Most admit they did it whether it means cheating on their income tax, dealing or using drugs, or trying to manipulate the stock market. What makes them angry is our legal system, which does things like mandate minimum sentences that don t allow judges or juries to consider special circumstances or an unblemished past. I ve also heard about numerous instances of ambitious prosecutors offering reduced charges in exchange for a guilty plea and the names of accomplices. Some prisoners who couldn t or wouldn t name others wound up with long sentences. Others say prosecutors even threatened to have their spouse or parent indicted as co-conspirators whether or not the spouse or parent deserved indictment in order to coerce a guilty plea.
Intimidation is clearly the name of the game.
It reminds me of the School of the Americas although psychological pressure to name names and a sentence of three, five, or 10 years falls far short of physical torture and murder. Still, the tactics are similar to those many SOA graduates used against their own people. One of the SOA s purposes that is rarely acknowledged is intimidation. Latin American military personnel learn how to quash dissent by keeping the people frightened and passive. The prison system dehumanizes guards as well as prisoners.