Two former prison guards, Shawn Freeman and Wesley Lanham, have been sentenced for federal prison for 14 years and 15 years respectively for allowing inmates to rape an 18-year-old locked up overnight on traffic violations. U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves sentenced the two in an important — and rare — punishment for the prison rape — a largely ignored epidemic in our prisons.
Freeman, 31, and Lanham, 36, were former guards at the Grant County, Kentucky Detention Center. They teased the teenage about his slight appearance and told him that he would be made a “girlfriend” of other inmates. They then solicited the other inmates who raped him. They then falsified their reports. The teen was accused of speeding and fleeing a police cruiser on Feb. 13, 2003.
A third guard, Clinton Sydnor, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Lanham and Freeman. Reeves was sentenced him to seven years and six months in prison.
For the full story, click here.
I am delighted when JT doesn’t look tired.
Who cares if he looks ‘well-fed’ on TV.
In reality, he is at least 10 pounds ‘under’
ie quite ‘normal’.
Mark has been branded a coward at this site. Fact a coward dies thousands of deaths.
Isn’t anyone going to come right out and say it? Okay, I will then. Mark, the professor is gorgeous on TV, and he’s so smart he doesn’t need to be.
I have a feeling you spend a lot more time looking at Rush and Rove. Why don’t you go fix them?
OH OH! At least some in the media are getting it:
It raises the specter of notorious Chicago politics, an image Obama has tried to distance himself from during his career.
There were signs the continuing investigation could still involve him.
His statement that he didn’t have contact with Blagojevich about the Senate seat seems to conflict with that of top adviser David Axelrod, who told Fox News Chicago on Nov. 23: “I know he’s talked to the governor, and there are a whole range of names, many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.”
Obama transition officials say Axelrod misspoke.
It also appears that Obama friend Valerie Jarrett, an incoming senior White House adviser, is the person referred to repeatedly in court documents as “Candidate 1.” That individual is described as a female who is “an adviser to the president-elect” and as the person Obama wanted appointed to the Senate seat. Court papers say that “Candidate 1” eventually removed “herself” from consideration for the Senate seat.
In a Nov. 11 phone conversation with an aide, Blagojevich talked at length about “Candidate 1” and said he knew that Obama wanted her for the open seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. (Expletive) them.”
One day later, Jarrett, a Chicago businesswoman who is one of three co-chairmen of Obama’s transition team and was a high-level adviser to his presidential campaign, made it known that she was not interested in the seat. And, on Nov. 15, Obama announced that Jarrett would be a senior White House adviser and assistant for intergovernmental relations.
Obama has maintained a cordial but distant relationship with Blagojevich during the governor’s tenure. He supported his fellow Democrat for re-election in 2006, even though the governor backed someone else over Obama in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary race in 2004. Obama has said little about the many misconduct allegations that have piled up against Blagojevich, and he has complimented Blagojevich for running “a sound administration” with “the right priorities.”
Obama’s circle of major Illinois political allies and supporters is largely separate from Blagojevich’s, with two major exceptions. Both Obama and Blagojevich got extensive money and support from Chicago businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who is now under federal indictment. And Obama is close to Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, who has been the governor’s staunchest legislative ally.
At least one top aide to Obama, Michael Strautmanis, previously worked for Blagojevich. Obama has appointed Strautmanis to serve as White House chief of staff to the presidential assistant for intergovernmental relations and public liaison. The Chicago native was legislative director and counsel to Blagojevich when the governor was a member of Congress and then helped Blagojevich win the governorship in 2002. There is no indication that Strautmanis is involved in the case.
More details on the case could be forthcoming.
Court documents say they don’t include all calls dealing with the governor’s efforts regarding the Senate seat appointment. And many people in the documents are referred to by aliases; there’s little doubt their identities will eventually surface.
In Chicago, Obama largely kept a low profile as word of Blagojevich’s arrest spread.
more at apnews.myway.com/article/20081209/D94VG39G0.html
As to the guards, Rumpole might be correct that what goes around comes around.
Buddha,
I think these trolls are really one or two different people who are blogging under several names. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are paid by some miscreant, but I have no evidence of that. The only thing that I know is that they do not aid in the discussion that goes on here and they should stick to their facebook pages.
pssttt . . . wake up . . . psst, hey, the secret to not being a troll is to wake up . . . psst . . . (pokes troll with pointed stick) . . . hey, wake up . . .
What I find interesting is that JT attracts trolls at all. Not as a personal affront to JT, this is a popular blog and our host a fine fellow, but traffic wise you’d think the trolls would stick to more populated watering holes. Better hunting in a target rich environment. Not only is Res Ispa off the beaten track, the wildlife here is hostile if not dangerous to trolls. Given that a certain percentage of trolls are such because they suffer from borderline personality disorder or some other pathology and will choose targets for their own reasons. Given that some of our trolls have multiple identities. The conclusion I come to is that to merit attention at all, there must be something they fear in JT’s interpretation of the Constitution or perhaps they just make it a point to harass all of guests of The Big Giant Head, Keith Olbermann. I suppose it’s an honor in a way. They are of generally poor quality though – tangential arguments at best, no staying power, weak diversionary tactics, poor logic. That’s a reflection on them though, not the blog. They should start off hunting small game before coming to where the wild things are. The thing I like best is the pure futility of trolling here. Either they are very brainwashed, paid, psychotic, intrinsically evil or some combination thereof. I don’t know what their intent is, but trolling here will not win them any new friends. It may cause some of us to laugh at the trouncing they get, but such is (their) semi-sentient life. It’s hard to be a troll.
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1, December 9, 2008 at 7:05 pm
“I STILL say Turley needs to stop with the candy bars!
He looked like he put on 40 pounds in the last two months”
What are you, Jenny Craig?
Jake,
He’s just a guy that thinks being the loudest voice in the room makes you right.
Who is this Mark? And why does he leave comments that have nothing to do with the subject of the blog-post?
I sure hope he’s not a lawyer
I STILL say Turley needs to stop with the candy bars!
He looked like he put on 40 pounds in the last two months when I saw him on re-write history rachael maddow’s hate fest on MSNBC.
Questions Arise About the Obama/Blagojevich Relationship
Jake Tapper, ABC News
December 09, 2008 3:37 PM
“Obviously like the rest of the people of Illinois I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the US attorney’s office today,” said President-elect Obama this afternoon in Chicago, speaking of the criminal complaint against Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich for corruption. “But as this is a ongoing investigation involving the governor I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to comment on the issue at this time.”
Asked what contact he’d had with the governor’s office about his replacement in the Senate, President-elect Obama today said “I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening.”
But on November 23, 2008, his senior adviser David Axelrod appeared on Fox News Chicago and said something quite different.
While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a “kingmaker,” Axelrod said, “I know he’s talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.”
read more at blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/12/questions-arise.html
What FFLEO said.
steadycat:
“I hope those former jailers will become better people.”
************
They have nowhere to go but up.
This makes me feel bad for that teenager. I doubt he will fully recover psychologically.
I hope those former jailers will become better people.
And people ask …”Why don’t you trust the police?”
All I can say is that the Old Testament will work its way around for these guys. Prison guards are not exactly popular with the general inmate population. Odds are they will need protective measures which may (or may not) work.
FFLeo:
Put me in your corner on this one. Who puts kids in jail for speeding? Why the Bible Belt crowd, of course –aw and order you know. This is despicable, and one can only hope our fine jailers get a taste of the medicine they inflicted on a child. Call me an Old Testament guy in this situation.
I know what ‘Frontier Justice’ I prefer for those two miscreants.
Their punishment was not severe enough since they will be ‘buddies’ with the similar-minded rapists who committed the crime.
People who make mistakes should never become subjected to sexual abuse in prison and reform is drastically needed.