Moving women, not going anywhere.
November 3, 2002 9:34 PM   Subscribe

 
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posted by The Jesse Helms at 9:35 PM on November 3, 2002


It's interesting that the one question that I think most people would want answered -- What did you do? -- isn't on the standard fact sheet. It's fair; prisoners don't want to be reduced to their crime. But it's a hell of a detail to have unanswered as the whole relationship begins.

My guess is that most of these women got sent up for dealing drugs. The whole thing is very, very sad -- mostly for that reason.
posted by argybarg at 9:53 PM on November 3, 2002


This site would be a lot more fun if they told you why they're in prison.
posted by Smuj at 9:53 PM on November 3, 2002


There's lots of things to do for prisoners besides responding to their personal ads: start here.

Although, I must say I consider writing him every day (via art is for losers). I do know two women who've met men in prison and married them... of course the wedding was behind bars, not something I've always dreamed of for myself.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 10:02 PM on November 3, 2002


The whole thing is very, very sad -- mostly for that reason.

Yes it is sad that they made bad choices and broke the law.

This site would be a lot more fun if they told you why they're in prison.

Or for how long. I mean if you wanted meet someone wouldn't you want to know when?
posted by hama7 at 10:12 PM on November 3, 2002


Goddamn this is sad. Virtually every white male is into nothing but the blue collar vocations and hobbies; Classic cars, Harleys, Fishing and hunting (though they were never probably well off enough to do much of either very often).

There must come a time when we recognize all this for what it is. And what is it? I propose that it's the failure of American society and a byproduct of capitalism. We banish the undesirables away for crimes that even we would commit were we as desperate as one would be were we poor, relatively illiterate and had desires. And then they emerge from their time in the hole, still assenting to the classistic natural law that has supplanted any real humane morality. They and we make excuses for those that profit off of their desperation and incarceration. It's sad as hell. None of these people have any odds at all in their favor, that when they get out, they won't sink back into crime, violence perpetrated against their loved ones or abject depression at the realization of a life wasted away. And for what? They never had anything in the first place--hence look at what they're into, absolutely nothing that engages the mind (all their lives they probably never did). But in their hearts and minds they must live till the day they die knowing what societal refuse they must be.

And on preview (hama7): we still just make up these just-so stories to make the rife capitalistic-dehumanizing of all, on the lower rungs, compatible with the compassion of Jesus we learned in Sunday School.

Happy Valentines day you lovers of humanity out there.
posted by crasspastor at 10:30 PM on November 3, 2002


I'm not understanding why it's sad for someone to go to jail for breaking the law, espcially if what they did happened to cause harm to others. Actually I'm thinking it's a very good thing, and there's a lot more people who get away with (sometimes literally) murder who also should be in there and aren't because of technicalities. That's what's sad.

Having said that, while they're paying their debt to society, they might as well get the chance to meet people.
posted by Jubey at 10:30 PM on November 3, 2002


Release date: 07-07-02? It's right there.
posted by y2karl at 10:35 PM on November 3, 2002


My hobbies include snowboarding, jet skiing, all winter sports, volleyball, sky diving, and football.

She does all that in prison?
posted by iamck at 10:43 PM on November 3, 2002


What's sad, Jubey, is that crime rates have been falling steadily for decades, given an occasional uptick related to the economic situation, and yet fear of crime keeps rising and rising--a fact not unrelated to the local evening news, shows like Cops and America's Most Wanted and every TV crime-related drama.

And it's not related to the number of people imprisoned--the rates in Canada are dropping at the same rate and they're not hellbent on locking them up. People aren't getting away with murder--but if you watch enough TV, you think that.

The bulk of the people in prison are not in for violent offenses but usually drugs. Drug laws are structured so that you can reduce your sentence by rolling over on people which means that that the littlest fish--the girlfriend who makes a call for her dealer boyfriend but has nobody to rat out--get the longer sentences. We have the highest per capita prison population outside of perhaps Russia or China. That's what's criminal.
posted by y2karl at 10:47 PM on November 3, 2002


It's interesting that the one question that I think most people would want answered -- What did you do? -- isn't on the standard fact sheet. It's fair; prisoners don't want to be reduced to their crime. But it's a hell of a detail to have unanswered as the whole relationship begins.

Oh, often you don't have to look too far:

"That Pinellas County scam was run by Jan Weeks-Katona, who was convicted in 1994 of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to murder the federal judge who put her out of business. No charges were brought against Johnston."

Honestly, though, if you're going to date an inmate, why not pick one with a PhD in juris prudence?
posted by tweebiscuit at 10:56 PM on November 3, 2002


I propose that it's the failure of American society and a byproduct of capitalism.

Yow! I guess Marxism would cure us all eh? Marx was really nice to his prisoners. The gulag was almost as spiffy as Club Med, right?

while they're paying their debt to society, they might as well get the chance to meet people.

I'm not so sure, actually, that prisoners being pinished for criminal activity deserve the equivalent of "Ladies Night at the Holiday Inn", but maybe that's just me.

Release date: 07-07-02? It's right there.

Sorry. My mistake. I guess I was so disgusted to find myself looking at a singles website for prisoners that I bashed the backspace button a little too soon.
posted by hama7 at 10:56 PM on November 3, 2002


Rats. Botched. Should read: "Stalin/Lenin was really nice..."
posted by hama7 at 10:59 PM on November 3, 2002


I can't stop wondering who got cut out of this picture. An ex-husband? A son?

I guess I was so disgusted to find myself looking at a singles website for prisoners...
Yes, that's it. Get snippy at y2karl, who (A) didn't post this, and (B) didn't make you look at it.
posted by hippugeek at 11:14 PM on November 3, 2002


"I'm very outgoing, family-oriented and ambitious."

Not to mention completely naked.

God knows what kind of letters this poor woman receives, but presumably they're along the lines of what Miggs would say.
posted by Ljubljana at 11:25 PM on November 3, 2002


Let's compare this thread to the one at Fark.
posted by hama7 at 11:51 PM on November 3, 2002


Hama7:
The problem here, is that you think socialism, Marxism, communism, socialist utopianism, and the system implemented in the USSR are the same thing, when they are all very different things.

The USSR had a ruling class. It had unbelievable inhumanity and cruelty as a result of both that and of having a population that was not ready to handle the responsibilities that come with a non-capitalist system.

Marxism might be the cure, socialist utopianism would DEFINITELY cure us all, if we were all smart enough and sane enough to achieve it. The system that Stalin/Lenin implemented and all systems by men such as those and especially any system that arose out of the bloodshed they caused is not properly Marxist, and is certainly not going to cure American ills.

When you use the USSR as an example of all anti-capitalism you make the mistake of an astronomer looking through his telescope and declaring that all celestial objects are planets like Venus. They aren't, and you could hardly have picked a worse example because it makes the uninformed less likely to support the study, exploration, and idea of living in the heavens.
posted by Ryvar at 12:20 AM on November 4, 2002


I know you might think I'm being argumentative hama7, except I'm not. I fully designate "capitalistic-dehumanization" for the tenor of fark's sausage-party messageboards. Symptomatic case in point. i.e. Nobody gives a shit. It's open season on all of us. There is no longer any societal sense of shame. We all dwell in our own little computer rooms, pimped-out vehicles, lonely old ages and we make excuses for ourselves by interspersing any real compassion for anyone at those times our compassion cannot be seen by anyone who might judge us. Publically we are all asshat sheep. Privately, we're all shivering cold, uncertain and not all the way "complete".
posted by crasspastor at 12:22 AM on November 4, 2002


and there's a lot more people who get away with (sometimes literally) murder who also should be in there and aren't because of technicalities. That's what's sad.

Not to pick on you, Jubey, but that's just not true. Here, from 1999, is Land of the free or home of the meek?, an article in the Guardian about fear of crime and the authoritarian trend in American politics that was alive and well long before 9/11. It makes a passing reference to Barry Glassner's The Culture of Fear--a must read if there ever were one.
posted by y2karl at 1:36 AM on November 4, 2002


"What did you do?" isn't on the standard fact sheet

Nor "Are you likely to do it again?"

... a hell of a detail to have unanswered as the whole relationship begins.

The dynamic looks very risky: the rose-tinted personal descriptions are understandable, but the lack of reality makes it easy to fall into a rescue fantasy. My overwhelming feeling on reading these ads is sadness, which makes me wonder if some emotional button is being pressed.
posted by raygirvan at 1:50 AM on November 4, 2002


Activities in prison: Reading, gym, rec, substance abuse, watching tv, church.

Dear me, all this complete frankness is making me feel faint.
posted by Sallyfur at 2:17 AM on November 4, 2002


The problem here, is that you think socialism, Marxism, communism, socialist utopianism, and the system implemented in the USSR are the same thing, when they are all very different things.

Yes, they are like "true Islam": they do not exist in the same way that "utopia" does not exist. Human nature seems to rear its head when dictatorial theocracy takes over the developmental process.

There is no longer any societal sense of shame.

That's where you err, sir. Families and parental responsibility are the foundations of society, and when they fall into dysfunction, so does society. Is this really a newsflash? Do you propose inflicting a "sense of shame" onto "society" as is the case in North Korea?

The individual responsibilities of a free secular society are much greater than those in a (soundly failed as often as it has been introduced) Marxist one.

Further, to blame the prison population on "the failure of American society" is perhaps treatable with medication. I hope it is, in any case.
posted by hama7 at 3:30 AM on November 4, 2002


Further, to blame the prison population on "the failure of American society" is perhaps treatable with medication.

- or at the very least a long jail sentence.
posted by johnnyboy at 4:39 AM on November 4, 2002


This reminds me of a thread at fuckedcompany.com where people managed to track down some of the mug shots of the women listed on one of those inmate dating sites.
posted by MegoSteve at 5:58 AM on November 4, 2002


And, of course, none of the links in the thread work anymore. Ack.
posted by MegoSteve at 5:59 AM on November 4, 2002


Ok, this is all getting a little OT here. I've got a funny feeling the capitalism vs. marxism debate is unlikely to be settled in a mefi thread, but hey, can't blame you for trying...

If we can return to the lay-deez in the hoosecow for a moment...how come I have to cough up $3.00 to write to Bonnie, but I can write to Clyde for nowt? Oh, except for this girl , who's giving her address for free.

Who gets the cash, the prison, the inmate, Arlen Bischke? In short, what gives?
posted by backOfYourMind at 6:14 AM on November 4, 2002


I looked at the link and said "How did this get here?"

Then I looked at the first comment and said "Oh."
posted by languagehat at 7:51 AM on November 4, 2002


You're so genteel, languagehat. We are all impressed.
posted by four panels at 8:04 AM on November 4, 2002


Marxism might be the cure, socialist utopianism would DEFINITELY cure us all, if we were all smart enough and sane enough to achieve it.

This is the kind of arrogance I want to control me. Forget my freedom to make decisions for myself and work hard to make a life, I want the smartest and most sane to decide what is right for me because of course they know everything. They know for certain that the laws of nature which govern capitalism are incorrect and there is a better man made way to manage scarcity.

We banish the undesirables away for crimes that even we would commit were we as desperate as one would be were we poor, relatively illiterate and had desires.

Being that we subsidise the poor, plus that through freedom a person born poor doesnt have to stay that way and the fact that we provide public education to all, the desperation to commit crimes could possibly stem from something else. I'll just take a stab in the dark and say lack of morals.

One of my family members is serving a 2 year term in prison right now. This is a woman born to fairly weathly middle class parents, who has had all of the oppurtunity in the world to make a decent honest life for herself and failed. She has been arrested 3 times for charges related to her ongoing heroin addiction. Her last arrest and crime she is paying for, is the reslult of theft and assult to support her drug habbit. Her non-existent poverty did not drive her to be a drug addict but her immorality and lack of disipline did. I know this isnt every single case but it is absurd to blame the wrong created by one person's selfishness on the selfishness of the entire society.

In one sense I think that this type of dating operation is wrong because these people who are being punished should be denied most privelages. But also if it is something that can lead to and promote rehabilitation than it is a good thing at a low cost to all involved.

posted by Recockulous at 8:27 AM on November 4, 2002


four panels: Not trying to impress you, or prove my gentility. As a matter of fact, I've known about this site for quite a while, having been shown it by my jovial officemate, and I have nothing against it as a farkish amusement. But when I feel farkish I go to Fark, and when I want more nutritious items, I go to MetaFilter. As a jovial Irish writer once put it:

"When I makes tea I makes tea, as old mother Grogan said. And when I makes water I makes water...Begob, ma'am, says Mrs Cahill, God send you don't make them in the one pot."
posted by languagehat at 11:36 AM on November 4, 2002


Why is it some people think that every prisoner in our jails only committed their crime(s) due to poverty or a bad childhood? When Fastow and Martha Stewart show up to serve their terms, will you still peddle that line?
posted by billsaysthis at 11:36 AM on November 4, 2002


Being that we subsidise the poor

What? Did you miss the memo?--by far the folks we subsidize the most are the richest of the rich. Commit a burglary, rob one person and get caught--go to prison. Rob hundreds of thousands via something like the savings and loans looting--get a slap on the wrist, maybe serve a few months at Club Fed, stay rich. If Martha Stewart ever goes to jail--and you know she won't--she'll be in a luxury box, you can count on it.

And let's be as harsh as possible to the people in prison--they deserve it. Yeah, right, like the half of the people on death row in Illinois who turned out to be innocent--they deserved to be treated worse than dogs. Acting out of this stick-it-to-them mentality is currently our only socially acceptable form of gratutitous sadism. It does nothing to make us safer--indeed, the meaner we get to prisoners, the meaner they come out.
posted by y2karl at 11:55 AM on November 4, 2002


Someone please let me know as soon as Winona's ad shows up.
(Winona just kidding baby your lawyers will get you through this etc etc)
posted by 111 at 1:12 PM on November 4, 2002


four panels: I'm more than impressed; I'm in total agreement. Blah.
posted by Zulujines at 2:41 PM on November 4, 2002


Female addresses are $3.00 each, while the male inmate addresses are free.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:27 PM on November 4, 2002


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