tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post2324628706339304739..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: DA oppo, snitch scenarios, improving visitation, and a welcome homecomingGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-7641317542080840182016-02-28T17:40:05.528-06:002016-02-28T17:40:05.528-06:00Doug Smith is right on. I am glad he got to be wit...Doug Smith is right on. I am glad he got to be with his daughter again. I haven't. My fault. It sucks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-46132180153361376812016-02-26T16:45:32.957-06:002016-02-26T16:45:32.957-06:00Funny, but there was a scheme not too long ago ins...Funny, but there was a scheme not too long ago inside DPS where the investigators were using each other as anonymous "informants" and collecting the payoffs for informant activity. Haven't seen that as mainstream anywhere. But only the best for Texas. Seriously, these people are puritans.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-26129195898434901692016-02-25T16:39:39.002-06:002016-02-25T16:39:39.002-06:00Incompetent Government Employees/Agents vs. The pe...Incompetent Government Employees/Agents vs. The people - those that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-74968817684941616172016-02-25T11:36:22.446-06:002016-02-25T11:36:22.446-06:00I don't mind slagging other folks--it is one o...I don't mind slagging other folks--it is one of my favorite pastimes, and I have been told I have a knack for it--but Jesus, put your name on it. Own it. Be a man, not a baby. Don't hide like some pusillanimous Chicken Little. <br /><br />That having been said, what a wonderful world we would live in, if Charlie Baird was as smart as he thinks he is. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08362938234400823169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-1089606875475130902016-02-25T08:19:42.262-06:002016-02-25T08:19:42.262-06:00"Waco drug cop(s) may have lied about informa..."Waco drug cop(s) may have lied about informants" --- Police officers lie ???? I'm SHOCKED !!!! I say SHOCKED !!!! (Sarcasm.)DEWEYnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-60887517336300206572016-02-25T07:43:11.458-06:002016-02-25T07:43:11.458-06:00Please give my best regards to Vanita. I was hono...Please give my best regards to Vanita. I was honored to be given as a reference for her wonderful new position. The FBI interview was interesting and of course I gave her a flying review.Judge Ron Chapmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-72875783144532069592016-02-25T07:12:43.998-06:002016-02-25T07:12:43.998-06:00Another aspect of prison visitation that is proble...Another aspect of prison visitation that is problematic - if less immediately heart-wrenching than the obstacles placed in the way of family visits - is the failure of TDCJ to facilitate legal visits. Visitation is barely confidential - if the lawyer throws a hissy fit it may be possible to get a separate room, but otherwise you get phone visitation which creates a risk of being overheard because the attorneys are seated in a row with no sound barrier between them and the next attorney (the clients are in tiny cubicles which have grilles at the back, creating the risk of eavesdropping by guards). The Polunsky Unit forbids Wednesday afternoon visits because that is "press day" - the day the media can talk to inmates. That impedes access - sometimes an attorney (or an expert witness who needs to see the inmate) will have great difficulty in timing a visit because of scheduling problems. And then there's the fact that death row at Polunsky is 2.5 hours from Houston and 4+ hours from Austin. Consequently, those lawyers with more than one death row client may schedule several visits on one day. But the Polunsky Unit will not allow attorneys to buy food or drink for their clients, and the attorney is left with the question of whether to forego all food and drink during what may be a 6-7 hour day of visits, or to waste valuable time eating the overpriced snacks out of the vending machines between client visits. Or chowing down in front of a client who has no food or drink on his side, and thereby alienate the client. Not to mention that any security argument for the "no food and drink during legal visits" rule has no security argument to support it, since family members are allowed to buy inmates food and drink during family visits. An overhaul of TDCJ policy and practice would seem to be in order.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-2988481553538015902016-02-25T02:57:02.516-06:002016-02-25T02:57:02.516-06:00@ Anonymous 2:30PM - We need to move away from a p...@ Anonymous 2:30PM - We need to move away from a punishing mentality. Read: <br />http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/americas_killer_prisons_20160224<br /><br />These are interesting comments which make not very hopeful:<br /><br />"Derrick Jensen's fourth premise: Civilization is based on a clearly defined and widely accepted yet often unarticulated hierarchy. Violence done by those higher on the hierarchy to those lower is nearly always invisible, that is, unnoticed. When it is noticed, it is fully rationalized. Violence done by those lower on the hierarchy to those higher is unthinkable, and when it does occur is regarded with shock, horror, and fetishization of the victims.<br />Derrick Jensen's fifth premise: The property of those higher on the hierarchy is more valuable than the lives of those below. It s acceptable for those above to increase the amount of property they control-in everyday language, to make money-by destroying or taking the lives of those below. This is called 'production'. If those below damage the property of those above, those above may kill or otherwise destroy the lives of those below. This is called 'justice'."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-4675316345158061742016-02-24T14:23:17.191-06:002016-02-24T14:23:17.191-06:00I was all ready to write a snotty response about v...I was all ready to write a snotty response about visitation--until I read the linked article. Very powerful. Another reason that the focus of reform has to be a move toward restoration and away from retribution, especially for nonviolent offenders. <br /><br />Prison DOcAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com