Cigarettes - Just How Much Are They Worth? And, I’m Not Talking About the Boat!

According to an inmate in the Federal Correctional Complex in Beaumont, Texas - apparently the answer to that question was - A BUNCH!

Based on information presented in court, SHAMEECK ADUNDA FILLS, age 31, accepted a bribe, and agreed to accept another bribe, in exchange for providing the inmate with tobacco, a prohibited item in prison. FILLS was employed as a Correctional Officer at the prison in 2006 when she accepted an $800.00 bribe and agreed to accept another bribe of $2000.00 in exchange for providing the inmate with tobacco.

O.K., I know that tobacco is supposed to be addictive, but based on what inmates make - that’s a lot of money for cigarettes!

FILLS was convicted of two counts of receiving a bribe and agreeing to receive a bribe from an inmate at the Federal Correctional Complex. FILLS had been previously indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on September 6th, 2007. She faces a maximum punishment of up to fifteen years in prison, a $250,000.00 fine and three years of supervised release on each count of conviction.

Every choice has a consequence! How often I say this in the blogs I write or the presentations I make. As a white collar crime and ethics speaker, I know full well the effect of choices that one can make. Having made bad choices in my past and spent time in federal prison as a result, I know that you do reap what you sow. Likewise, I understand that good choices can yield outstanding consequences.

FILLS may find that she’ll get her fill (pardon the pun) by spending time in federal prison. Perhaps during that stay, (if it happens) she’ll get a chance to explore whether the short term gain was worth the long term consequences.

Your comments welcome!

20 Minutes and a Guilty Verdict! James Fantroy Former Dallas City Council Member Found Guilty

Some predicted a long trial and hung jury - WRONG! In just 20 minutes a federal jury in Dallas, Texas convicted James L. Fantroy, Sr., a former Dallas City Council Member of embezzlement.

Seems that Fantroy, who also was a former member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of Paul Quinn College community Development Corporation, embezzled funds from monies that were held in trust for Paul Quinn College.

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved Paul Quinn College for a $250,000 Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) grant. The college hired Paul Quinn CDC to assist in administering the grant, which included the revitalization of the college’s surrounding area. Paul Quinn College entered into a real estate management agreement with Paul Quinn CDC establishing Paul Quinn CDC as the manager of the Highland Hills Shopping Center, a property owned by Paul Quinn College. It required Paul Quinn CDC to deposit all rental receipts it collected, less any sums properly deducted or otherwise provided for in the agreement, into a trust account for the benefit of Paul Quinn College.

From August 2000 through June 7, 2002, Paul Quinn College received eight disbursements totaling approximately $222,853 from HUD, pursuant to the HBCU grant. During the one year period beginning April 1, 2003, Paul Quinn College received funds from a second HBCU grant, totaling more than $10,000.

The government presented evidence at trial that from April 26, 2003, through July 30, 2003, James L. Fantroy, Sr., acting as an agent for Paul Quinn College, embezzled approximately $21,000 in monies held in trust for Paul Quinn College.

Fantroy faces up to 10 years in federal prison along with a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced May 21st, 2008.

As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I know first hand the impact that choices have. And, as I state to most audiences, every choice has a consequence. The strange thing is - most who make choices like this somehow think that they will get by with the cover up. But you do reap what you sow and there is no hiding from the consequences of the choices you make.

Easter 2008 - Facts or Fiction About Dates!

While most of my blog postings are related to choices and consequences - there are times when it’s fun to try something a bit different. So for those who just have to have a fix of trivia - try this on for size.

Easter is early this year. Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Based on the above information, Easter can actually be one day earlier March 22) that is rare.

Here’s the interesting information. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here’s the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you’re 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

Any other tid bits that would be of interest to the readers…just make a comment which is welcome!

Incarceration Rate Winner? United States - We Incarcerate 1 in 100 Citizens! Is That Something to be Proud Of

One out of every 100 U. S. adults is in jail or prison. That is a startling statistic and not something to be proud of - in fact, it’s down right embarrassing.

According to the Pew Report, cited here, (The Pew Charitable Trusts applies the power of knowledge to solve today’s most challenging problems. Pew’s Center on the States identifies and advances effective policy approaches to critical issues facing states) Three decades of growth in America’s prison population has quietly nudged the nation across a sobering threshold: for the first time, more than one in every 100 adults is now confined in an American jail or prison.

As startling as the one in one hundred statistic is - these next facts are shocking and deserve the attention of our society at large.

For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling. While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine. Gender adds another dimension to the picture. Men still are roughly 10 times more likely to be in jail or
prison, but the female population is burgeoning at a far brisker pace.

As a white collar crime speaker, and one who is part of the statistic above (as I’ve been incarcerated), I understand that every choice has a consequence. Likewise, I do believe that you reap what you sow. However, there are those whose crimes should warrant some form of alternative punishment rather than incarceration.

Prison is big business - make no mistake. In many areas the inmate population supports the governments infrastructure. In my case, I was an inmate at a minimum security facility located on an airforce base. We (the inmates) were used to perform tasks that otherwise would have either been contracted out to civilian employees or been done by airforce personnel themselves. We were effective cheap labor.

Lawmakers are learning that current prison growth is not driven primarily by a parallel increase in crime, or a corresponding surge in the population at large. Rather, it flows principally from a wave of policy choices that are sending more lawbreakers to prison and, through popular “three-strikes” measures and other sentencing enhancements, keeping them there longer.

While I do believe in punishment and deserved what I got - so I have no axe to grind here - it is true that “tough on crime” is politically popular. Can you really imagine any politician saying that prisons are overcrowded and costs each of us too much, so we need to have alternatives so that parole violators don’t go back. If that were said, they would not be elected.

There is much to be digested in the Pew report. I suggest you click on the link above ot read the entire report. Meanwhile, there will be more blog entries as the entirety of the report is covered.

Questions:

• What would you do to reduce the inmate population in the US?
• Since 1 in 100 Americans are incarcerated, what example can you provide in response to this report, that shows a person who should not have been incarcerated?