Aaron Hernandez found guilty of first-degree murder

Joker · Apr 17, 2015

I got news for you...any incarcerated person in the US penal system can halve his/her life expectancy over the course of a life sentence.

First off, there's environmental factors. Heating/AC ducts in modular prisons are breeding grounds for all kinds of mold spores. You actually think a facility will close down an entire mod to flush the vents? You spend 5 years living in mods and your immune system breaks down.

Secondly, the food available to all inmates is LOADED with NaCl. Salt is in all the inmate meals plus served as a side. Ten years of prison life guarantees hardened arteries.

Third,it's been speculated that nearly 2/3's of all prisoners currently incarcerated are infected with hepatitis C. Diagnosis and treatment for any disease in prison can be slow and subject to "silent" budgetary constraints depending on the state.

Fourth, corrections departments across the country dispense psyche drugs for the asking. Often an inmate can be prescribed 5 to 10 meds for maladies as common as sleep disorders to psychological disorders that span the spectrum of the DMSR 4. Any doctor is supposed to prescribe meds that do not contraindicate for his patients. The DOC med staffs don't have time nor manpower to make these distinctions, so the inmate gets whatever he's diagnosed for with no regard for contraindications, which can lead to serious health issues over time. It's on the inmate to push for these distinctions to his own med profile but ,as a rule, the common inmate can't even pronounce the meds he's taking , never mind understand Pharmacology 101.

Fifth, depression is rampant in the penal systems. Depression easily leads to suicide in a penal situation.

Prison life is NOT the life to live if you want to be an old codger in a rocking chair. If you go in at 25 you should expect to be a lucky man to see 50.

Brewskies · Apr 17, 2015

Chiuba E. Obele said:
I wish we could talk about sports :-(

sad day for the NFL

No sad day for AH and his family. What a waste of talent.

Galeb · Apr 17, 2015

Joker said:
can't believe the naivete mixed with desire for biblical punishment on a1ll these Hernandez threads.

Newsflash...LIFE in prison with no chance of parole is NO JOKE. You're over. No more passing go.

Now you holier than thou opinionators want that inmate to serve his life out essentially just sitting there.

It seems NONE of you have any idea what it's like to be confined. There is a level of ultra severe frustration experienced by the inmate. What YOU want is absolutely no outlets whatever for that frustration. This is inane and underscores a complete lack of understanding what corrections really is.

You have dedicated people, men and women WORKING every day of their work lives in these institutions. These people put themselves on the line every day they walk into an institution. You want them to walk into their workplace with the people they are charged with overseeing every facet of their prison lives having essentially no other outlet than the EMPLOYEES to vent this pentup frustration on.

TV is an essential tool for correctional officers and professionals. Anything that keeps the inmate engaged in their prison lives and their minds off focusing frustration is a GOOD THING for the correctional workers.Inmate industries is a GOOD thing. Physical outlets such as ball fields, handball courts, gyms, tracks and weights is a GOOD thing for the correctional officer DOING HIS JOB EVERYDAY IN HELL.

No one ever asks the poor slob shouldering the responsibility for keeping these vicious, antisocial misanthropes incarcerated how THEY feel about it. It's always "take away their weights, they're too big...we want SKINNY STARVING inmate populations!!!"..and then ,when this idiotic agenda is enforced, what happens? Ask the hack...he/she will tell you. Weights are a tremendous corrections tool. They RELIEVE pent up stress. This PROTECTS the correctional officers not threatens. Television options are ESSENTIAL. If the inmate's mind is occupied with the electronic world, there is less chance that he'll occupy his thoughts with negative ideas in the real world of incarceration. Give them periodicals, newspaper and library options. This gives the inmate a feeling of connection with the outside world even though this is NOT the case.

In effect, what any of you ALL want is a more docile, safer prison environment for those who WORK there, yet you want to take away all the tools the PROMOTE this safety to assuage your need for blind, draconian retribution. Easy for the uniformed, uninvolved masses to scream for vengeance when they never have to walk a foot in the correctional officer's shoes.

The idea of permanent detention without the possibility of parole doesn't sit well with me. It is expensive, inherently dangerous and potentially goes beyond the bounds of what is ethical for a society.

I would prefer a system that focuses on rehabilitation, and a penal colony for those determined to be to dangerous or beyond salvaging.

varjao · Apr 17, 2015

RayClay said:
Joker, what do you think of my plan for violent prisoners? No weightlifting facilities at all, but all the soda, twinkies and other garbage food they want and plenty of TV. Make them big fat cream puffs with no anger or energy left.

I'd let them smoke non filter cigarettes too.

Just give them a brick of weed for week and they become 100% harmless.

chasa · Apr 17, 2015

Galeb said:
The idea of permanent detention without the possibility of parole doesn't sit well with me. It is expensive, inherently dangerous and potentially goes beyond the bounds of what is ethical for a society.

I would prefer a system that focuses on rehabilitation, and a penal colony for those determined to be to dangerous or beyond salvaging.

I would prefer that murderers, especially multiple times as is the case here, be taken out back and shot like old yeller.

Ivan · Apr 17, 2015

Brewskies said:
No sad day for AH and his family. What a waste of talent.

I have absolutely no empathy for Hernandez, he's a stone cold killer who would have continued shooting people had he not been caught and convicted. Life in prison was exactly what was called for.

Ivan · Apr 17, 2015

Hernandez was right about one thing, the jury did get it wrong, it was completely premeditated.

Brady_to_Moss · Apr 17, 2015

Once the lawyers put him at the scene..i knew he would be found guilty by all of them

woolster22 · Apr 17, 2015

Ivan said:
Hernandez was right about one thing, the jury did get it wrong, it was completely premeditated.

I agree, however the prosecution was not allowed to mention the double homicide, and therefor the need to cover it up with another murder.

Galeb · Apr 17, 2015

chasa said:
I would prefer that murderers, especially multiple times as is the case here, be taken out back and shot like old yeller.

Capital punishment is a tough issue, one that I have changed my mind on multiple times. How can a society say that killing is wrong, then kill those who do it? Hypocrisy for the greater good?

How a society can ethically punish is a slippery slope. At this time, IMO expulsion from said society is perhaps the limit to which societies can ethically punish. For those ruled not too dangerous, voluntary rehabilitation should be an option.

All that said, if as a society we raised our children to be good people and good parents, there would be very little violent crime.

DarrylS · Apr 17, 2015

supafly said:
Not only do they have cable (at all levels--county, state, and fed) but they often have their own TVs in the cells, at least in many of the longer term state/fed settings where the offender has already been sentenced (usually about 2+ years or more to qualify for "prison.")

I'm not sure about that specific institution though, as every state is different, but I know the local state prison SCI facility here in Pittsburgh has both cable and private TVs in cells. Of course, the inmate has to pay some type of cost from their commissary account for the private TV in the cell. I believe they sell them at a reduced cost, and are somewhat smaller/moderate in size.

The cable is everywhere, although you'd have to sit in the main room where they often need to either use a headphones system, and/or have the scrolling script on the screen. That's your hard earned tax dollars at work

Boredom is a major factor in prison, so TV is one way to give people something to do rather than sit around and bytch at each other all day.. the stations are usually limited.

There are not enough jobs, and as Hernandez will be considered a "trophy", he will not have much freedom to move around anyways.. if he does get a job, he will earn .50 a day.

Most prisons have removed free weights, and exercise is controlled and limited.. phone calls are charged to the recipient and are costly.. most prisons do not allow smoking.

Prison sux, and although it might look like he is getting a lot, he will spend every day of his life away from women, begin told what to do and when to do it, in state issued clothes around people he will not like and people who will not like him. Then there is the ever present of violence at ever corner..

chasa · Apr 17, 2015

Galeb said:
Capital punishment is a tough issue, one that I have changed my mind on multiple times. How can a society say that killing is wrong, then kill those who do it? Hypocrisy for the greater good?

How a society can ethically punish is a slippery slope. At this time, IMO expulsion from said society is perhaps the limit to which societies can ethically punish. For those ruled not too dangerous, voluntary rehabilitation should be an option.

All that said, if as a society we raised our children to be good people and good parents, there would be very little violent crime.

There is a big difference between murder and justified execution.

This planet, and our species is so far from world peace that to try and shelter our children from the realities of the world by preaching that anyone can be redeemed, is a dangerous path to walk. Preaching non violence only works as long as everyone else plays along, which will never happen. Humans as a species prey upon the weak, that is how we became the apex predators that we are and have since been systematically wiping out of species of animals, eventually the only thing left to kill will be ourselves.

But I'm kind of old testament about things. I believe in strict punishments, and in the case of murder, and child molesting, Those punishments should be swift, and they should be permanent. As it stands now, Massachusetts tax payers are now going to be paying to keep a murderer alive, fed, and sheltered, for the rest of his life, while at the same time there are not enough shelters for the homeless. We spend time trying to rehabilitate those which have ruined, or taken the lives of others, when what we should be doing is spending time rehabing those who have only hurt themselves.

In order to keep a weed from spreading or coming back, you rip it out at the root of the lawn, the same should be done with repeat violent offenders.

Galeb · Apr 17, 2015

chasa said:
There is a big difference between murder and justified execution.

This planet, and our species is so far from world peace that to try and shelter our children from the realities of the world by preaching that anyone can be redeemed, is a dangerous path to walk. Preaching non violence only works as long as everyone else plays along, which will never happen. Humans as a species prey upon the weak, that is how we became the apex predators that we are and have since been systematically wiping out of species of animals, eventually the only thing left to kill will be ourselves.

But I'm kind of old testament about things. I believe in strict punishments, and in the case of murder, and child molesting, Those punishments should be swift, and they should be permanent. As it stands now, Massachusetts tax payers are now going to be paying to keep a murderer alive, fed, and sheltered, for the rest of his life, while at the same time there are not enough shelters for the homeless. We spend time trying to rehabilitate those which have ruined, or taken the lives of others, when what we should be doing is spending time rehabing those who have only hurt themselves.

In order to keep a weed from spreading or coming back, you rip it out at the root of the lawn, the same should be done with repeat violent offenders.

I never said that everyone can be redeemed and am not saying you can't defend yourself. Killing someone in active self defense is very different than killing them as a punishment. Punishments should be delivered as a teaching tool during early socialization, not when it is likely too late.

The fundamental problem is how we raise our kids as a society. If we did that properly, the cost of rehabilitating the very few who need it would be insignificant. That said, there are some who are far too dangerous to try to rehabilitate and must be expelled.

Soul_Survivor88 · Apr 17, 2015

Former Pats front office executive Floyd Reese says the team knew the risks with Aaron Hernandez

ctpatsfan77 · Apr 17, 2015

chasa said:
But I'm kind of old testament about things. I believe in strict punishments, and in the case of murder, and child molesting, Those punishments should be swift, and they should be permanent. . . .
In order to keep a weed from spreading or coming back, you rip it out at the root of the lawn, the same should be done with repeat violent offenders.

On the one hand, he's not yet a proven repeat violent offender.

And the latter italics in the sentence above is the reason I have a huge problem with the death penalty. I think I might be able to tolerate it if it could somehow be limited exclusively to people who are indisputably, 100% guilty. But that isn't the case, and it is all but certain that innocent men have, indeed, been executed. And, in my mind, innocent men being put to death is a far greater injustice than repeat murderers being allowed to live.

varjao · Apr 17, 2015

Brady_to_Moss said:
Once the lawyers put him at the scene..i knew he would be found guilty by all of them

That was a hail mary attempt, with your non-throwing arm and a dislocated hip.

chasa · Apr 17, 2015

ctpatsfan77 said:
I think I might be able to tolerate it if it could somehow be limited exclusively to people who are indisputably, 100% guilty.

That's the problem with absolutes. in the majority of cases there is no way to be 100% sure. in this case he admits he was at the scene where it happened. so either he, or his two friends, committed the murder. if he wasn't teh trigger man he should have gone to the police and told them who was, instead he lived by his "snitches get stitches" thug lifestyle. IMO protecting the person that committed murder, is just as bad as committing the murder.

like i said, old testemaent

Palm Beach Pats Fan · Apr 17, 2015

The headline kind of misrepresents the article, which importantly makes the point "the vast majority of guys that have maybe had a tough upbringing, when you throw them into a great locker room, great organization, great place to play, they come out of it.

But... I am SO tired of the "they should have tried to understand what type of people he was associating with" angle.

The associates didn't make him do jack.

Aaron Hernandez was the crappy kind of person that THEY (his friends) should not have been associating with.

Danger Zone · Apr 17, 2015

About a year ago I looked into what was being said about AH in the press at the time of his being drafted and what was being said after the Patriots extended him.

I could not find a single article or reference by anyone in the sports world that opined or speculated that Hernandez was any kind of risk due to violence or gangster affiliations.

Almost everything I read that even hinted at reservations was almost entirely centered around him having smoked marijuana. The worst I could find were "off the field character concerns".

Like with the Draft, its all in hindsight ********.

BradyManny · Apr 17, 2015

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:
The associates didn't make him do jack.

Aaron Hernandez was the crappy kind of person that THEY (his friends) should not have been associating with.

I agree. I think it's a great article by Bedard, and there's certainly something to what Reese is talking about, with kids not being able to get away from their past. However, Aaron Hernandez is just a sociopath. His case is different. He wasn't killing gang members that his crew had problems with, he killed people basically for the heck of it, or out of paranoia, or whatever. He's nuts.

I think it does injustice to the people that actually do struggle with the issues Reese talks about to even compare the two. Hernandez is different.

Aaron Hernandez found guilty of first-degree murder

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