Prison, stardom and a terrible past
September 25, 2013 2:54 AM   Subscribe

From prison to pro football (~soccer) but hampered by a dark past: how Ilombe Mboyo's rise destroyed the scheme that saved him. Can football help rehabilitate a criminal?
posted by bdz (18 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sadly, proof that not only America can be stupid about rehabilitation.
posted by MartinWisse at 3:36 AM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


I dunno. Accountants who are convicted of helping people evade taxes are generally never again allowed to work as accountants. It would seem to me that this guy's particular crime makes a career are a professional footballer similarly unsuitable.
posted by three blind mice at 3:38 AM on September 25, 2013


Why?
posted by MartinWisse at 3:41 AM on September 25, 2013


I mean, why would having been convicted and serve time for rape, make a career as professional footballer out of bounds? Is it the idea that rape is such a despicable crime that he should continue to be punished for it after leaving prison?
posted by MartinWisse at 3:43 AM on September 25, 2013


I can't help but think a situation very similar to this is in the future of at least one of the steubenville kids. It's just so similar. Gang rape? check, minor at the time? check.
posted by emptythought at 4:33 AM on September 25, 2013


It seems that social and economic forces set in motion over the past few decades have converged, and that our society is moving away from the idea that at least some criminals can be rehabilitated. This is unfortunate for reasons too long to list here, but in this case has had the effect of denying gainful employment to someone who took responsibility for his actions and paid his legally imposed debt, and the cutting of a social program.
posted by Occam's Aftershave at 5:04 AM on September 25, 2013


He served his time..

Did he though? It seems like because of his football skills a decent portion of his time was spent playing soccer... pretty sweet deal if you can get it.
posted by bitdamaged at 5:15 AM on September 25, 2013


I suspect this has more to do with marketing than sportsmanship.
posted by oceanjesse at 5:25 AM on September 25, 2013


Tax fraud is to accounting as gang rape is to football? What kind of garbage analogy is that, three blind mice?
posted by oceanjesse at 5:30 AM on September 25, 2013


It would seem to me that this guy's particular crime makes a career are a professional footballer similarly unsuitable."

Which careers are acceptable for convicted rapists? Binman, perhaps? Or street sweeper? Sewage worker? What if they get lots of overtime and earn too much? Is that acceptable? Or is it the fame that's the problem?

Anyone who receives less than "life" as a sentence is going to get out of prison at some point. Bearing that in mind, it seems obvious that the general welfare of society is better served by turning these ex-cons into citizens. If we don't, it's much more likely that they will continue to behave in anti-social and/or criminal activity. Decreeing from the outset that they can be no better than second class citizens is not helpful in the rehabilitation process.

It's natural for people to resent the success of someone whom they feel does not deserve it. However, if we ban ex-cons from success, we doom them to failure and we doom larger society to suffer the costs of dealing with this failure, over and over again. It's cutting your nose off to spite your face.
posted by Jakey at 5:41 AM on September 25, 2013 [6 favorites]


So three blind mice, are you prepared to kill the guy? Personally, and preferably in some humane fashion?

Your position appears to be that he can never again be a part of society in any form, no matter what he does. So you're effectively arguing that he has to be imprisoned forever, or else he has to be exiled to... someplace where he can never come within x hundred yards of anyone, participate in commerce, or otherwise meaningfully interact with the innocent. In other words, you're arguing that the punishment for his crime is a slow death by starvation and exposure to the elements.

If he was a animal, you'd be put in jail yourself for doing something like that to him (and find yourself similarly reduced to perpetual pariah-hood) so really the only humane thing to do is to put him down the way we put unwanted dogs to sleep.

There's a lot of registered sex offenders out there living under bridges because there's nowhere for them to go. You're going to be busy.
posted by Naberius at 6:19 AM on September 25, 2013


Or, and I'm being deadly serious here, is there a list of acceptable jobs that we can cross-reference against crimes of varying degrees of horribleness?

Rape means you can only work in an electronics recycling facility, breathing solvents and dying young, but armed robbery means you can work in a Wal-Mart once you've made restitution?

And I wonder what sort of crime my job would be a suitable punishment for...
posted by Naberius at 6:24 AM on September 25, 2013 [2 favorites]


It seems like because of his football skills a decent portion of his time was spent playing soccer... pretty sweet deal if you can get it.

Actually, no, that's not what happened. He took part in a scheme to rehabilitate prisoners that used football as a tool and because he was so good at it, he was noticed and ultimately became a professional footballer. But before he could do so, he already had become a model prisoner, according to the people quoted in the article.

Really, his story is the system working. He committed a horrible crime at a young age, got the correct punishment for it, then was rehabilitated and now has a proper job rather than running with a gang.
posted by MartinWisse at 6:31 AM on September 25, 2013 [5 favorites]


MartinWisse, the article says that at some point, Mboyo "graduated" from the rehabilitation program and was on a kind of "work release" (I guess?) in order to attend practices.

As it says in the article: Taking into account Mboyo's good behaviour in prison, an arrangement was then made with the judicial authorities for him to start training with the club. ... "At the time he still had to go back to prison once or twice a week."

Also, dude's still playing football. Still getting crazy-paid, just somewhere else. The real tragedy here is that attention to his crime destroyed a (presumably) effective, cheap, and desireable rehabilitative program.

That sucks.
posted by Poppa Bear at 7:32 AM on September 25, 2013 [2 favorites]


Anyone who receives less than "life" as a sentence is going to get out of prison at some point. Bearing that in mind, it seems obvious that the general welfare of society is better served by turning these ex-cons into citizens. If we don't, it's much more likely that they will continue to behave in anti-social and/or criminal activity. Decreeing from the outset that they can be no better than second class citizens is not helpful in the rehabilitation process.

It's natural for people to resent the success of someone whom they feel does not deserve it. However, if we ban ex-cons from success, we doom them to failure and we doom larger society to suffer the costs of dealing with this failure, over and over again. It's cutting your nose off to spite your face.


It's not about practicality. It's about morality. It's the same reason we demand austerity in the face of mounds of evidence and experience that it's a fucking stupid idea.
posted by Talez at 8:26 AM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


All this talk of life chances, what life chances did the gang-raped child have afterwards? Did they have the opportunity to earn £70 k a week? Interesting that there is all this focus on the perpetrator, and the morality of the situation, and none on the victim. And yes, I RTFA.
posted by marienbad at 9:24 AM on September 25, 2013


No-one, not even the subject of the article, is shedding any tears about the the fact that he was imprisoned in the first place. However, the point of the story is rehabilitation, which is why that's what we're talking about.
posted by Jakey at 9:48 AM on September 25, 2013


This is not just about time, it's about rehabilitation.

He needs to get on, and OWN that sexual violence is always, always wrong. He needs to live that message so loudly that all of his detractors think he does a better job than Tony Porter or Jackson Katz (Look up their TED talks)

Sexual conquest is too closely affiliated with professional athletes, yet there are athletes that have the aura of sportsmanship and exemplary behavior that earn an extra endorsement from many fans. It's about living your life in a manner that satisfies most for forgiveness.

We live with the aftermath of sexual assault daily. He needs to help end the culture that allowed the gang rape to happen.
posted by childofTethys at 5:56 PM on September 25, 2013


« Older Earthquake in Balochistan   |   The Smile in Portraiture Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments