re: Visited the Angola Rodeo and Craft fair and was amazed what I saw. Can good come from bad?

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If one of these pieces of detritus raped your daughter or home invaded your elderly parents you would want them skinned alive

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And so I say skin them alive. Flay them while they scream. I’ve already said I think heinous crimes deserve heinous punishments. You don’t have very good comprehension.

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Any glorification of these shite rags is a slap in the face to the victims of their atrocities.

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So acknowledging that even broken and damned men can create beauty in an ugly world is glorifying them? The world of art and literarature and music is filled with people who may have done terrible things to our modern mores. Does that make what they produced any less worthy?
Does the source of something determine its value?

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That said our penal system does a terrible job at identifying those that can be reformed and segregating them from those that likely can't be reformed and offering them the tools to become a productive member of society.

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I agree. And maybe what makes men “bad” is largely situational. You give a man purpose, a skill, a craft, and the ability to better his lot in life using that, you have someone that contributes to society. You take that same man and put him in a world where learning and building and creating are seen as weakness, where destruction and degeneracy and dependence are celebrated...well rot spreads even to decent fruit.

Now the real question is, if you take the pieces with a bad spot out of the rot, clean them up and cut out the corruption...will the pie you make with them still be bad?

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There are short timers even in Angola.

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I have to admit i’m Largely ignorant to what gets one put in Angola compared to other prisons.
I know they have the rodeo and most of the inmates seemed free to move around and be regular, normal people. So i’m Assuming they weren’t deemed any immediate threat to the visiting public.

Isn’t there some 3 strike law that can put you away for life? I’m interested to learn more about what I experienced today.

Could be i’m Completely naive and misguided and that a momentary glimpse of sociable behaviour by the inmates completely clouded my mind to the fact that they are all irredeemable scum who should all ride old sparky.

So if i’m Wrong, i’m Open to education

I think maybe some of my thought process is influenced by my constant consumption of history and literature.

History has shown me that the world was made by flawed men. Some evil, sure. Others caught up in the wave of circumstance. I think all men are capable of great evil and of greater good. I know that throughout history, there have been “good” men who committed dastardly acts, and “evil” men who showed humanity and compassion.

And in literature...the redemption arc is often the most human. I think of the Hound from Game of Thrones.

A ruthless killer, a murderer, a thief...and yet through experience and life and tragedy he’s come out the other side of the fire a changed man. A force of...well, maybe not good, but of justice.

Or maybe i’m Wrong and the world is black and white and bad is forever bad.

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Bucky Lesseigne shot my cousin execution style in the back of the head after my cousin caught him stealing in the store that he worked.

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See...i’ve Got this warped sense of justice. Something like that...where you’ve got indisputable evidence, the cruel execution of an innocent man defending his property, then let him dance a jig at the end of the rope before the echo of the gavel ends.
Doesn’t matter if he makes art that would put Rembrandt to shame.

Life for a life.

Don’t lock him away and make the taxpayers responsible for his room and board. Snuff out his candle even if It might shine some light eventually.

But I don’t think everyone in there has the same story and think there are men more innocent than guilty in that place too. I don’t have that much faith in the justice system.

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that stuff is kinda cool but wtf are you going to do with it? Its just going to sit around collecting dust and get in the way. When you move they are going to be yet another thing that has to be packed and then found a new spot at the new place.

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A ship like that I’ve wanted for a long time. The ones I found online were chintzy and cheap and the ones that weren’t were very expensive. House flooded so I’m renovating and have a perfect spot that adds to the ambiance.

Trackhoe is really an incredible piece of woodwork. All articulated, even the tracks. Got a real good deal on It and it’s something my dad will love, I think. I’ve never gotten him a Father’s Day present that’s made him seem actually appreciative and I think this may actually achieve this.

Other things are gifts or pieces i’ve Got specific plans for. Things i’ll Use. I’m trying to be more spartan and get rid of clutter and replace it with things I actually enjoy....but i mostly agree with the sentiment.

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Also think they are getting a bunch of stuff from china and then the prisoners take origin stickers off and do a little something to make whatever it is a little rustic. And don't tell me the integrity of the Angola officials is above buying stuff to sell.

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Didn’t seem that way by my Ken, about the items. And I know for a fact that the officials do that. Hell I thought about it myself.

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my impression of it all was exactly the same...prisons always strike me as one hell of a waste of humanity. the talent that those guys in angola posses is really unbelieveable....and few of them will ever see freedom again.

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Not only that, but those who serve their sentence and pay their debt to society, who actually rehabilitate and learn a trade, when they get out their options for gainful employment are limited because of the felony charge on their record.

An anecdote.

Years ago I worked with a guy doing tech system installs. Dude was smart as a whip. Anything electronic he could have laid out, organized, troubleshooting issues he could foresee in the future and addressing the issue then instead of just saying frick it and going with the original plan and letting someone else deal with the problem later. Dude would design and build labor saving devices in his free time to make the job more efficient. And i’m Talking pretty technical stuff. Like building a line locator from spare parts. He had hustle and drive and ambiton and the skills and smarts to back it up.

Lots of driving time and chatting and it turns out he did time in the state pen. IIRC was with someone boosting some tools or something, petty shite. Got caught and there was a weapon (that might have been a tool or something), caught an armed robbery charge. Did a better part of a decade in prison. Learned skills and educated himself and eventually got out on parole. I guess that was why he was so good at installing security stuff, because he knew how to think like a thief.

Anyway i kept up with him even after I moved on to a better job. Guy was always making moves to try and better himself, buying equipment, starting a small business. Always tinkering.

And he’d Get interviews, blow them away, get hired and immediately start fixing stuff that didn’t work, damn good worker, reliable and efficient...

Until the background check would come back.
Had a felony, sorry, bye bye job.
Had a little business (liscensed and legit) subcontracting for another company, I think that skirted the felony stuff...flood comes and ruins everything.

Still been doing what he can but it seems that no matter what his present is, what skills he has now, time after time he either loses or doesn’t get a legit job because of a debt to society that according to the state has already been paid. Kind of a catch-22. Doesn’t surprise me that the recidivism rate is high when even those who have served their time are hamstrung from finding honest work.

There has to be a better way to rehabilitate people and make them productive members of society again

FR33, if you haven't seen it watch "The Creative Brain" on Netflix. It's a 1 hour documentary on how and why humans think creatively.

There's a segment on teaching prisoners (in Lafayette, LA), how to utilize their own creativity and how it helps them personally heal and grow.

It made me second guess my own feelings about incarcerated people who made bad decisions in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure they need to pay their debt to society, but they are not all animals who should be locked in cages (Oh yeah, some are). They can be capable, creative and artistic people; especially when taught properly how to tap into their innate creativity when they've been told otherwise their entire lives.