Brickbat: Illegal Search

Former California correctional officer Avelino Ramirez pleaded guilty to wire fraud after admitting he smuggled contraband like cocaine, cellphones, and weapons into San Quentin State Prison and the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Between October 2021 and February 2024, Ramirez, a K-9 officer and later sergeant, planted these items in common prison areas. He would then pretend to find them, making himself look good and earning overtime pay and a promotion. He now faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, with sentencing set for September.

Comments

[Marylandman, Battling for Truth Justice, and the American Way]

Oopsie!

[Marylandman, Battling for Truth Justice, and the American Way]

I wonder if Sarc will stagger in here drunkenly screeching about how ‘democrats did it first’?

[AT]

Yet again I will leave the only solution to these shenanigans.

Modernized prisons. Enough with the bars and guards dungeon model. There is NO reason not to do this.

Build the cells I've talked about before - comfortable, clean, humane, full toiletries suite, and with the ability to communicate and enjoy entertainment (within reason) via telecom; three squares a day, biometric monitoring, an on-site surgical suite and (very bored but well paid) medical staff. Cameras everywhere. Put them a minimum of four stories off the ground.

And then stick the inmates in the cells AND DO NOT LET THEM OUT ABSENT IMMINENT LIFE-THREATENING CIRCUMSTANCES. That room becomes their entire world for the entirety of their sentence. Their court appearances can be done there. Their communications with their attorney can be done there. Their kid's birthdays and Christmas morning can be done there (assuming the family's consent). Their teledoc can be done there, with any medications sent in through the same floor slot where their food/linens are put in.

This ends all the abuses that should never happen in prison. Be it by guard, inmate, or anyone else.

Put them in the cell, and do NOT let them out of it. It's really that simple.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Interesting idea. Fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other calamities require evacuation, but that sounds easy enough to tack on.

The biggest drawback I see is the prisoners who start tearing the place up. Bash in the telecom screen and camera, the lights, rip up their mattress, destroy the furniture. Pee and shit on things.

Put the disruptive ones in special accommodations. An empty steel cubicle, kept at 80+F so they don't need sheets and blankets, and remote controlled hoses high enough to be out of reach which could wash the place clean, and suffice as shower too. Remote controlled camera up high too, with a screen on the ceiling or behind armored glass. If they behave long enough, they get moved back to the standard suite.

[GroundTruth]

That and the physical need for exercise but a treadmill in each cell solves that one. I would worry about the need for actual outdoor time, not desire, but actual need, but maybe that could be earned?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Perhaps a good thick unbreakable window to let in sunlight and let them see outside.

[Marylandman, Battling for Truth Justice, and the American Way]

Didn’t some Scottish guy invent transparent aluminum around 40 years ago?

[Malvolio]

For some people — maybe a lot of people — that would be huge improvement on their current lives.

Maybe including me.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Would he have faced 20 years for beating an inmate? The sin of stolen valor (and pay). The dog was a willing participant. Lock it up, too.

[Vernon Depner]

He'll get probation, and a new job in law enforcement somewhere else.

[Rossami]

Okay, he's a bad guy who did bad things. But how, precisely, is that wire fraud? Based on the snippets above, it seems that there should be several laws he broke more on-point than "wire fraud", no?

[Don't look at me! ( #1 on the “mute” list again!)]

Plea deal.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

All I could think of was he lied over the telephone or Internet.

[Malvolio]

Presumably, he emailed evidence of his “achievements” to his superiors, thereby fraudulently receiving benefits. That is wire-fraud.

[TLoro]

They are always "award winners."