Transcript
Excessive Sentencing My name is Roger Upchurch and I am a seventy one year old inmate serving a forty eight month sentence and thanks to the First Step passed in December 2018 I will be out on June 23rd, because of the program if you are sixty or older, and 2/3 of sentence. I am to be released upon reaching two thirds of my full sentence, which is June 23rd, 2020. My stay here at the Federal Prison Camp in Ashland Kentucky has been nothing more that a camp with around two hundred men. Playing games, watching movies, watching TV, taking naps, exercising and eating food a lot better than I would have thought. I have a lot to say about my stay here,the drama, officers. other inmates and their stories, which there are some good ones for sure. Most are told in my book Brilliant Minds in Captivity. I could talk about how the health care here is way below the health standards within the community. Medical issues not treated in a timely manner or treated at all. Live in pain and suffering for over a year and more before anything is done. I believe that is what socialism health care for all would be. The doctor would not have a say in the time of treatment. Has to be approved by a committee based on financials. Think about it! This is about excessive sentencing good First time, non-violent offenders are getting. Excessive sentencing giving to good men and women that knowingly made mistake and committed a crime. A petty crime with no victims. Maybe they were just doing what their boss wanted to do, their job having no idea that they are getting caught up in a conspiracy. In some cases men and women are sentenced more that a real criminal committing a violent act, and and has victims. Why? This includes rape, murder, armed robbery etc. Why? I believe that all sentencing should be based on each person and not any guidelines, especially first time offenders. It should be based on the merits, their age, their accomplishments in their life, their medical condition, will they have remorse and be a good citizen. Do they have a good home and family. Are they successful, a job or career. Prosecutors and Judges should be able to judge an offender from the traits above. They should be able to tell if the offender is a good person and will not commit a crime. If you are arrested and indicted for a crime and this is the first time, non-violent petty crime and you are release until sentencing 1 doing what you have always have been doing then why should you go to prison. If you are allowed to be free before sentencing and then weeks or months after sentencing and allowed to self surrender to the prison camp. Does not make sence to me. A waste of tax payers money. A waste of Government money. Of course the jails and prisons will make money off the inmates warehoused there. They bill the state and or Government. Maybe the same people that pay the prosecutors and Judges. Do they have more of an insensitive to put people in jails or prisons. What good does it make to take away good men and women from their families and careers to spend time in a prison camp and destroy their lives. Again if you self surrender to a prison camp and you are a first time, non-violent offender you should not be there. I think that for most of us in this category you should get probation or house arrest so they can have a good family life and be a good tax paying citizen. If you violate your probation and or house then you should pay the price. I am a town driver here at this camp. I take released inmates to a halfway house or to the bus stop to go home or to another location. I take inmates to doctors and hospitals and I have stayed at the hospital with them for as many as eight hours. I sometimes am gone from the prison camp for many hours. So why do I need to be here? To be at a Federal Prison Camp you have to have a sentence under ten years or have worked your way down from a low or medium prison. The prison camps should be for the people working their way down from the lows and medium prisons. Again First time, non-violent offenders with no victims should not be here at all. Illegal immigrants and alot of them are criminals with violent past are getting better treatment than good american citizens that knowingly or unknowingly are acused of a petty crime. Good citizens will not reoffend and they are remorseful. Good American tax paying citizens are put in prison and separated from their families for petty crimes or really know crimes. In prison maybe just on hearsay. Illegal immigrants walking the streets, not paying taxes and committing crimes, while good citizens that knowingly of unknowing committed a crime are in prison. Why? I have a different outlook on life now since I will have served my country warehoused in a Federal Prison Camp for two years and 2 eight months. I never thought much about the prisoners in prison. Maybe I thought that everyone should be there. Now I know different. Only criminals should be in prison. Why should a good person be labeled a criminal for the rest of life for not knowing that you committed a crime. You should not be labeled a criminal for the rest of your life for a so called petty crime or caught up in a conspiracy and you were just doing your job. Someone higher up committing a crime and they just take everyone from the business to prison. Is that right? Upon my release and for the rest of my life I will do what I can to help change the system. Do away with guidelines and have Judges sentence offenders with compassion and common since. Will they reoffend will they be remorseful and have learned their mistake if there was one? I will be an advocate for prison reform and sentencing reform. I will build a coalition of celebrities, politicians, attorneys and anyone that will support this cause. I will do what I can to get these excessive sentences reduced. Releasing good men and women that deserve to be home with their families and being a productive citizen. I will work with convicted offenders and what I have learned about plea deals or going to trial. What to expect from the attorneys. How to save money on attorneys. Advice through out the process from being arrested, indicted, plea deals, trials, before prison, during prison and after prison and coping with life after prison. I would like to help inmates get their excessive sentencing reduced to time served. Get them compassionate release if they really need it. No crime should go unpunished. Only true criminals should be in prisons. Do the right thing and keep america great! Roger Upchurch Federal Prison Camp P O Box 6000 Ashland Ky 41105 Roger Upchurch 8736 Champions Dr Indianapolis In 46256 3 of 3
