The prisons are too overcrowded to keep everyone in,Plus all the prisons have bad health care. There should only be long sentences for violent criminals and not have long prison sentences for Drug addicts and thiefs.

Alex Davidson posits a special right for a crime victim to see the criminal suffer to a degree that somehow balances the crime. I don't believe this right is based in the U.S. Constitution, and it certainly is not based in the Bible (which mandated cities of refuge, and which allowed money reparations for personal damage).

The purpose of law is to protect and regulate and benefit society. Civil law allows the recovery of damages, but criminal law has no legitimate business exacting vengeance on behalf of victims or their proxies.

As Zogg points out in his desire for vengeance, his daughter cannot be brought back to life, regardless of the pain inflicted upon her perpetrator.  At the same time, it is a tragedy that our system's only notion of justice is one of "just deserts," which can in never truly be satisfied (it cannot undo past transgressions) and only result in the loss of more lives. How can we seek a different justice in which victims search for healing through alternative means than retribution; means that do not depend solely on what happens to the perpetrator, but reparations and healing for victims and their families?

In addition, inmates even inmates who have been released after serving full sentences have difficulty transitioning back into life in the free world, in part due to lack of community support.  Our communities have to be prepared to support the transition from institutionalization to life in the free world.  Inmates leave prison with nothing and often have nowhere to go.  Finding a home and an income as well as the emotional and psychological support needed to move from a total system to an ever changing postmodern world is an ethical question we should be concerned with as well.

At age 68, from what they tell me, if I was in prison, and

had to be released into the society.....I would have no where to go. The backlash of the laws in the 80's is going to see

more and more senior citizens and death inside the prisons

Very costly to the public. I advocate a humane way of prison rehabilitation.

If each of my friends and family could forward this to one or two people quickly, we could change this perhaps.

This is a glaring example of who we are keeping in prison! This poor women never harmed anyone and was convicted and denied parole based on the threat she posed! I personally have never considered an 85 year old sick person a threat to myself or any member of my family! It is irrational to consider she was denied parole so many times.     Eighty-eight years old, nearly blind and deaf, her mind enfeebled by Alzheimer’s and in the terminal stages of kidney failure, Helen Loheac had hoped to spend her last days at Crossroads, Inc., a transitional home for formerly incarcerated women in Claremont, Calif. For 10 years, Crossroads had been waiting to take her in.
A protest a couple of years ago called for the release
of elderly prisoners like Helen Loheac.
But a few months ago, when Loheac shuffled before the parole board seeking compassionate release, after serving nearly 19 years behind bars on a conspiracy-to-murder conviction, the board told her she would be a risk to public safety if she were freed.

On Jan. 5, Loheac, the oldest female inmate in California’s prison system, died of pneumonia in a hospital near the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, where she had been incarcerated. She was shackled at her waist and ankles, two guards at her bedside.

Loheac, known for her sharp tongue and wit, has become the poster person for the widespread practice in California’s prisons of inhumanely incarcerating the elderly, some of whose bodies are so withered that even simple daily chores become overwhelming.

50 states, several thousand county District Attorneys, and countless victims and relatives of victims, as well as wrongly accused and found guilty - what does this add up to? A system that is not a single system at all. The only unifiers have been the US Supreme Court and the 50 state Supreme Courts. None of them have agreed on whether you can age out of punishment just because of your age. The man charged with shooting and killing the guard at the national Holocaust Museum, is over 80 years of age. Does that mean he should be set free after a trial?

Some 30 states and the US Prison system have given up on parole as a means to deal with how and wheather people have changed.

Is there an easy answer? I wish there was but it seems there is not - except to say that the juries and judges, as well as DAs need to figure out what they are really trying to accomplish with a sentance at the front end - look tough; protect public, punish, rehabilitate?

The "lifers" I've met were some of the most kind, caring, people I've ever met, deeply concerned about each other and their families and those who have been hurt by their actions, and anyone else they meet who is sincere, and about what is happening in the world. They have worked deeply on themselves and been through years of programs that have brought them deep healing, earned degrees, helped innumerable others in and out of prison. They struggle with the issues of guilt and the responsibility they have taken on as a result of their crimes; with whether and how much suffering and/or service is enough to balance out what they did. And yes, many of them should never have been in prison or for so long; having made one stupid mistake when they were young, or having been with someone else who perpetrated a crime that was never intended, or having had bad representation in the court system. They have received terrible health care; the food they eat would kill me in a month. The gross and petty cruelty they endure on a daily basis is abominable to me; I don't think I could survive it.

Administrators and staff of these prisons who are so deeply indoctrinated that all of the prisoners are bad people and con artists often cannot see when that is not true; they do not see when an inmate has truly changed and even when they do see it, they cannot do anything about it nor change their behavior toward them; they too are incarcerated in the system. Elected officials who are sympathetic to the problems faced by inmates will for the most part, not do much to change them; being terrified to be seen as "soft on crime" and losing their positions. 

I cannot imagine going decades and decades never being able to get out past the barbed wire, never walking on a beach or through the woods, never being hugged or touched with tenderness. The strength and courage the inmates I know exhibit is incredible. Some become like saints, sparkling and loving and healing to all who have the honor to be in their presence. They would be a great asset to society if they were released. Yet they die alone without friends or relatives, or chained to beds in hospitals, from diseases they should not have gotten or that would not have festered if they'd been cared for properly.

As for victims and their families, not all of them are angry, and revenge doesn't heal anger or bring relief. They too need a deep healing process that is not provided by the system. And there are now some programs that bring healing and forgiveness and completion, that could be instituted widely.

When a perpetrator and a victim can fall into each others arms in true resolution, then will society be healed. The present system does not promote that, but CHANGE is in the air. Let us question all of our previous assumptions and re-evaluate all of the systems that are not functional, and create a new world where the traumas of the past can be healed and all can flourish and grow.

I don't think anyone should have to spend the rest of thier lives in jail.  The elderly and aging should be let out to have a chance at life again.  These people just made mistakes, so what?  Everyone does.  Sure, their mistakes were worse, and had dire consequences, but they were still just mistakes.  Twenty years in jail after making one mistake on one day in their lives is more than enough.  Do you really think they're going to make the same mistake again after twenty or more years wasted in jail?  I don't.

Absolutely, release elderly prisoners!  What a lot of freedom/justice-loving Americans don't know is that the US imposes some of the harshest, longest prison sentences in the world. The more modern nations recognize that there is no need to keep the elderly in prison. No one is talking about releasing mass murderers, but about allowing common sense to replace our brain-dead Get Tough On (fill in the blank) approach.

Our political leadership has never been accused of using common sense; nothing will happen unless we push hard enough.  We very simply cannot afford the prison state we've built over the past quarter-century. NO other nation imprisons a greater percentage of its population than the US. Injecting some common sense into the justice system would save the government billions of dollars -- and that's an argument that most legislators can understand..

May God Bless the Zogg family and their daughter--I hope peace and happiness can be attained with such a tragedy.

 I have a brother in Pennsylvania serving a life sentence. I have advocated for parole reviews for those convicted with second degree murder charges. Why second degree? In the Crimes Code Statutes of this Commonwealth under Title 18-Chapter 25-section 2502 it describes first and second degree murder as two separate acts. The proposed parole reviews must be based on merit and only those convicted in the second degree. Like Ilinois, the 25 years served and 50 years of age must be attained.

 As far as costs to the public dollar, the costs keep soaring by adding more and more cell space. Quanity of cell space does not equal quality of inmate. If the Zogg family can accept the fact that Corrections is a business first and justice comes second, may be the forgivness after 25 years can be attained.

 In our state of Pa. corrections costs have surpassed higher education tuition aid. This is just unacceptable in our Great Nation and I ask where is the outrage? My brother is now 51 years of age and after 32 years of mostly good time and accomplishments, he is breaking down due to being diabetic. My brother Ken was recently turned down by the Pardons Board for a public hearing. Being as fragile as he is there is not much left in his natural life. He is a felon forever and society will only view him as such. My prayers are with the Zogg family.

Absolutely, release elderly prisoners!  What a lot of freedom/justice-loving Americans don't know is that the US imposes some of the harshest, longest prison sentences in the world. The more modern nations recognize that there is no need to keep the elderly in prison. No one is talking about releasing mass murderers, but about allowing common sense to replace our brain-dead Get Tough On (fill in the blank) approach.

Our political leadership has never been accused of using common sense; nothing will happen unless we push hard enough.  We very simply cannot afford the prison state we've built over the past quarter-century. NO other nation imprisons a greater percentage of its population than the US. Injecting some common sense into the justice system would save the government billions of dollars -- and that's an argument that most legislators can understand..

PLEASE check out "Restorative Justice"! It is a growing movement that seems to have better results than business-as-usual, aka "Punitive Justice". Here's a link about restorative justice in Brazil.

http://bit.ly/tcjdD

Many people are in prison who don't belong there. Each case should be investigated and release those who have not committed violent crimes regardless of age. Those who have murdered in cold blood under special circumstances should have a real close look before they are paroled. House arrest would be OK with being allowed to go back and forth to work for most prisoners who are elderly.

I agree. Everyone needs to support Jim Webb's bill "National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009" - This will look at everything that is wrong with our Justice system and propose solutions. In my opnion one of the Criminal Justice issues that needs the most attention is marijuana law reform. Now is the time to AT LEAST drcriminilalize this substance which is proven to be less harmful than tobacco or alcohol. Everyone please let your representitives know that supporting marijuana reform is not "political suicide," and now is the time for change! However you must be the change that you want to see in this world, so please, help change these unjust laws.

I agree with Owen Morgan bout supporting the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009. Let's LOOK at these issues with a mind to what is right. Decriminalizing the "personal" use of marijuana would go a long way to prevent NEEDLESS incarceration of our young people.

Also, I think it's important to look at each case individually during sentencing. If it is a non-violent crime, let's stop sending people to prison for YEARS & YEARS. What a waste of a life and tax payers money.