Guest Writer: Rocky – Tough Break

Rocky has a year left to serve at Safford, Arizona. He was sentenced for two separate cases: burglary and aggravated assault.

I was in Yavapai County jail in 2005, waiting for sentencing. There was a guy there just arrested for D.U.I. hit and run. One of the victims was a young boy, 10 years old, paralysed from the neck down from the accident.

The guy was looking at 25 to life as a sentence. He was on the second tier in my pod. I sat and watched him tie sheets together, and wondered what the hell he was up to. Just then, he walked out of his cell and tied one end of the sheet around his neck, and the other to the top rail of the upper tier.

The guy did a swan dive off the top tier. The length of the sheet was right to hang himself, but he didn’t take into consideration the 2 ½ foot high picnic table below. He hit the table with his knees. The sheet tied around his neck so hard it sounded like a shotgun blast.

The irony of the whole thing is the impact broke his spine. Now he is a quadriplegic. Is that justice or what?

As this is Rocky’s first blog for Jon’s Jail Journal, your comments and questions would be greatly appreciated.

If you know a prisoner who would make a good guest writer for Jon's Jail Journal, please email me at the address below.

Email comments and questions to writeinside@hotmail.com or post them below. To post a comment if you do not have a Google/Blogger account, just select anonymous for your identity.

Shaun P. Attwood

5 comments:

Chris H said...

Good stuff - keep it coming

Chris H

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your first post Rocky. we look forward to more posts. Please pardon my twisted sense of humor, and this is in no way intended to disrespect anyone, but I thought the post was kinda funny. The irony of the inmate getting what he did is justice indeed, but I had to laugh at how it played out. Man, I could picture it. Thank you and hope to see more posts. A little bio on yourself would be appreciated as well. You know, the usual rundown, how much time, quick background history, plans for the future upon release, etc. -Jose in San Diego

Anonymous said...

I certainly see the poetic justice in your post, especially with such as sympathetic victim as a young child. However, although the guy screwed up and further compounded the situation by fleeing, I would wager that he did not set out that day intending to cripple someone, even though he was criminally negligent by drinking and driving.

By comparison, consider somebody who committed assault. Most likely, they did intend to commit a crime and to cause harm to another. In the prison sense of ironic justice, would it be considered fitting that this person was assaulted himself, or is it the case that certain classes of crimes are just "OK"?

Chris H said...

I always say an eye for an eye.

What ever crime's comitted should be comitted against you - preferably by the victim or their family...

But then I'm a bastard...

Chris H

Sue O. (aka Joannie, SS) said...

Rocky road down that path, Chris. Thankfully human justice is not the end of things. Interesting thoughts, Rocky.