One of the things I am learning in prison is the extensive amount of time women are incarcerated for in relation to their crimes they were sentenced for. Within a Federal Prison Camp, most women incarcerated are here for drug related crimes, conspiracy charges, or white collar crimes, such as fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion, PPP loan fraud, or other non-violent crimes. Occasionally, such as within the prison I am serving time in, there will be inmates here who murdered someone, or had violent crimes, but are at the end of their long prison sentences, and spending their final 10 years or so at a prison camp such as this one. There is only one “Max” level women’s prison in our country.
Before coming to prison, I was told not to ask why a person was incarcerated for. Within this particular prison, most women either share why they were incarcerated, or look you up on the law library if you are evasive to the reason and share it with anyone anyway. What is fascinating to me is the length of time people have gotten for their crimes, which seems excessive for most cases. For example, People who sell drugs or are the chemists behind creating synthetic drugs like K2, are here for 10, 12, 15 years or longer. Within a prison camp, there really aren’t many rehabilitative programs to attend, so you are put to work (if they are available), and have to have the initiative to find things to do to prepare for life outside the prison walls. One such inmate here, who made K2 back home in Georgia, shared that going to County Jail and seeing people detox on the very drug she created, as well as seeing inmates in prison addicted to K2 made her realize that the life she had making that synthetic drug harmed other people. She decided to send out for information to become a paralegal while incarcerated, and working on obtaining her law degree. If people are exposed to the harm they caused, as she was, and given the opportunity to improve the lives of others while serving their time, I believe we would have better outcomes than what is offered presently- which is nothing.
There are many cases here of people who fraudulently obtained PPP loans during the CoVid-19 pandemic. People who have stolen millions of dollars received a wide array of sentences from a year and a day to over 10 years, depending on the judge who sentenced them, who they knew, and how well their legal team did defending their case. We all know there are elected officials who also took out unlawful PPP loans, and were never convicted of a crime. It’s truly fascinating to see hypocrisy at play here. As I have stated in a previous post, if you accept a plea deal and plead guilty, you are also likely to get less time. Women incarcerated here who shared with me information about their cases and went to trial were subjected to really harsh, lengthy sentences because the court felt they were not “accepting their crime”. Those who plead guilty, or were threatened to at the risk of a longer sentence, still have lengthy sentences based on “mandatory minimum guidelines”. There are some women in here on conspiracy drug charges who either refused to give up, or did not know who the “ring leader” was in the drug case they are tied to, or, were abused by a partner and threatened if they testified against them- regardless, the conspiracy charges are lengthy and unjust IMHO.
In my white collar case, I first plead “Not Guilty”, and then because my lawyer refused to call witnesses on my behalf, and did not obtain the evidence needed from 7 years ago which would have proved my innocence (because the clinic claimed it was destroyed or no longer existed), I was told to plead “No Contest”, as I maintained my innocence. I was sentenced to 21 months, and owe $24k in restitution. Others, who plead Guilty, received a year and a day sentence for millions of dollars stolen from organizations. I have since submitted a 2255 for lack of effective counsel for my case, although this process takes awhile to be considered. The judge in my case said that if I would have just “plead guilty” I would be on probation instead of being incarcerated. I refused to plead guilty to charges and statements made against me that were erroneous. I had asked for home confinement in my statement to the judge at sentencing, so I could continue my work in serving with AmeriCorps, aiding the Homeless and those with substance use disorders, and care for my ailing father in law, who has cancer, as well as pay back the $24k in restitution quicker. Additionally, I intended on appealing my case, knowing it takes many years to get through that process. The judge felt, however, that it would be best served to incarcerate me, even though I do not have any criminal history, nor was my crime that I was accused of violent or any danger to society.
With a felony conviction, there are already many limitations to a person in place. Incarcerating people with white collar crimes, and those with drug related addictions make no sense to me. For a white collar criminal, having a label as a “felon” will already limit your ability to find work after your sentence. An alternative to incarceration should be some sort of community-based service, and home confinement. Lord knows we need more service to our communities. This will save the taxpayers and the federal government millions of dollars a year, and enable the person who was convicted to contribute to society in a meaningful way. There are no true “rehabilitative” avenues for an incarcerated individuals within the BOP walls. Why should tax payers spend over $15,000 per year incarcerating people when they could instead have the person who committed a crime do something meaningful for the community instead? The BOP doesn’t adequately care for those who are incarcerated, as they say they do not have the funding for facilities (like this one that has been condemned by the state of Kentucky 4 times), food, clothing, medicine, adequate health care, mental health care and more. Most people who have never been incarcerated will say, “If you don’t commit crimes, then you won’t have to worry about things like this.” I disagree vehemently with this retort, as I personally have experienced first hand how unfair the “justice” system is, and from a human standpoint and as a Christian, you don’t just throw away people like this. Persons who are incarcerated are still PEOPLE. People who are incarcerated are still someone’s child, mother, father, sister, brother, and loved one. Those who sit at the front row of church are often the very first people to ignore the very book they quote and throw people in prison away, but I digress.
For those with substance use addictions, there is no IOP, or PHP treatment within the federal prison system. Inmates addicted to meth, heroin, cocaine, K2 and more must detox in County Jail, and then receive suboxone at this prison. This doesn’t truly help those with substance use disorders. At at prison camp, there are “drops” that people can get drugs brought in from the outside, thus enabling those addicted to continue with their drug use. This particular prison has a rampant drug abuse problem. Why give someone a multi-year sentence for a substance use disorder, when the system itself is failing them? The stigma of drug addiction, I believe is part of the problem. There was once a show on Hulu called “Dope Sick”. I watched it during the pandemic, and it inspired me to join AmeriCorps and try to serve the very patient population that Purdue pharma harmed within the opioid epidemic before I was even indicted. The two and a half years I spent serving others in Emergency Rooms in Cincinnati and giving back to the unhoused and substance abuse patient populations turned my life around. That work, and the leadership within the organization was the most meaningful work I have done since serving the in the United States Air Force. Now, I am living with the very patient population I was serving in AmeriCorps. Those suffering with a substance use disorder should not be incarcerated, they should be treated of their medical condition, and have their social determinants of health addressed and supported. If our elected leaders want to actually fight the “war on drugs”, the current system of incarceration needs to be eradicated, and an alternative treatment option should be in place.
Once released, and in establishing a non-for-profit called ASAP (Advocates Serving All Prisoners), one of the three goals of the organization will be to work with community leaders and elected officials to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences, as well as close all low/minimum security camps. Utilizing the examples I wrote about above, as well as the outlined cost-saving measures and detailed plans of rehabilitative/restorative justice for the community I have designed while serving my time here in prison, it is my hope that we will help change sentencing guidelines once and for all. Should you know of any resources or community groups aligned with what I am proposing in this post and can share them with me so I can collaborate with them, I would greatly appreciate it. You can share their name, address, phone number and email here, or can mail it to me at:
Carolynne Parker 69123-510
FMC Lexington Federal Medical Center
Satellite Camp
PO Box 14525
Lexington, KY 40512
Have a great week!
Carolynne
