Michael Bix

Recent Activity

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  Michael commented on the petition | 17 days ago

  The Irish Government: Stop Ireland’s SOPA @seansherlocktd Stop ACTA

  Consultant for Irish Spiritual Heritage Assoc., and Founding Member - Irish Film & Television Academy. Violation of copyright is a serious offence but this is NOT the way to solve the problem.

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  Michael signed the petition | 17 days ago

  The Irish Government: Stop Ireland’s SOPA @seansherlocktd Stop ACTA
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  Michael commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Second Chances for a Serial Killer?

  After reading your responses I'd like to clarify my earlier post to say that my inquiry into the details of Burris' most recent prison experience, and what he did there, was not to build a case that he deserved some kind of "special consideration."

  
  

  Far from it.  I'm not from the "I'm depraved on account-a I wuz deprived" school.  Rather, from the criminal justice perspective there are evaluative factors behind whether you release a prisoner to the street, and the parole board and supervising parole officer are supposed to use the prisoner's behaviour in prison as part of the picture, as well as any other special circumstances.  

  
  

  If a man's wife has just sent a letter that she has run off with somebody, the parole officer will recommend against release because a prisoner who has probably been fantasizing a huge reunion with her when he gets out turns that energy to either despair (in which case he's a risk to himself, because he will do stupid things without regard to the hazard) or anger (in which case he'll use all his resources to injure or kill someone).  That's why I asked the questions I did.  

  
  

  Burris, if responsible for the crimes we think he did, was personally responsible for some awful things... I had no intention of looking for even a half-excuse for that.  Rather I wanted to know what got his pressure-cooker stoked up so high, and why did law enforcement and parole NOT know that before they put him back out in the world?  I think somebody has some answering to do as well.

  
  

  And I agree with Matt that putting people in prisons when you have ANY other useful choice is a bad deal - bad financially, bad for the future of that person, and bad from the point of view of what he or she will add to their repertoire of social choices.  Prisons educate prisoners in crime and in the brutal "usefulness" of criminal, abusive behaviour.

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  Michael commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Second Chances for a Serial Killer?

  So who runs South Carolina's prisons - and who benefits, who loses, at the particular prison he exited?  This guy (Patrick Burris) who has been reportedly in and out of the slammer... has probably at least half of those times of his 25-plus record rap sheet gotten a conviction (or is that just a record of arrests?)... and now suddenly seems to go violent?  What factors are at play?

  
  

  I agree with you (rather than Dennis) that his previous m.o. is mostly crimes against property rather than crimes against people and it over-simplifies (and hence really fails the sort out of the problem) to think he should be grouped with the "previously violent."  But I think you sound a tad Pollyanna here, Matt, when you ask what "counseling, job training, relocation services" might have been available to him... if only someone could have reached out to him, that could have prevented this.  Nuh uh.  I think that's utter conjecture, and just as un-helpful.  

  
  

  There's a factor here that is utterly new. He got wierd (if proven guilty of crimes charged... yah-dee-yah-da).  

  
  

  Something went awry somewhere, didn't it?  So tell us the story of his last incarceration if you can.  Who ran that jail?  What or who did he get nailed by, or what company did he keep?  What skill set did he acquire?  Did someone rape him, or did he start a pattern of brutality there himself after finally caving in to whatever was afoot in that particular prison?  How racially-segregated was that prison, and how much (racial and other) gang violence occurs there?  

  
  

  What mental breakdown possibly occurred to him and what meds were supplied (or not)... and if they were prescribed, did he reject those meds as soon as he left the gates?  Did he lose someone important in his life, so he just doesn't care anymore?  Was he depressed - and hence hoping to get caught and killed (suicide by police)?  Or was he delusional?  Or vindictive?  Or had he become a total bottom-crawler, who'd gotten so lazy that he'd stopped figuring out other ways to steal money except to brutally kill people?

  
  

  If you want to talk about prison and corrections reform in an individual case, then you have to support it with corrections data in this individual's case.  He came out of a particular prison and did something utterly uncharacteristic, compared to his previous (usually brief, apparently) intervals outside bars.  That should tell you something.

  
  

  South Carolina's prisons are not among the best, and there are worst.  But for anyone who wants to get a near-first-hand look at what life in a maximum security lockup can require of an inmate, I recommend viewing Brian Cox/Joseph Fienne's recent film (along with more than 100 ex-cons), directed by Rupert Wyatt - "The Escapist."  You won't forget it easily and it will teach you much of what you might hope to know about maximum security confinement in state-level prisons, even if filmed outside the States.  U.S. federal prisons have moved a bit beyond that, but only on the surface... not in substance.