Houston's own Steven Jay Russell is a real-life confidence man. His accomplishments include stealing millions of dollars from various firms while employed under assumed identities and escaping from multiple different prisons. At one point he did so by convincing prison doctors he had died of AIDS. He eventually ended up with an unprecedented 144-year prison sentence.
Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Andrew Fastow, and others at Enron stole billions of dollars from shareholders by misleading Enron's board of directors and audit committee. Lay himself, the Danny Ocean of this corporate caper, only ended up with a 45-year sentence, a slap on the wrist compared to Russell's. And Lay died of a heart attack before he could even see the inside of a cell.
Steven Jay Russell is a genius. An actual, certifiable genius. His IQ is reported to be 163. It is a gross injustice that a man of such intelligence now sits in solitary confinement for crimes which were all totally non-violent. Crimes which serve as examples of the gaping holes in bureaucracy and security of the various institutions he swindled, on top of showing us all what a person with a powerful brain can be capable of. He is unable to put his mind to good use at a time when this country, and truly the world, need it the most.
It would be better if Russell's story ended in a way similar to Frank Abagnale's, depicted in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. Like Russell, Frank Abagnale was an escape artist who assumed multiple false identities to commit crimes. His specialty of writing forged checks allowed him to steal millions of dollars from banks all over the world. He now works as a consultant for the FBI and advises American businesses on fraud.
This ex-conman gets to apply his skills to making the world a better place, why not Steven Jay Russell?
I think he should not be freed solely on the basis of intellect, as I disagree with stays in execution on the basis of mental fault.
ReplyDeleteYet none of the crimes, call for worse treatment than we ever gave to our guests in Guantanamo Bay.
It would be much easier to stick one of those ankle collars around his neck (anywhere else he'd find a way to get it off). Then give him a reason to want to be in the prison, where he could be employed as a security/financial consultant.
The sad reality boils down to him being a political prisoner. He angered the wrong people too many times, and made a president (or argue the son of the president if you like) look dim. His crimes deserve punishment, yet civilized nations have laws about cruel and unusual punishment.
He should definitely be freed from solitary confinement. Given the nature of his record, that is cruel and unusual. But this is a country where those in power feel the constitution doesn't apply to them, and like you said, those were the people he pissed off.
ReplyDeleteDo you know where I could send a letter to him? Solitary confinement to a genius is cruel and unusual punishment.
ReplyDeleteOn his facebook fan page people are saying they've been trying to find an email address or way to send him letters without any luck. I guess the prison is really pushing the term "solitary."
ReplyDeleteAnd I totally agree, it's cruel and unusual!!
It seems to me that punishment should not be defined based on IQ levels. And regardless of how someone else's crimes compared, the fact remains that he broke the law and continued to break the law. He can't just go unpunished. I'm sure his sentence did not start out that big. Should he be in solitary confinement? Maybe, maybe not. But for sombody who has repeatedly broken out of prison, maybe that is the only place they can put him.
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He's a political prisoner, plain & simple. America claims to be a civilized nation, one that has done away with slavery, debtors prisons, torture, political prisons, etc. In reality all of those are alive & well here. We just call them by different names. America is the only western country that still murders/executes children/minors. Everybody knows we have the largest prison population in the world. The number is only bound to grow now, with the booming & expanding private prison industry. America has now profitzed & financialized (not real words, I know) our prisons. Private prisons spent $178 million lobbying for increased sentencing laws & more laws in general, to ensure a steady flow of unwilling "customers".
ReplyDeleteIf Russle received a sentence that was proportional to Bernie Madoff's, and then even multiply it by 10, or even 100, he'd do about 11 minutes in prison. A 140 year sentence for non-violent crimes is outrageous. A totally travesty of justice. The real criminals were the judge & prosecutor responsible for handing out a sentence, that was totally out of proportion to his crimes.