Sherry Peel Jackson Objects To Prison Food - And Needs Money

[Doktor Avalanche]

Sherry Jackson somehow got this message to Fred Marshall.
Fred Marshall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Hi Fred
I have been hearing that the food that we get here is what the grocery stores reject or send back after it has sat a while. After having some kind of "ground beef" put on my plate for three days in a row, I finally asked my cell mate, who works in the kitchen, if it is true, and she basically confirmed that our food is very suspect. With that said, I am asking you to give information to the caring, to send money to me, if they want, so that when they put "mystery meat" on my plate I can come upstairs and have tuna, sardines or something I know is safe. Right now Colin is starting to hurt for funds and he was not able to send me any money this month. My cousin sent a little, but I am asking people that care to send a little once in a while so that the burden won't be on one or two people. I don't want to get sick in here because I hear that there is really no health care. I pray over
the food that I do eat, but lately I have been going hungry because even the lady that put the meat on my plate whispered to everyone that came by that THIS MEAT IS BAD.

By phone using a credit/debit card call 1-800-634-3422 and press option 2 (two).

On LINE using a credit/debit card go to http://www.westernunion.com. Select Bill Payment. Select Quick Collect.

Then you must provide the following:
Inmate Register Number 59085019
Inmate Name Sherry Peel Jackson
City Code FBOP
State Code DC

Within hours I will have funds. I need to let you know that things cost two or three times what they cost on the street. For instance, a pair of sweat pants at Wal-Mart are $6 but in here they are $20! I think the commissary is run by a private company out for big profit, so we pay through the nose for things that should not cost that much. That is why it is such a burden on my family. Just to get decent vitamins I am paying $16. Thanks for letting people know that I need a little help. My job pay will kick in soon but they will be taking ALL of that and giving it to the DOJ for my fines and legal costs to them. Also, please send this to Angela Stark in California if you have her e-mail address. Thanks. SPJ

[notorial dissent]

Poor baby.

[Imalawman]

What, prison food isn't very good food? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! It sounds like prison isn't really a fun place to be and that you aren't treated very well. Man, who would have thought that? Let me get this right, if you break the law and get sent to prison you're treated as if you did something wrong?

[ErsatzAnatchist]

I am always amazed at those people who claim prison isn't so bad (Making comments like three meals, a warm bed, and free cable). Prison sucks, the food is terrible (and not very healthy), the cells are often too cold (in the winter) or too warm (in the summer), the cable is not free, and your roommate is a freaking criminal!

Thankfully, I say this only from what has been told to me by people who have been in prison. So far, I have managed to avoid being a guest of the State. Whenever I would have clients who were going to jail, they would all cry and whine like little babies (even the career criminal types), so I always took their word that prison sucks.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

I am always amazed at those people who claim prison isn't so bad (Making comments like three meals, a warm bed, and free cable). Prison sucks, the food is terrible (and not very healthy), the cells are often too cold (in the winter) or too warm (in the summer), the cable is not free, and your roommate is a freaking criminal!

...

I knew a local drunkard who didn't mind spending time in the county jail. He would get picked up every so often for driving on a revoked license and spend a few months as a guest of the state. He liked it for the food, he didn't have to pay utilities, it was appropriately warm / cool, and he had a lot of time to read. His tone changed a little when they banned smoking in the jail.

Not all state prisons are bad either. There is a minimum security facility a few towns over and those guys have it very easy. Their meals are catered and they are only locked up during the night. Otherwise, they go outside and hang out under the picnic tables and play frisbee. Some also go out on work crews for a little cash. Pretty posh, really. Having said that, I know there is a vast, vast difference between this facility and the medium-security facility 50 miles up the road.

[Doktor Avalanche]

I knew a local drunkard who didn't mind spending time in the county jail. He would get picked up every so often for driving on a revoked license and spend a few months as a guest of the state. He liked it for the food, he didn't have to pay utilities, it was appropriately warm / cool, and he had a lot of time to read. His tone changed a little when they banned smoking in the jail.

Hmmm...did he look anything like this guy:

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

Haha! Actually a little more like this guy, but with dirty glasses a fewer teeth:

[Question everything]

Poor baby.

That was my thought as well. In retrospect, she probably wishes that her "living off the taxpayers" would have taken the form of a (almost) guaranteed federal retirement that was her future before drinking copious amounts of kool-aid.

[Spartacus]

It is frightening that some people would find such delight or have such venomous words for a woman who believes she's fighting an intellectual debate.

She isn't a criminal. A person doesn't rob a bank because he thinks it's legal. That's what's so preposterous about the Cheek defense -- I'm criminally immune if I truly think I'm not breaking a law?

You excuse Tom Cryer for the Cheek defense but that would be like OJ Simpson saying "Yes, I killed Nicole because there's no law against it" and then him being acquitted and sued civilly. Perhaps OJ was ignorant of the law?

The tax protesters are liable civilly (it seems) because they violated a contract that they unwittingly signed, submitting themselves to an unnecessary jurisdictional authority.

Show me any other law/case that the Cheek defense or "specific intent" of ignorance of the law applies.

[Demosthenes]

You excuse Tom Cryer for the Cheek defense but that would be like OJ Simpson saying "Yes, I killed Nicole because there's no law against it" and then him being acquitted and sued civilly. Perhaps OJ was ignorant of the law?

Congress made willfulness a part of the criminal tax laws ("willful failure to file" and "willful tax evasion".) They did not include the willfulness element in the criminal murder laws. Don't like it? Talk to Congress.

Sherry was convicted on multiple counts of the following:

§ 7203. Willful failure to file return, supply information, or pay tax
Any person required under this title to pay any estimated tax or tax, or required by this title or by regulations made under authority thereof to make a return, keep any records, or supply any information, who willfully fails to pay such estimated tax or tax, make such return, keep such records, or supply such information, at the time or times required by law or regulations, shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $25,000 ($100,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

[Dezcad]

It is frightening that some people would find such delight or have such venomous words for a woman who believes she's fighting an intellectual debate.

She isn't a criminal.

I stopped here since this faulty premise will undermine anything that follows. She violated a section of the Federal criminal law, so by definition, she IS a criminal.

[Spartacus]

Demosthenes, it is a political crime though. She philosophically disagrees with the income tax, believes it is unconstitutional and now she is in prison? The Government won't even answer questions about the IRS. Even if you are the most mindless myrmidon, you have to question their tactics and obfuscating way of doing business.

Furthermore, both the Internal Revenue and Federal Reserve acts were passed at the same time, so we must assume they are related. And one is a private company yet you just ignore it.

There is a better system.

[Demosthenes]

She philosophically disagrees with the income tax, believes it is unconstitutional and now she is in prison?

Which she told the jury, and they ruled that she was lying. They didn't think she was truly that stupid.

[Dr. Caligari]

Demosthenes, it is a political crime though. She philosophically disagrees with the income tax, believes it is unconstitutional and now she is in prison?

I philosophically disagree with our drug laws, and I believe they are unconstitutional (notwithstanding the Supreme Court's contrary decision in Raich). I am nonetheless aware that if I sell crystal meth to your kids in their schoolyard I will probably go away for quite a while, so I refrain from doing so.

[grixit]

Demosthenes, it is a political crime though. She philosophically disagrees with the income tax, believes it is unconstitutional and now she is in prison?

Yeah, there are a lot of people in prison for political crimes. The ones who have a philosophical disagreement on with the principle of equal rights and believe the law against shooting minorities is unconstitutional for instance. It's just not fair!

[Dr. Caligari]

The tax protesters are liable civilly (it seems) because they violated a contract that they unwittingly signed, submitting themselves to an unnecessary jurisdictional authority.

Taxpayers are civilly liable because the law says they are. No contract is necessary. See, e.g., McLaughlin v. United States, 832 F2d 986 (7th Cir. 1987)(“The notion that the federal income tax is contractual or otherwise consensual in nature is not only utterly without foundation but, despite McLaughlin’s protestations to the contrary, has been repeatedly rejected by the courts.” ).

Show me any other law/case that the Cheek defense or "specific intent" of ignorance of the law applies.

Congress required the willfullness element for criminal tax cases to avoid having citizens prosecuted for inadvertent violations of complex tax statutes. Why are you complaining?

There are, however, other crimes with similar requirements. In most states, you cannot be convicted of theft or larceny if you believed in good faith that the money or property you took was legally yours (even if your belief was mistaken). Violations of the federal securities laws sometimes require proof that the defendant knew he was violating the law. Prosecutions for mail fraud require proof that the defendant intended to defraud, and a good-faith (even if erroneous) belief that the defendant's claims were true is therefore a defense. Similarly with perjury-- honestly mistaken testimony is not a crime. Even in your murder example, the law does not require proof that the defendant knew murder was illegal, but the defendant's mistaken belief that he was acting in self-defense is a defense.

[Paul]

Furthermore, both the Internal Revenue and Federal Reserve acts were passed at the same time, so we must assume they are related.

And I was born at the same time William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor graduated from Stanford Law School, and I also graduated from Stanford. So must we assume they are my parents or my siblings?

Or did you mean that we "must" assume the relation because that premise is essential to your argument, and therefore must be true because your conclusions must be true?

[Demosthenes]

I also graduated from Stanford.

Go Bears.

[Paul]

I shake my car keys in your general direction!

[Quixote]

The Government won't even answer questions about the IRS.

What significant questions are being asked about the IRS in good faith, but not being answered?