A different perspective

[Shanny5]

Hi All,

I?ve been away from this site for a lil while so thought I?d pop back in to say hi and also relate some thing?s that have been on my mind lately.
I?ve never mentioned the work I do before but I am a Correctional Officer who case-manager?s offenders in prison, that are about to be released on for parole. It?s an interesting job and I really enjoy my work but what I?d like to make known is that almost everyone one of those offenders committed their crime or made their mistake under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. In many cases, alcohol has torn their lives and families apart.
Now don?t get me wrong, I?m no angel. When I first found this site, I was running from the wreckage of my alcoholic past. I?m feeling a lot better these days and being on this forum had A LOT do with that. I wanted to come back here to say that some of those offenders are just normal people who got behind the wheel while drinking?ONCE?and killed somebody. Honestly, how many of us have done that even though we thought we never would. Some of them tried an illicit drug for the first time, only after a night of heavy drinking and did stupid thing?s that were way out of character. I could go on and give you a list of incredibly bad circumstances that stemmed from drinking but I think you get the idea. Drinking makes us lose our better judgment and inhibitions and sometimes, some of us are in the wrong place at the wrong time. It can happen a lot easier than we seem to think.
For myself, doing this job has opened my eyes up even wider to the dangers of drinking. I was like a person who never wore a safety belt, walking through a spinal ward in a hospital. You don?t know the extent of the damage and potential for disaster till its right in your face.
I just wanted to put this down on paper as it were, because we tend to focus very much on what alcohol is doing to US more than what it can do to others. Most of us know we?re good people and consider ourselves immune to serious mistakes but we?re really not when under the influence. For every career offender I meet with a criminal record as long as your arm, I meet someone?s mum or grandma in jail for the first time for an alcohol related offence. Jeezz..what a pity we can?t bring back prohition and be done with it but then that would be a human right?s issue.

Thanx for reading

[rubywillow]

A different perspective

Great post!!! Thank you for sharing that. It is SO true. Just last week, a guy who worked for my husband crossed the center line, hit and killed a young local deputy. Lives forever ruined.

[coalfire]

A different perspective

Hi shanny 5. great post. I was in the company of a prison officer once and I heard him say(casually) that you always know the alcoholics because they are the ones who you can hear crying at night. I asked him what he meant by that and he said well often the alcoholics are not criminal by nature and their crimes were unplanned and carried out under the influence of drink. However alcoholism is not allowed as a legal defence and they have to do their jail time now along with everyone else.That chilled me and many a time I have thought of alcoholics crying in prisons evey night. Its a horrible thought.

[KundaliniGirl]

A different perspective

Great post, Shanny. Thanks!

[mario]

A different perspective

Very interesting post as it shows the ripples of the alcoholic pool go very far indeed and touch an awful lot of people,Will our society especially western ever wake up to the harm alcohol does to its communities.Thanks shanny5.

[Bruunhilde]

A different perspective

Shanny and Coalfire, thanks for the posts, really makes you face the facts and the most frightening one of all, is so easily we could have been the ones crying ourselves to sleep at night after killing someone while drunk driving.

[rubywillow]

A different perspective

Several years ago, a major newspaper in Atlanta did an indepth story on a woman preparing for prison. She had killed someone, after stopping off for a few after work drinks. She was a lovely woman, good job, hard worker. Her elderly parents were completely distraught over the situation. She said she hadn't slept a night since it happened without nightmares over what she'd done. Never having a thought she had a problem, she was packing her home, arranging her business. Along with the other grief she was living with, she had only her 2 dogs, her only housemates she adored. Knowing she would never see them again, was torture on top of torture. She would never have Sunday dinner with her parents again. At 52, she would come out an old, broken, woman, with nothing left in her life.
She accepted she had a debt to pay. But her payment, her crime, was why she let the story be done.
An old school friend's son drove drunk, killed another family of 3 I knew. The son was 29.
A boy of 17 got a 6-pack here, ran a stop sign, killed 2 men and 3 small children.
I live in a small town, and could continue all night with these stories. AL makes us forget these possibilities. They're life and death.

[Shanny5]

A different perspective

coalfire;1075293 wrote: Hi shanny 5. great post. I was in the company of a prison officer once and I heard him say(casually) that you always know the alcoholics because they are the ones who you can hear crying at night. I asked him what he meant by that and he said well often the alcoholics are not criminal by nature and their crimes were unplanned and carried out under the influence of drink. However alcoholism is not allowed as a legal defence and they have to do their jail time now along with everyone else.That chilled me and many a time I have thought of alcoholics crying in prisons evey night. Its a horrible thought.

Defense by intoxication is a murky area where I live in Australia. Not sure how it works else where but here, the criminal defence of intoxication is available for offences that are classified as "specific intent" offences. A specific Intent offence is an offence requiring proof by the crown that the accused possessed a specific intent to bring about a specific result. An example of a specific intent offence is maliciously inflict grievous bodily harm with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. It's not sufficient that the crown merely proves that the accused inflicted the grievous bodily harm, but that the accused also intended to inflict the harm.
Having said that, it doesn't often stand up in court and yes, your description of knowing the alcoholics because they're the ones you hear crying at night is a haunting one. Bad thing's aren't supposed to happen to good people but they do and we open the door to that possibility every time we open the bottle.

[coalfire]

A different perspective

I dont know the legal situation here in Ireland.I just notice that in newspapers the judge will say-"alcohol is no excuse" or" I refuse to except alcohol as an excuse "etc

" Bad thing's aren't supposed to happen to good people but they do and we open the door to that possibility every time we open the bottle." -shanny 5


I think every one of us here should learn that sentence off by heart. Thats one of those sentences that should be quoted time and time again on MWO.

[gyco]

A different perspective

hi shanny5,great post,but what your saying is so true,probition was a great idea but a human rights thing,once the wealthy , in the late 70 s an 80s, seen there greatest investment was the middle class, ,going bac to those days were over,think of the job loss if all this horror wasnt here,many in your type of work would no longer be needed,hospitals wards would close down, AA might go out of business and they are a business,the list goes on, but on another note,everyone even a so called alchoholic or drug addict have choice b4 they cause there horror,Australia is one of the 1st cultures that air in bars what the results could be if you drive that vehicle,canada hasnt adapted that law yet,and people still get behind the wheel,when people drink or drug that much its like being anistisised and getting behind a wheel of a vehicle,i cantr say i feel sorry for them,many as you say have been fortunate nothing happened again great post gyco

[ATLThrash]

A different perspective

In the US intoxication is a defense to what you refer to as specific intent crimes-- the rationale being that you cannot form the intent to commit some of them when intoxicated. It is pretty murky thouhg-- for example-- while one might not be able to form the intent to murder someone while drunk-- they cna be punished for the lesser offenses of manslaughter (different types and degrees)-- but many times those carry just the same punishment as the specific intent crimes. These are always bar exam and law school questions--very interesting but to the person who ends up dead or injured and their family it is hard to make a distinction I am sure.

I am sad to say that before I got help for drinking (and even still sometimes) I came downstairs and cried at night wondering about why I drank and how I could stop. I often feel as if I am a hair away from doing it again-- which is so scary. This was just an awesome post. Thanks for it

[mama bear]

A different perspective

What a great post Shanny and I am happy for your sobriety.
I am haunted by the thought of crying all night in jail......wow

[Doggygirl]

A different perspective

Shanny5;1075429 wrote: Bad thing's aren't supposed to happen to good people but they do and we open the door to that possibility every time we open the bottle.
AMEN.

ATLThrash;1075688 wrote: I am sad to say that before I got help for drinking (and even still sometimes) I came downstairs and cried at night wondering about why I drank and how I could stop. I often feel as if I am a hair away from doing it again-- which is so scary. This was just an awesome post. Thanks for it

I can totally relate to this fear. I don't have it haunting me today, but I did for quite awhile in my early AF time. I hope by continuing to do what I am doing to stay sober, that fear will stay away. It was no fun.

I know a woman who drove drunk, got in a crash, and someone died. It was her fiance. (She did time) I can't even imagine. And Shanny you are so right about the risks we take. I have gotten behind the wheel countless times when I could have easily killed someone. I feel so lucky.

That is haunting Tart - imagining the alcoholics crying in the night.

It's moments like this - reading threads like this one - that make me truly grateful I no longer drink, and erase any tiny illusion there might be that I'm "missing something good."

DG