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.
Patty C:
I will assume that “asses your level of fitness” is not a reference to my problematic professorial posterior and that you did not transpose the first and second words.
Waynebro:
I am afraid that diet and exercise would only push me to one day each the dog in a fit of hunger.
Mespo:
Having just given my final, a sporting event with the students would likely turn into that scene of the kids chasing “Piggie” in Lord of the Flies.
Patty C:
We need a good health shake or smoothie for JT. I can’t find any that taste better than cardboard or taste gritty. Any ideas? I really enjoyed Orange Julious’ but I haven’t seen a stand in years.
JT,
Have you considered the benefits of a giant keyboard? Having to hop from R to L every time you type your last name would certainly keep you in shape. As an added bonus, the succinctness that would become your trade mark would only add to your already impressive aura of wisdom.
I will throw my two cents in (which today is a haypenny) and suggest you belay the “exercise” notions and instead opt for a good 30 minute walk, 3 times a week.
I am assuming you are in your mid to late 40’s, and have not done strenous exercise up until now. If so then adopting a strenuous exercise routine just to lose a few pounds may not be the best course. One muscle that must build up before you go trying to build up others is the heart muscle, and the heart muscle responds best to gradual improvements.
I would find a place I enjoy walking at. Some place with some good up and down hills, scenery and a generally pleasant atmosphere. The C&O can be good, particularly if you hit the stairs, but it can be crowded. Carderock has some great trails and of course if you live in Georgetown then there are nice streets with great hills particularly if you’re heading further up towards Chevy Chase circle (which would bring the added pleasure of stopping in at Nanny O’Brians for a pint of pure pleasure).
You might even get a dog, just for a companion on your thrice weekly pleasure jaunts. Not a little yapper mind you, that you have to drag along with you, but a good, healthy beast who will drag you up the hills and deter the more surly passerby’s you may encounter on your mini journey’s.
Of course consistency is the key to acheiving benefits so you’ll have to convince yourself that you are not exercising but merely indulging in a selfish treat so as to encourage yourself to continue regularly but that shouldn’t be too hard. We all walked when we were young and I find at our age, doing anything that makes us feel like “when we were young” is an easy sell.
Oh, and on the exercise equipment, save your money. Unless you want it to be a family night event, you’ll find it to be your clothes valet after about 3 months of ownership. I suggest you form a faculty dodge ball team and play your 1,2 & 3L’s on a weekly basis. It’s fun, team building, and let’s the students have a little “back at ‘cha” for inflicting “Pennoyer v. Neff,” “International Shoe,” or those damn “standing” cases on them. We actually had a faculty/student racquet ball/squash program in Law School and it was attended with gusto by all involved.
My cardiologist says the key to health is to get the heart pumping rapidly for about 20-30 minutes. To that extent, guys like Bush, Chenet et als. have been a godsend for my health since my blood pressure invariably spikes every time I hear them speak. Now that our former AG has chimed in with his take on detainee due process, I feel fit enough to run an obstacle course. (Their Con Law/Crim. Pro professors must be very proud)
With the new Administration, I may have to reignite my workout regimen. I am now deciding between grueling marathon training, or sitting before the plasma god and watching others run, jump and collide catching a leather ball while I lift twelve ounce negative progressive weights. At my age, i suspect I already know the winner here!
Right and no doubt you would the first one of ‘those’ he/she will have ever seen…
I think you might enjoy having ‘a buddy’. Someone knowledgeable and fun to asses your level of fitness, create a starter program, show up, listen to you bitch, and motivate you in spite of yourself.
And you still have at least four other little ‘personal trainers’ of your own, to cheer you on and to go on walks with you and the dogs after dinner.
You will be a different person after a month – guaranteed.
Patty C 1, December 11, 2008 at 10:06 am
JT, why not hire a personal trainer to get you started?
You guys could do pilates at home.
Of course, you can ‘multi-task’ (watch TV , answer the phone etc) on a treadmill…
Or consider a resistance pool like ‘Hydroworks’ – something fun you can enjoy as family.
You’d have to teach Madie and Aiden to swim, of course.
Patty C:
I thought about a personal trainer, but once again there is that disconnect. One of us is an athlete with less than an ounce of fat and the heart capacity of a leopard. Yet, it is the middle aged fat guy that has to do all of the running and weight lifting. That does not seem “form follows function,” to cite Mies Van der Rohe.
JT, why not hire a personal trainer to get you started?
You guys could do pilates at home.
Of course, you can multi-task (watch TV) on a treadmill…
Or consider a resistance pool-something fun you can enjoy as family.
You’d have to teach Madie and Aiden to swim, of course.
for instance:
http://www.hydroworx.com/?WT.mc_id=google&gclid=CIaNwrDpuJcCFQxKGgod31GfSw
Buddha, that’s mean. I am going to start calling you the
‘sabo-teurly’…
I hope you at least sent some good healthy organic Costa Rican dark chocolate – for cold and flu season, or, alternatively, a beauiful box of Harbor Sweets (Marblehead, MA)- my personal fav for the holidays.
——————-
“After losing her home and business in the October 2007 fires, San Diego-based chocolatier Mariella Balbi of Guanni Chocolates created the “After the Fire” collection featuring exotic flavors from her native Peru. Made from organic cacao, natural ingredients and free of any preservatives, chemicals or waxes, the collection includes chocolates flavored with pumpkin, Pisco (Brandy), Aruma (hot pepper), Bukare (a dark chocolate), Cusco with Aji Amarillo (yellow hot pepper), candied citrus peels and muña(Andean herb), Maca, Goji berries and more. Guanni also makes several varieties of chocolate bars, vegan and sugar free truffles and pastries which are all rolled and decorated by hand.
The After the Fire Collection is available in sets of nine chocolates for $24 and twelve for $32 from Guanni Chocolates.”
“When we lose twenty pounds… we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty.”
~Woody Allen
Mespo:
Your quote has brought tears to this endomorphic academic’s eyes. Truth be known, we are still deciding on the exercise equipment. We would not want to rush into anything. It turns out that you have to actually be on the machine to lose the weight. I had assumed it was something you watch like a self-improvement video. We went to Nordic Track, Life Fitness, Spirit, and a couple of other makers. All had the same flaw: the need to actually exercise. Why pay a couple grand for that? I find myself falling back to my old friend, Mr. Snickers. In my sleep, I hear him “Mr. Snickers never lies, Mr. Snickers loves you the way you are.”
Your “bible” is in the mail. 😉 May your salvation be choco, er, eternal.
These crazy red states… anything goes there.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is however counterproductive to have more than one.
There’s nothing wrong with getting a little merrier around the holidays, it’s cold outside damnit. Plus it has the added bonus of expediting the new years resolution process. All that extra money being spent for home exercise equipment will spark the economy, so really JT is doing everyone a favor and we should thank him for it.
I working on it! In fact, we are going today to look at . . . you guessed it that New Years resolution favorite, the exercise machine. I blame Patty C and all those darn delicious recipes. The woman is my siren of destruction.
******
Sorry, ‘Moose’… 😉
(kidding)
And here, I thought mespo was the only one interested in my recipes.
I meant what I said about the camera adding 10 pounds. I think you look good, but you have eluded to wanting to get in better shape, so I, and the other ‘turlees’ will be supportive.
Right, guys?
You have to start your day with a good breakfast
– no ‘starving’ yourself.
Patty
p.s. Good for you, JT!
Jill,
Three hours a day of exercise!!! That sounds really interesting, and thank you for making it so easy to find. It’s now at the top of my Netflix queue. Alternet must have made it popular–it has a “short wait.”
LindyLou, You seem like a very admirable person.
I found this article on “the evil that is fat 🙂 ” on Alternet. It’s a breath of sanity on the subject.
“This article originally appeared on Health Beat.
The film opens with a fetching redhead puffing away on a treadmill. She’s perspiring, but she’s smiling gamely into the camera.
“It’s not an average workout, but I wasn’t an average weight,” she explains. “I have to do above and beyond what any of you guys would have to do. I have to try twice as hard, sometimes three times as hard — just to maintain this level of … chubbiness.”
And she is right. She is chubby. By 21st century mainstream (and magazine) standards of beauty, this young woman is probably 30 pounds overweight. The dimples, the ponytail, the strawberries-and-cream complexion and the undeniable on-camera charisma make her very appealing. But there is no doubt that most physicians would urge her to lose weight.
Later in the film, we learn that she exercises three hours a day. And when her mother was dying of cancer, this thirtysomething nursed her and learned a great deal about nutrition. Dedicated and determined, she eats healthy meals and sticks to a strict exercise regime. Why, then, is she “chubby?”
Doctors don’t know. That is one of the first things you learn in Fat: What No One is Telling You, a 2007 documentary that is, by turns, entertaining, moving and eye-opening. (The PBS home video, directed by Andrew Fredericks, can be rented on http://www.netflix.com or purchased on http://www.amazon.com).”
Buddha:
I appreciate the gratuity. However, Leslie is shaking down any friends and mail coming to the house. You might want to tape the snickers to your body Midnight Express style or placed within a hollowed out Bible if you are using the mail.
JT
I working on it! In fact, we are going today to look at . . . you guessed it that New Years resolution favorite, the exercise machine. I blame Patty C and all those darn delicious recipes. The woman is my siren of destruction.
Hey! Someone figured out how to cut and paste! Do you want a gold star or an extra juice box at lunch? And I’m sending JT a box of Snickers.