Aspies For Freedom

http://www.laweekly.com/general/features...82/?page=1

I found this rather long but interesting article about an aspies in prison.

Seems like he haven't killed anybody. He was punished this hard for blowing up some vehichles meant for entertainment as a way of showing his political standpoint?

That was obviously a bad excuse, especially for calling him a terrorist. I don't see this person as dangerous when I read this.

And, as usual, the autistic person gets the short end of the stick. Doesn't surprise me at all. Angers me, yes, but doesn't surprise me.

I hate when people do this to a genius.

This is very sad, that he put himself in that situation to begin with.  My concern here is not so much with his particular treatment (which shouldn't happen to any prisoner), but with treating him fairly in comparison to an NT in the same situation.

I don't like to see this happen to him either, but he needs to take the consequences of his actions like anyone else would.  That, unfortunately, includes every hardship anyone else would have to face in prison.  (Yes, including "Bubba", as they say on my other favorite website.  I hope he's a good fighter.)

He should have cold-cocked Johnson when he saw him start making molatov coctails.  He would have been doing his friend a favor.  I hope Tyler Johnson and Michie Oe get their share of the punishment, too.

I believe the article mentioned that he will eventually be released.  In the meantime, he should be allowed to have his books and studies, and to be useful in any way he can (like teaching math to the other inmates).  When he gets out, hopefully he will make himself useful to his fellow aspies.  (He owes the rest of us as far as I'm concerned.)  Maybe going around and telling his story will infuse his audience with some moral courage, so that should another (aspie or otherwise) end up surrounded by "friends" who are about to do something criminally stupid, said person will put a stop to it instead of joining in like a lemming on the march.

Oh, and what's this about his MOTHER volunteering to print up the bumper stickers?  That makes me wonder what kind of values she was teaching him as he was growing up.  So she knew he was embarking on vandalism (albeit she probably didn't know it would involve fire), and yet she wasn't trying to stop him.  Was I reading that right?  <sarcasm>"Here, son.  Here's something to deface other people's property with."</sarcasm>

This story will probably end up on my other favorite website.    But it won't be me who posts it.

Well, yeah, obviously he deserves to be in prison. Anybody who blows up cars does. But he deserves the same treatment any prisoner gets, not this "terrorist" stereotype thing. He's obviously just an obsessed environmentalist, not some crazed murderer.

And yes, he should be allowed to have his books. I thought prisons were supposed to offer opportunities for rehabilitation? You know, so they don't have to go right back to crime? *sigh*

I don't think that's just because he's Aspie, though. I mean, these days all you need to do is promote Aqua Teen Hunger Force in a slightly gimmicky manner and people go "OMG terrorist!" O.o

Hehe Yeah, people are crazy with terrorism these days. Considering you're just about as likely to be struck by lightning... *sigh*

Oh, another thing: It could be a combination of "terrorist fear" and the fact that people often see Aspies as "a little off" and unpredictable... as we know, "unpredictable" = "Scary". In fact, my NT housemate told me as much: When she first met me, she was a little scared of me because she didn't know what I was going to do if I got upset. (I cry and withdraw, actually.) NTs can't "read" our intentions sometimes; we don't send signals in the same language they use; and so they think there must be something wrong with us.

I think maybe the guy wouldn't have gotten the "terrorist" label if he hadn't seemed "a little off" to the prison guards in the first place.

Depends on whether people think that the legal system should be there to punish people, rehabilitate criminals or keep dangerous people from harming others or themselves.  All three.

Blowing up Hummers is a terrible thing! Our Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger drives a Hummer! This guy could have accidentally -- hmmmm on second thought, I DEMAND THIS YOUNG MAN BE RELEASED FROM PRISON IMMEDIATELY!!

M, yeah, all three. Criminals who want to be rehabilitated--to make a new start--certainly shouldn't be prevented from it. Education should be provided in prison; there's no excuse not to do so. Okay, so maybe you keep him away from chemistry if he's been known to make bombs; but other than that--why?!

This is sick - he's being punished for something he didn't do, with no proff that he did anything in terms of harm (his "friend" did the bombing) and now he's being treated like a dangerous animal in prison. It's a wonder he's not insane by now!

At least in Britain, a vast majority of the prison populace, at least, in my experience of the two different prisons I was sent to (Forrest Bank, and the Wayz) are uneducated, granted its a vast stereotype, but its my experience inside, and will attempt to single out those more intelligent for endless shit, at least, if the smart person in question, isn't the type to wrap a sock full of snooker balls round the offender's head the minute they step out of line

That said, this guy was treated disgracefully, it sounds like he got sent down the hole, for doing little else than his charges giving the screws a case of the heebie-jeebies.