Monday, March 7, 2011

Eligible for a Pardon Application???

No, not if you are still incarcerated, according to the staff at the Governor's mansion. I'm told for anyone to receive an application, they must be eligible and to be eligible they must not be incarcerated. They also need to be free for 7 years and no longer on parole. Well, that pretty well means that no one is eligible to be pardoned based on this Governor's, Haley Barbour, policy. How does that policy apply to the men he has pardoned who were working at the Governor's mansion when pardoned? It doesn't because the Governor can do what he wants to.

How does it affect the women who are incarcerated? Terribly because they don't get to work at the Governor's mansion.

To summarize, the Governor has broken his own policy by pardoning men (see the information here) who work at the Governor's mansion AND women are discriminated against because they aren't afforded the same opportunity to work at the Governor's mansion. Yes, he pardoned the Scott sister's but that in and of itself has many people wondering about his reasons for doing so. Hmmm, any thoughts on that?

Graduation at CMCF

I attended a graduation Friday at CMCF and must admit I was pleasantly surprised. The staff was very friendly. The atmosphere was completely different than on visitation days. I'm grateful that MDOC gives this opportunity to the individuals who have chosen to further their education under these circumstances. We all know that continuing education can be hard anywhere but to do so in a prison where the noise would be overwhelming when trying to study is truly an accomplishment. I am very proud of all the graduates.