There are many like Madoff at one level or another but when the public wants justice they are appeased just enough to think the job was done when one bad guy goes down. If he deserved a life sentence, then the other thousand like him do as well.

The point is it's a game. There is no justice in a life sentence unless the person is a physical danger to the public and can't be rehabilitated or premeditated murder.

[cascadiance]

42. The problem is that many non-violent crimes are felonies to help those doing them get arrested...

What many fail to understand when the prison industrial complex and other similar special interest groups push for us to have 3 strikes and mandatory sentencing laws, etc., is that not all felonies are violent crimes, and therefore shouldn't be dealt with equally as a "path to a life sentence" the way that some of these special interests espouse they should be when they get them passed.

I know for a fact that in many states shoplifting is a felony for what many reasonable people earlier felt was a way to allow for pragmatic citizen's arrests of shoplifters by store detectives or other store personnel when they catch someone stealing, so that they can hold them until police can arrive to take them in to custody if they feel the act of stealing warrants them pursuing having that person arrested. If shoplifting were a misdemeanor, in many states store owners/personnel could do nothing to stop them without a police officer present. You could imagine in those situations how so many real criminals would realize this and we'd have rampant stealing in stores in this economy without those kind of laws in effect. That or a huge police presence in almost every business you walked in to. I think there are some states that have a certain non-violent felony category of laws to fit in between those defined as misdemeanors (traffic and parking tickets) and more violent felonies. In those states, if they were to have a three strikes law, perhaps having drug possession and shoplifting wouldn't count towards a three strikes sentence or something like that, and you might have a better rationale for such three strikes laws in those cases.

I understand this because I used to work as a store detective and this was made clear to us to ensure we knew when we could make a citizen's arrest and when we couldn't and how we had to do it, etc. So, even though there were perhaps reasonable motivations for defining shoplifting as felonies earlier, the subsequent efforts to put in three strikes laws were either ignorant of these side effects, or purposefully manipulative to grow the prison population as is being done with so much other legislation by those lobbying for the prison industrial complex.

[Thinkingabout]

22. This has not been the only white man in Louisiana to 35 years for committing the same

Crime three times. It is a shame he did not seek treatment for his drug problem rather than committing crimes. I doubt there will be much treatment while he is in prison. Bad decisions on his part.

[morningfog]

26. Bad decisions, sure. Deserving of life in prison? Absolutely not.

[Thinkingabout]

43. A thief does not get high marks in my book, especially when they steal from hard working people and

do not return the items to those who have worked hard. The hard working people does not deserve to be stolen from and stealing does not serve good people well.

[morningfog]

56. That may all be true, but life in prison for it is barbaric.

[defacto7]

80. Who decides who is hard working and who is not?

Who decides who is lying and who isn't, and if they are correct in their assumption? Who decides who is emotionally or mentally ill and who is not? Who decides who is desperate to feed their family and who is not?

The court in these cases decides nothing... period. It's out of their hands. It's the unjust law of the wealthy and powerful politicians and business interests that make the absolute laws that can't be judged or appealed. These are laws from the dark ages... literally. And they have not worked!

[Thinkingabout]

83. Would you assume the thief who took the welding machine to be hard working in stealing from others?

Or would you assume the person who purchased the welding machine originally worked hard to pay for the machine. Have you ever welded? Welders are hard working, it is a hot job and has dangers. The thug who steals the machine prevents the owner from feeding his family and earning a living. Did the thug steal to feed his family? BTW, the thug had prior arrest for theft when he was 17, it probably was not his first time to take possession of other peoples property. If you want to join in a group and collect money to pay back those these thugs has stolen from and destroyed their property, then by all means do so but do not expect law abiding citizens to like the fact someone wants to steal. You get yourself into the court system and prison by misconduct, breaking laws, and not being a law abiding citizen. Go and cry on the shoulders of the thugs in prison, they need money added to their accounts while they are in prison.

[defacto7]

84. I agree with some of your statement...

My point is, no one decides anything. It's simply live or die based on an immutable rule. A system based on absolutes, on/off, in/out, live/die, black /white, is to live like insects. Yes, insects are very successful as an organism but what is the value of their life? Nothing. No thinking, no choices, just slaves to their programming.

You make a lot of assumptions about people's lives and how they live all of which is anecdotal and as an anecdote I can relate. We may be right, we may be wrong, but I wouldn't want you, me, our system, or the personal beliefs of groups making anecdotal choices about the fate of individual human lives. That would be reducing us to the judicial systems of the dark ages... or even insects. That is where America is going compared to other western societies who are far more successful at rehab and justice than we are here in the US. Many European countries have continued where we left off, where as the US has turned the clock backward and have become hugely unsuccessful. It is hurting all of us and it's making more criminals than it is curing.

[Thinkingabout]

85. Yes there are choices and some make the wrong choice. Being sentenced to prison is

A means to remove from society those who do not conform. There are facilities where one can go to detox, they have programs to work through to assist one in the recovery process but even in those programs far too many times the person agrees to go in order to get past a prison term and they don't work the program in their favor. They leave and go right back where they were before the treatment began. So, remember there are programs for rehabilitation but there are many failures and drop outs.

[defacto7]

86. A few questions....

Why does the system of rehab fail here in this country?

Why would someone not choose to follow through with rehab then repeat offed if the alternative is death in prison?

Why does the LWOP not work?

Why should innocent people be sentenced to LWOP because they didn't lie about the real culprit and the truly guilty go free in maybe 3 years?

Why do you in truth believe what you read about the person in the OP?

Why is a non-working system that convicts innocent people without judgment, puts non-violent acts by a teenager on the same level with premeditated murder, and allows aggravated child sex offenders off without confirmed rehabilitation, a system to support for the safety of US citizens?

If you answer any of these questions with other than "I don't know" or admit it's a problem and supply your idea of a solution, then I'm sorry... I would doubt your understanding of the problem.

[Thinkingabout]

87. If I am not mistaken this guy was convicted under Habitual Offender, you have to be arrested

Three times under the same offense, in other words he was arrested and charged three times for theft. The difference in someone arrested and convicted with murder and getting a lighter sentence is again the one arrested for murder, rape, etc on the third time would fall under the habitual offender and would also be subject to the LWOP. One could have a conviction for DWI, one for rape and one for theft and would not be under the habitual offender but three for the same charge would be habitual offender.

[defacto7]

89. ...

[AtheistCrusader]

31. In three years in prison, he's completed his GED and a drug treatement program.

[Thinkingabout]

44. Did he make the person he stole from whole and did the person he stole tools from lost wages from

the theft of their tools? It is good he received drug treatment but running as a thief is not good. His freedom has been taken because of his crimes. How about all who thinks one should not do the time for the crimes committed work hard to repay those stolen from and then take in those who have stolen to care for them?

[AtheistCrusader]

45. Insufficient detail.

Were the victims injured to a level that warrants a life sentence in exchange?

[Thinkingabout]

46. Why should the general public be subject to life of having those who thinks stealing is okay, what

about the life sentence of the good people who are being forced live with thieves?

[AtheistCrusader]

48. I'll start with the 8th amendment. Nevermind general human compassion/hope for

an individual to better themselves/recover.

The three strikes rule, as applied in this case, has no eye whatsoever for the idea of rehabilitation.

[Thinkingabout]

49. We should start with not stealing in the first place, he did not learn the first time so

It was okay to steal again, did not learn the second time so he tried it again. BTW, these are the times they are caught. Where was he taught it was okay to steal? Why should innocent people support his drug habit? What good is it to those he stole from, did they get the benefit of him stealing their possessions? Sorry a thief does not get sympathy from everyone.

[AtheistCrusader]

50. Sympathy != Compassion.

Addiction is a bitch. No two ways about it.

I do expect people who do things like this to pay for their crimes, but is a life sentence really commensurate with 3 incidences of theft?

Really?

[Thinkingabout]

51. Oh, are you thinking of sympathy and compassion of the person who was robbed? If you are thinking

About the person who had their property stolen, yes I have sympathy. How much sympathy do you have for the person who lost property?

[AtheistCrusader]

53. Quite a bit. I take a very dim view of theft.

In fact, I was the first to point out that the welder might have represented someone's entire livelihood, in this thread.

I also pointed out the victim was quite upset, for the generator theft.

I note you do not seem interested in answering my question, despite my answering yours.

[Thinkingabout]

59. Is the sentence strong? let's see if i can answer this again. There was a charge of theft, did he

Cease his stealing, no, there was a second charge, did he cease his theft, no, he was charged for a third count. In Louisiana they have a rule three strikes and you are out. Must nit have been a problem for getting a big sentence for he was charged a third time. These are the times he was charged, it is possible he stole on other occasions. If you are complaining a fourteen was raped and the scumbag got off, it is more than terrible, unfortunately there are too many scumbag judges who apparently thinks it is just fine to rape and it be excused. It is a man's world, rules made by men and they must think this is a privilege they are entitled. Again the scumbag probably was not on his first rodeo and will offend more, I do not think it is proper for this "privilege" to be stolen either.

[AtheistCrusader]

70. Two of the charges occurred within minutes of each other.

Some of it was felony theft, so I by no means take this lightly. That charge puts a dent in your civil liberties from the word 'go'.

Still. LIFE. That seems wildly disproportionate. That's not even a sliding scale, compared to the first charge/sentence.

[morningfog]

58. I think your "thinkingabout" is an act.

[Thinkingabout]

60. Are you properly named, how do you find my name is an act if you are in a fog, my goodness.

[morningfog]

57. HAHAHAHA. That is hilarious.

Comparing petty theft with a life sentence in prison. Bullshit.

[Thinkingabout]

61. yada, yada, yada

[morningfog]

62. The tough on crime act is right wing bullshit and counterproductive.

And it is inhumane.

[Thinkingabout]

63. Your fog is showing through again, you don't know what you are talking about, in fact you are

Sounding a lot like Shame Hannity and Rush, just throw some out and for some you can convince you are right. We don't need a nation of thugs.

[morningfog]

64. You support a hardline extremist position.

You should expect and welcome the ridicule on DU. Be proud of your hate.

[Thinkingabout]

66. I can take the ridicule, that's nothing for me, it seems you might be a bit out of step. I don't

Like living with thugs, if they have the inability to live in a society where others are respected then they need to be removed so we don't have to live with them in our presence. Once the lesson is understood perhaps they can return to society. You are taking a hard line also so expect to be ridiculed also.

[morningfog]

67. I am shocked at your lack of understanding.

How can the "lesson" be shown to be understood when they are sentenced to life. Parole chances in most states is a joke. Life is life with little to no second chance.

You are going to live with thugs. Harsh sentences like three strikes law do nothing to change that. Three strikes laws do not effectively deter. They do not reduce crime rates and they are not the best approach to reduce recidivism. Instead,they overcrowd prisons, make them less safe and do nothing to rehabilitate offenders. It is dark aged thinking.

My line is rationality, reality and empathy.

[Thinkingabout]

68. You think I have a lack of understanding, perhaps understanding there is a three strike

And I might add this is a three strike for the same charge and not for three different charge of different natures and I go and do the same charge for the third time, it is not I who has a lack of understanding. We should be living in a civilized nation, if one can not conform and they are sentenced to a life term it is not the fault of the rest of society. This is a big problem, one gets by with doing whatever they please and we should understand, no, it is time to take responsibility for one's actions, don't expect to continue being a thug. You believe what you want, I will continue with what I believe.

[morningfog]

69. I find your positions abhorrent and antithetical to liberalism and human decency.

The sentence structure is absolutely the fault of society. I guess you love mandatory minimums across the board?

I don't know how someone can honestly support life in prison for non-violent crimes. Sick, sick, sick. You should visit a prison sometime or talk to a former prisoner. You have no fucking clue what you are talking about.

[Thinkingabout]

72. So you think I have never visited in a prison, wrong again. Human decency, do you find a thief with

human decency? I don't, you find my position abhorrent and antithetical, then your positions is the same. You are questioning the wrong person, I did not do the crime.

[morningfog]

74. How do you feel about an eye for an eye?

Forced labor? We should just give life for a single robbery, don't you think?

[Thinkingabout]

75. Perhaps if this guy had been more interested in working (laboring to some) rather than collecting

items from folks who worked (labored) hard to obtain then he might not be in a position of labor in prison. I doubt you can understand the importance of human decency, understand there are boundaries. What does a thief think, if there is something available in which I can steal and turn the money for my use then this is what they must do? Human decency, remember a thief does not have this ability.

[johnlucas]

24. I have been robbed recently but I don't think a thief should spend life in prison for theft

Should thieves go to prison? Yes.
But should thieves go to prison for life? Hell no!

I have been robbed (burgled) recently & just got word that they found somebody who they believe to be the thief.
If the evidence holds up, I want that jackass to do some time.
But if the court system in my area sentenced my burglar to life in prison, I would be THE FIRST ONE standing up for the thief to get a fairer sentence.

Make the punishment fit the crime.
And when you think about child rapists who don't get ANY time in prison...
Alabama Man Won't Serve Prison Time for Raping 14-Year-Old
...you begin to wonder if we need a total overhaul of the entire U.S. "Justice System".
John Lucas

[Thinkingabout]

54. You have to remember "fit the crime", the life sentence was not for a crime, it is for the habitual

Offender sentence.

[morningfog]

65. You have to remember that habitual offender laws are arcane bullshit.

I can't believe someone on DU thinks that this guy or the many like him deserve life in prison.

[Thinkingabout]

76. What he does not deserve is some else's possessions.

[morningfog]

77. I'm done with your tripe. Adios.

[Thinkingabout]

78. Good

[Scuba]

34. He should have stolen a few billion dollars. Then he'd be paid a bonus with taxpayer dollars.

[Lodestar]

88. Amen. White collar crime pays. n/t

[B Calm]

38. Tax payers should be outraged!

[CFLDem]

39. I have low tolerance for unrepentant criminals...

Let him out when he changes his tune.

Ideally prisons should be places of reform where criminals can learn new skills and discipline while working to recompense their victims.

But nope we like them to be places where criminals may learn to better criminals so we can keep profiting from locking them up.

[Rex]

40. In this day and age, it makes sense that the worst of us

get bailed out by the govt (after stealing on a massive scale) and the least of us get sent to jail for life for shoplifting.

[MountainLaurel]

47. Sure it has nothing to do with the prison-industrial complex here n/t

[davidn3600]

73. Private prison industry LOVES these "Habitual offender" laws

They actively lobby for such laws.