It was such big privilege to have that guy to talk to us about life experience in his prison time. It was a lot to learn from him personally than what we can get from the books. I learned a lot from him about life in prison on how you get treated from other inmates that whose life was terrible from streets before they got into prison. It’s so scurry to share room or be around with this gangs who were either murderers or sexual offenders. every time you go to sleep you don’t know what might happen to you , it’s so terrified. And the other thing that was shocking from him is that he served 13 years in prison for just selling weed. This tells me that criminal justice system screws some individual that are not even deserve the punishment they are going through. This is where my mind tells me criminal justice need to come with the law that weighs each offender offence according to what he or she offended. To make the matter worse he said he was a class x that means he qualifies nothing that is offered in prison. With me compared with the murderer and his case there are people that are more violent but they qualify for the benefits they offer in prison than nonviolent offenders. This is one of the most things I didn’t get or understand on how criminal justice system charges such people. I also do agree with him that in prison there are people locked up because of their stupid mistakes and now they need help while in prison for things like G.E.D programs. But to what he said if you are in class x none of this is going to be offered to you. This is a situation where we find a lot of good people are locked in prison and don’t get any treatment or help to change their behaviors but they even come out more even worse than the time they get locked up. To be in prison for 30 years you will even forget your name spellings without any education offered to you that’s how I think. It’s my opinion if could be better to eliminate this class x offenders and try to help every inmate to recover from their addiction or offences. By doing this they will help a lot of people in the society that they were already destroyed their life. By providing this program as we heard from him actually it will help the majority to become productive in the society. Lastly the things that he said for inmates are advised to do is being obedience that way you can earn some good time and any other programs offered in prison. Like he said this can lower your time in prison even make yourself busy rather than sitting there doing nothing at all.GUSII 789
I also agree with what you are saying here, being able to listen to someone who has actually gone through the system and seen how the system works from an inmate's point of view. It also shows us how then system has it flaws and does not always work the way that we have intended it to work. It gives us a better idea of what we as the new generation of officers need to do in order to change things and make the system work better and smoothly for those within it. Pack789
I absolutely agree that this was an awesome experience being able to listen to him tell us what it was like to go through the system first hand. It must have been terrifying at times to go to sleep at night knowing he was locked up with murders and rapists. I am very thankful for him offering his time to us to give us a new outlook on the field that a lot of us will probably end up getting in to. - Rudedogg8357
Throughout the semester we have learned lots of things about the correctional system from how it first began to how it works on a day in and day out basis. We have also had the opportunity to hear from some wonderful speakers including the Sheriff. However, all of these speakers gave us insight into how the system works from the criminal justice side of things, we were very privileged to have Mr. Spyres come in and speak to us about his experience in the system from an inmate’s point of view. Mr. Spyres was 19 years old when he was caught mailing 37 pounds of weed from California into Illinois. In Illinois we have very strict weed laws so therefore it made turning a profit much easier for him. However, he was soon apprehended by the police and they seized all 37 pounds from his possession, because of the sheer amount of weed, this crime was classified as a class X felony in Illinois, where Mr. Spyres received a 30 YEAR sentence for this crime. Because of the class X classification for his charges he was not allowed to enter any rehabilitative programs until he had served almost 13 years of his sentence. He spoke about how the system does not always work the way we intended it to and we can see that in the case of how much time he was given for just possession of the weed. He spoke about how there were murders and sex offenders that were ok to be in the rehabilitation programs, but somehow, he was not eligible because they did not see him as someone they could rehabilitate. Mr. Spyres did not let this get him down however, and while he was in prison he would spend his time studying textbooks and bettering his education instead of just sitting there and doing nothing with his time. He talked about how the system is sometimes flawed even just within the jails as safety was sometimes a very big concern. He spoke about an incident with a cellie he had at the prison that said he was going to snap his neck for “tattling” on him. The officers and even the lieutenant said that there was nothing they could do to stop this from happening, and that he would have to file a report to get anything done. The system should not be this way and inmates should not have to fear for their own safety while they are in prison. While Mr. Spyres does not condone what he did and he knows what he did was wrong, however he believes and I for one believe him too, he should not have been given such a long sentence for just possessing weed with no violence and no other past convictions. Him coming and speaking to us has given us a better idea of how the system works from the “other side of the fence” and also shows us how broken the system can be sometimes. Pack789
I like that you pointed out that Jason tried to better himself in prison by reading books and learning. It is inspirational that he continued to work hard, and he wanted to be better and he wanted to grow in knowledge. The prison did not see him as capable of doing this because they had basically said he was not able to be rehabilitated. The system gave up on Jason, but he did not give up on himself. Jason learned so much from reading textbooks and learning it seems that he probably came out smarter and better than some of the prisoners that were allowed to get GEDs. -Dp789
I really like that you pointed out that Jason did not just sit in prison wasting time and he tried bettering himself by reading books and learning. That was one of the most inspirational things about his story even though the Illinois Department of corrections really put him in a terrible spot by not allowing him to get into drug treatment or GED classes did not discourage him and the fact that he was going to make the most out of a horrible situation is truly inspirational. I also noticed that the biggest safety concern he had was the policy on moving inmates from cells when there was threatening scenarios. -RHB789
I do like that you pointed out that with with ged's that most of the time the habitual offenders are the only ones that return to prison for breaking the same laws over and over again. He can not really blame the IDOC for the sentences or the judges that sentenced him. he can blame the state along with the legislative branch of the Illinois government for passing those class x laws to get rid of offenders. JeepGuy789
The story that Jason gave today was very impactful and informative. He mentioned a lot of great points and it was good to see the opinions of someone who had been affected by the severe sentencing on drugs and it showed how severe it was. One of the first things that he said to us was that he was also known as Mr. K-99397. He gave us some good background about his life when he told us his testimony. He mentioned that he was 17 when he first started selling pot, and he mentioned that he did not even want to sell the drug in the first place. I thought that it was very interesting that he was not intending on selling marijuana, but he ended up doing it anyway because of the money. After he sold it the first time he realized how much money he could make from it. It is very interesting that people can make so much money from selling drugs. Jason also mentioned that when he visited Illinois he realized that the price for the drug was doubled here. He saw that opportunity and he decided to get marijuana from California and sell it in Illinois. It is interesting to see how much the price of a drug can change just because of the location. With the opportunity Jason had and took, and the amount of money he was making it makes me wonder why more people do not do this. It seems to be an easy and quick way to earn a lot. Jason eventually got caught selling the drug and he ended up going to court where he spent a lot of money on a private attorney, and he still ended up getting 30 years in prison at the age of 19. While in prison he was classified as a Class X offender. This meant that he was seen as not worth the prisons time to try and rehabilitate, and that he could not earn good time, and that he could not get his GED or get into other programs. He also told us that there was a sex offender and a murderer who were able to get these things, but he could not. This seems crazy to think that a person selling weed is viewed as worse and treated worse than a sex offender and a person who has killed somebody. It is interesting to see that the policies make it so that he is treated this way. I think most people in the country would rather have the murderer or the sex offender locked up rather than the drug dealer. One last thing Jason said that caught my attention was the recidivism rates of people with GED versus the people without them. There was a 89 percent recidivism rate for the people without GED and there was only a 47 percent recidivism rate for people with a GED. Jason also phrased it in a way that seemed very impactful. He said that the difference is 42, which means for every 100-people coming out of the prison there will be 42 less victims. 42 less people that must deal with a crime committed against them. This also saves the prison lots of money for not having to house all these prisoners again. I think the policies on drugs should change, and people can learn a lot about the system from Jason's story. -Dp789
It was crazy when he was talking about how a murderer and pedophile could get rehabilitative programs and he couldn't because his crime was seen a worse one due to being a class x. It was interesting to here that because of this class X offense every time he tried to better himself there was a road block in the way. The fact that he kept going was very inspiring. It was also interesting as you pointed out the impact that education can have on the success of a person when they get out. An 89% recidivism rate for those without a GED really says something about the seriousness of getting people an education while there incarcerated. I also enjoyed how he put it, that out of 100 people getting out of prison 42 less people we will not have to deal with and 42 less if we just help them get there GED.~pj789
This was a very talented individual who made a mistake but to despite what this person went through was able to overcome the amount of time sent in prison and the criminal conviction on his record and make the most of it. He was able to not only get out of prison only serving half of the time on the 30-year sentence. He sent his time productively while being locked up this was a motional story of triumph along with being a story for inspiring a change in the current way in which felonies are structured. This shows also how impactful the value of education has on our correctional system for overcoming a criminal convection to how correctional officers conduct themselves when they are patrolling their perimeters. This being a class X felony had a effect that left him immorally with being able to make steps in order to get himself proper rehab treatment, counseling or even being able to earn good time to lessen the convection that he was already facing nearly 30 years for in his mind he would have lost hope but this also shows the importance of fighting for what is important for you so that you will have the chance to be involved in the life of your family. This also showed how tied your hands can be once an offense is committed the importance of how you conduct yourself with others. As what Jason had mentioned through much of his speech that regardless of what life style the person grew up in regardless of what group they believed to be a part of during the time spent in prison they would get along behaving as friends, so they wouldn’t have conflict almost one another. One interesting fact that stood out to me is the fact of once he was released he was on constant fear of facing technology violation this in turn could cause a person to end up committing a criminal offense from facing satiations and no being able to handle them as a normal reasonable person. Another thing that was mentioned to the class was the fact he had to cross his arms, for risk of adding a year onto his original sentence by falling into the correctional officer even just the simple fact of brushing the arm of the correctional officer with his shoulder, could have added a year onto the original sentence. Jason also went on to say that the importance on you functioning in society is mentors when going through the correctional process the correctional officers. This also shows inmates as well going through the process what is valued such as having time with family. This is also important to mentioned that Jason stated himself that it was more important for him to personally be able to be free and create preventive measures in order to be able to bring offenders back into the community again where they are not going to create more victims by committing other crimes. eagle789
Jason is a very talented individual who didn't deserve to be in prison for that long of a sentence. Although I am glad that he was able to only serve half of his sentence, and become a functioning member of society. I was a little shocked when he said that most of the prisoners get along just fine while they are locked up. I figured it would be the other way around. However I guess when you are in prison you have to do whatever you can to be a good person. paww789
This was an amazing story to hear. Its really awesome to hear another side of the story as it pertains to the correctional system. Mr. Spyres was a very well spoken and intelligent person to hear from. He earned an education and fought to better himself. People in similar situations don’t always make these good decisions so it was very inspiring to hear his story. I’m in disbelief that he was sentenced to 30 years for marijuana. To make his situation worse it’s a class X felony for what he did. A 19-year-old kid gets thirty years for a mistake that he made. I liked how he didn’t excuse what he did and owned it. Often it seems many people want to excuse themselves for a crime they committed and make it ok because they don’t agree with the system of laws; I believe his thought process is a more productive one. That being said the fact that he was considered the same as a murderer or pedophile is completely asinine. The list things that can make a person be sentenced to a class X felony are all violent in nature as far as I know. A non-violent offense should never give the right of members of our society to take years out of someone’s life as this sentenced did for Mr. Spyres. It was awesome to hear what he did with his time. He didn’t give up and allow himself to get sucked up in the rotating system that keeps people in the corrections system. This is why I enjoyed his story, more often than not much of what we see are people going back into prison system. I enjoyed the stories he told about life inside prison. Hearing about how gangs act inside as opposed to the outside was really interesting. I was under the impression it was all the same and each gang would stay away from one another. Something else that caught my attention was how the drug war has caused further damage than I had thought. This massive politically fueled war on drugs has taken people’s lives away even though their crime was non-violent in nature. This is not to say that there should be no policies on drugs rather ones that make sense as to the nature of these crimes. It was interesting to here some of the things we have learned in this class from a person who was inside the system. Things like the war on drugs, the education level of many of these incarcerated individuals, and the mental illness that is very prevalent within the prison system. Something else that Mr. Spyres said that caught my attention was that the CO’s didn’t believe that he was in there that long for the crime he did. Overall it was an awesome experience to hear Mr. Spyres story.~pj789
I think it is great you pointed out that he came out of all of this still trying to prove people wrong and better himself. You are completely right. Many people in this same situation would have just given up and let life pass them by. I think it is amazing as well that he has a engineering degree and is a manager of 3 different businesses. He didn’t make any excuses for himself or his actions, but i agree he did not deserve 30 years for the actions he did. I will never forget this speaker. - ST789
I really enjoyed Listening to Jason Spyres about what he experienced while he was in prison, now granted it was only a medium security prison, but either way, prison is prison. It must of been hard for him knowing that he wasn't a violent offender but he still wasn't allowed into any of the prison programs, such as the GED program or any drug rehab programs. If I were in his shoes I definitely wouldn't be very happy. Like he said, there was a 2nd degree murderer and a sex offender that had access to the GED program and the drug rehab program. I think that is completely wrong. While I also don't think someone someone shouldn't get in trouble for trafficking 37 pounds of Marijuana, I do think it is a little troubling when a non-violent offender has less rights in prison that the likes of a violent offender. While obviously I am hoping to have a long career in the criminal Justice system, there are some things I disagree with within the system, and this is one of those things. The fact that a non-violent 19 year old marijuana trafficker has less rights in prison than a murderer baffles me. The marijuana laws in this state have to change in my opinion. Personally, I'm an advocate for legalizing marijuana. I hate seeing people charged with petty cannabis possession crimes being convicted and having to spend large amounts of time in prison. To me that is unfair, especially if they are a non-violent. While Jason Spyres drug offense wasn't necessarily a petty crime, I still think it is widely unfair for him to be considered a class-x felon, and have absolutely no rights in prison. Another thing I cant rap my head around is that even though Jason Spyres has considered a class-x felon and wasn't allowed to be apart of any rehabilitation programs, he only received a 30 year prison sentence so he was going to be let out eventually so how was he supposed to become a functioning member of society? That goes a long with what he was saying regarding those inmates who struggle reading and writing. Then those prisoners get released from prison and are unable to be productive and get a job and find a place to stay and stay out of trouble as well. I find that to be very wrong with our criminal Justice system. Although I do have to applaud Jason for going out and study different subjects that interested him on his own. He studied calculus, chemistry, physics, etc. All subjects I know I would struggle with in college today. Overall I really enjoyed listening to Jason Spyres and his story and I hope that eventually the laws will change to keep people like him from receiving really harsh sentences. paww789
Jason’s story was very impactful and true too many of the things we have been talking about all year in this corrections class. It was one thing to read articles about harsh punishment for various drugs and it was one thing to hear Dr. White talk about these different stories but it was way more impactful to have someone standing in the room before us giving us his life story. If I was a politician listening to Jason story I would want to do everything in my power to reduce these absolutely ridiculous laws. He stood before us and told us a story about a 17-year-old boy making one mistake that hurt no one but cost him a 30 year sentence in prison. The fact that Illinois cost this very intelligent young man 13 years of his life for selling weed is just baffling to me and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Then to make things even worse the fact that he was classified a class X felon and deemed unable to be rehabilitated was just insult to injury. The story he shared with us about being in line next to a sex offender and someone who committed second-degree murder and both of them got to participate in good time programs and educational programs and he didn’t absolutely shocked me. Here was a guy who was trying to better his life while he was in prison and the Illinois Department of corrections denied him that privilege. He talks about even though he is not able to attend the GED classes he does not get discouraged instead he starts reading things like science books and every day he goes through and does question out of the books and basically teaches himself instead of sitting in prison wasting time by watching tv or languishing. The story about his “cellie” Who said he was going to snap his neck for telling the corrections officer that he was peeing in bottles and storing them by is bunk was a very interesting one because the corrections officer could not do anything unless he filed a grievance. I understand that grievances would work for smaller things but a threat upon someone’s life I would think it would be something that would warrant immediate action at least by changing cell mates. Another big thing that stood out to me when he was talking he talked about how he was totally institutionalized. That is something we have talked about in this class as far as going back to civilian life can be hard because you feel like you need to always ask permission and we’re always worried that you get more prison time. The example he gave was when he was waiting for the bus he didn’t wanna go sit on the wrong bench because he was scared a corrections officer would see him and he would get written up for being in the wrong place. It was very refreshing to hear the end of his story that he is a successful business owner and he is trying to get into a number of prestigious schools for engineering. This kind of made me wonder where he could be in his life if he was not given such a harsh punishment for something so non-violent as cannabis. -RHB789
I agree with that it is so different from reading articles and out of the book to actually hearing a real life experience. Jason did not deserve this type of punishment and its sad that it set him back in life so much. The most amazing thing that he told us was that he wasn't discouraged when he couldn't get in the education program so he decided to learn on his own and study from all these different text books and to this day he is a 4.0 engineering student. I think this is amazing and it shows what could happen if you give people a chance. Hollywood789
The story that Mr. Jason Alan Spyres told in class the other day was very insightful and helped to make me aware of how the criminal justice correction system was working and still is working today. One thing I found very interesting from his visit was the fact that when the police searched his home, they thought he had bombs. Mr. Spyres had purchased some fireworks shortly before returning home and when his home was searched, the police thought that the fireworks he had purchased were bombs and they sent a bomb squad robot in to try and locate the bombs. That is one of the most outrageous things that I have ever heard. I do not see any way that those fireworks could have been mistaken for bombs. Everyone has seen a firework in their life, so it is not as if they looked unfamiliar to those officers. A second thing that caught my attention during the visit was the fact that Mr. Spyres was not able to apply for good time during his sentence. However, murderers and sex offenders were eligible for good time. These people have knowingly killed or sexually assaulted people and can be released back into society early for showing good behavior in prison. And yet, a man who had possession of an illegal drug is required to serve his entire prison sentence without any chance of being released early. This is just one of the many examples showing how the corrections system within the United States needs to be revised so the people who have learned from their mistakes can be released early and those who will never learn from their mistakes will be locked up for their entire sentence. A third thing that I found interesting was the fact that anyone convicted of a class X felony is not allowed to be a part of GED programs or drug rehab programs during their time behind bars. By not allowing some class X felons to take part in these programs, these prisoners who actually need to be a part of them will just be released from prison and more than likely commit a similar crime that got them in trouble in the first place. For example, how are prisoners who got arrested for drug problems supposed to get over their addictions without any help at all and by just sitting in their cells? This is part of the reason of why the recidivism rate is eighty-nine percent. Without any ways to receive help and better themselves, these people will sadly be stuck with the addiction to these drugs for a much longer time then it could have been if they had received the help that they needed earlier. Overall, I really enjoyed the visit from Mr. Spyres. After he was done speaking, my eyes were truly opened to how the corrections system works in both the state of Illinois and the country as a whole and how certain rules that make up the system need to be re-made and changed as soon as possible. -Fozz789
It was amazing to have Jason come in and talk about the correctional system from his life experience. We go through this class reading articles and out of the book but we never really get a sense of what the other side (life of inmate) is. It was a very impactful story from his point of view. He was a 19 year old kid who made one mistake that costed him. He received a 30 year sentence for having 35 lbs of weed, he was non violent, no weapons on him, and also had no previous altercations with the police department. It is beyond me that this man had to serve 13 years of life in prison for some weed. It shocked me even more that he was considered a Class X felony. This basically means that he has no bone in his body that could ever be rehabilitated. He got no benefits, no good time, bottom of the list for education. What made me even more amazed was when he was describing him standing in a line between a murderer and a sex offender, and he was the only one considered Class X. The other two were able to get education and good time but he couldn't for just selling some weed. The IDOC denied him privileges just because he sold weed. This really baffled me when I heard this because it is very silly. On the bright side what was amazing to hear was he was able to learn on his own by reading all this different textbooks in engineering, physics, and biology. This is what he did day in and out because there was nothing else to do. Throughout his time in prison he also encountered some very odd situations with people in IDOC. He basically called it a mental hospital because most people who show up have some mental issues and that is why they do the crimes they do. One story that stood out the me was that there was a guy who was taken all of his “cellies” shoes in the morning and putting them outside because he thought there was little children trapped inside the shoes and he needed to free them. He said most things you encounter in prison are people who have problems and need help more than anything. He believes that people should be punished for what they did but also thinks they should receive help because it isn't safe for them or anyone around them. Another big thing that was mentioned was how hard it is for people to go back to civilization when they get out. He talked about his personal experience about how uncomfortable he felt and was scared that an officer was going to pop out of a bush and yell at him for not sitting in the right spot. That is the problem with prisons nowadays, they do not teach the inmate how to act or what to do when they get out of prison they kind of just let them go and hope they do not come back. This was such a great story to hear and I'm hoping that we can somehow diminishes these type of sentences to other people so it doesn't ruin their lives in the long run. Hollywood789
First of all I thought it was very nice of him to share his time with us, and to really share his experience in the correctional system. I learned a lot from what he had to say. He started out by telling us about his home life and growing up in California; and what lead him to doing what he ended up spending 13 years of his life for. I thought it was very interesting that he had such a large interstate operation going without any connection to a gang. I also thought it was absolutely asinine that he could get sentenced to 30 years in prison from only selling marijuana. Marijuana has such a small effect on individuals compared to other illegal substances. It seems impossible that someone could be sentenced so harshly for that particular substance. Honestly being sentenced that harshly for anything beyond violent crimes and crimes of sexual nature seems ridiculous. He spoke of his experience when he first got in to prison and how he decided he wanted to work his time down using the good time program; he quickly found out that he wasn't allowed to get any time reduced from his sentence because because he had committed a class X crime. This particularly shocked me. To be considered a class X felon for selling weed that is moronic. Especially considering that He was roped in to the same category as murderers and rapists. there is no reason that should happen. Aside from that injustice he gave us insight on what it was like sharing his cell with other inmates. He said that he shared a cell with two rival gang members and man that went by "Big Shirley". He told us that being in a rival gang in prison was entirely different than being in a rival gang outside of prison. He said that for the most part they don't bother each other and when forced to interact they will even get along inside the prison walls. However He said that sharing a cell with Big Shirley posed a threat when he asked him to clean up after himself and when Big Shirley refused he filed a grievance. When Big Shirley heard about this he threatened his life. Another thing he spoke of was his interaction with the correctional officers. He said that he spoke politely and interacted with them frequently. This led to him being allowed in to the trustee program which allowed him more comfort while serving his time. Overall I really enjoyed him talking to us. I liked the optimism he brought to the table and how he is planning on graduating from ICC and possibly getting in to ivy league schools. I wish nothing but the best for him he seemed like an honorable man. - Rudedogg8357
Jason Alan Spyres. This is what the ma speaking wrote on the board. This name did not mean anything to me at first. As the class came to an end this name will always be remembered and story behind this man. This story was amazing in many aspects. It gave me many mixed emotions during the time he was speaking. A 30 year sentence for selling weed. Some would think this is very much deserved, yet many people believe this is an extreme and should not have been nearly close to what Jason got as a sentence. Jason told us the story on how he got arrested. It all just started out as a way for him to be able to pay for a little bit of college. What made it even crazier is that the week he was buying and selling was from a police officer that was a friend. The way he was making so much money off of it was by buying from california and having it shipped to him in illinois. One thing I was surprised about was that the weed he sold was being shipped to him by his mom. Not many moms would ship you drugs. And the fact that he was getting the weed from a police officer is insane to me. When he was arrested he got arrested with 37 pounds of pots. I think it is a little extreme that they tried to charge him for having “bombs” when in reality everyone knew they were just fireworks. Luckily he got aquitted of those charges. When Jason first arrived at the Logan Correctional Facility, he tried to get into the wellness programs there to get good time marked toward his sentence. This is where the crazy part comes in. He was standing in line and on one side was a murderer and the other side was a rapist. They let the murderer into the program since he was a second degree murder, and they let the rapists in because it was a non violent rape. The sad thing is, they did not let him in due to him selling weed. I don’t understand why someone who was just selling weed would not be allowed in but people who committed very vile acts were allowed in. This aggravated me a lot. The next thing that I did not understand was why he could not get into the drug treatment program. They told him he was not allowed in because he still had too many years left to serve. In order to get into the drug treatment program you must only have a few years left to serve. This does not seem right to me at all. You would think that is someone wanted to get drug treatment and help they would not set time limit on how many years left you have to have left to get in. There was lots of great things that Jason spoke about in class. I will truly never forget Jason. - ST789
Mr. Spyres was very passionate and very easy to listen to while giving his speech. I couldn’t believe it when he told us how many years he was sentenced just for cannabis charges alone, and that he was labeled a class X offender by the state of Illinois and was not allowed to get into the good time programs nor was able to participate in the GED programs that were there when child molesters and murders in the 2nd degree were able to do these things. One thing I found really interesting was that he was represented by a private lawyer in court and not a public defender and was still sentenced to a 30 year prison term. I had thought for sure that he was represented by a public defender given the time that he got, but instead he got 30 years and owed a lawyer 10,000 dollars. Another thing that I really found interesting about Mr. Spyres is his 4.0 GPA and his offers from ivy league colleges. I think that his hard work to achieve offers from the best schools in the United States is very inspirational and shows that anyone can be successful in life if you work hard to get there. I also found interest in the fact that he never saw a fight while he was in prison because I thought that for sure in medium security facilities that there would be fights involved. I couldn’t imagine being 19 years old and doing 15 years for just selling pot. I think that his job working for the libertarian governor candidate shows how much passion he has for ending the drug war in the United States and specifically the state of Illinois. I personally wouldn’t mind seeing the legalization of marijuana in the state of Illinois or anywhere in the United States because the fines and sentences that people receive are petty punishments that go to non violent citizens and basically almost ruin their lives. The fact that his mom and dad were drug addicts had a negative impact on him in my opinion. It was his choice to move to Illinois and sell pot for profit but his mother was shipping it off to him which I think is very immature and irresponsible for a mother or father to do, to put your own child in that kind of position. I have major respect for Jason though because he owns his mistake and doesn’t advocate for breaking the law, he just is standing up for people getting too much time for crimes that don’t deserve the amount of time they receive. I really did enjoy listening to Jason speak and hope the best for him and his future ahead. -redman789
I thought this was very interesting and especially insightful. What really stood to me was that he was incarcerated for 30 years. Once he found out that in the state of Illinois that cannabis is more expensive than the state of California because it was cheaper. Also, Jason’s mom was also addicted to drugs, so she encouraged him to buy marijuana as well for her. He started selling drugs and became the local drug dealer in town, and what I thought; Jason does not seem like a bad guy what so ever. He looks like any other regular Joe out there, trying to make his life. But, the real kicker is where he gets set to prison for 30 years. Not to mention, what was worse was that he was lined up with three other guys. I believe one was incarcerated for a homicide and the other was sex offender, and than there was him who sold marijuana. But, what I thought was weird is that Jason was not eligible for any of the programs he wanted to join, kind of like a rehabilitation program. Although, the other guys where. This is where the system fails, because how is it that a regular person who does not have any mental issues incarcerated, but cannot receive any treatment due to the fact his years are to high for him to receive any help. He really spoke highly about that, and I can defiantly see that our Corrections of Department is a mess, not just that, but our criminal justice system is. Jason also spoke highly about the correctional officers, that all the officers he encountered where all very professional towards him. He never had any issues with any of the officers; he said he was just trying to make his time. Not to mention, the only help he got was being sent to another prison which was even worse, because in the prison where he was for a mental ill prison for the people who aren’t stable. Also, he mentioned that he was scare to get a job because he was afraid that he was going to be played, and all the sudden a police officer was going to pop out of the bushes, which was not the case, and also going to the gym. Which made me thing that prison does change a person, and for every person is different. Others may be more tough an all, but others learn from their mistakes and knew what was wrong, which was he case for Jason, he knew his mistake. I still believe he should of not received 30 years for prison because its asinine. Actually, nobody should receive 30 years in prison for a little bit of weed, and especially for a person like Jason who didn’t had any problems with the police in the past, and didn’t have any convictions. - LILPUMP789
Its crazy because I was thinking the same thing about Jason. He is such a nice guy and I would really like to sit down and learn more about his experience. I still cant believe that he was in a worse position than a murderer and a sex offender. Those are the two biggest crimes that I hate, especially the sex offender one. But knowing that those 2 inmates were able to do more things to positively change them while Jason sits there trying to find something to get by. I am glad that he did his own learning because I would’ve never thought about that myself. -Chewbacca789
A nonviolent crime, nonviolent person, but he gets a thirty year sentence? There is no reason for a sentence to be that long for a first time offender. I mean, of course if you kill someone you should be taken away from society and punished. I think the biggest crime that he committed was that he was that he was bringing weed from California to Illinois. The system really is broken and ruining lives, whether it’s the person that is being locked up or their friends and family. It was sad to hear his story to be honest. The fact that he wanted to go into all these programs to help him better his life while he was locked up but he couldn’t do any of them. All because of the length of his sentence and the classification of his crime which was a Class X felony. Jason brought up a very good point about the crime he did compared to a 2nd degree murder. The violent person was already doing a lot better in the prison system than Jason ever was going to. Like he said, the murderer was able to go to school and complete other programs that Jason was not able to even apply for. It’s a scary thing to even think about going to jail. I know a lot of people that are in and out of jail or prison that I grew up with and its really sad to think that that’s the only life that they know how to live. Some of them are just in and out of jail, are in gangs, or have gotten hooked on hard drugs. Its honestly baffling that Jason had to spend so much time in a prison. Each day not knowing what is going to happen to you. Not knowing if you are going to get into any trouble with anyone, worrying that you might not wake up the next morning, or anything along those lines. What is there to do in jail if you can’t better yourself because of the sentence you were given. Jason was basically self-taught. I would’ve never thought about getting work books and books to work on each day. That shows that he wanted to better himself even if the system didn’t let him into school. A part of his life story that really got my attention was when he was talking to the warden about what he did and why he was locked away in prison. I took it as the warden didn’t think that they would give such a hard sentence to someone for just selling weed. That’s just a ridiculously long sentence for no reason. He could have done so much with the time that he spent in prison. Hearing his story alone changed the way I want to police. I don’t want to arrest someone for a little bit of weed that they have on them. Its such a petty thing to send someone to jail for. I am so glad I was able to hear his story. They basically labeled him as a threat to society but look at him now. At first sight, you wouldn’t even think that he even stepped foot into the criminal justice system. So much will stick with me from this experience. Thank you so much Jason for sharing your story with me. -Chewbacca789
This semester we have learned quite a bit about the correctional system and how it functions from the inside of this giant warehousing machine. Our speaker Mr. Spyres was young when he was involved with crime but not the violent kind of crime nor the kind that would be a crime against persons but a crime for selling cannabis. This was acceptable in some states for example he said he was getting cannabis from the police in California, so it depends on the views of the state that you would be in for the crime. If anything, this class will teach you is every state views crime differently. This isn’t the only different, the charge within each state is determined how they proceed to charge people for example mandatory minimums is standard within Illinois. This causes problem since Mr. Spyres was on the wrong end of this deal even though he was nonviolent offender. I thought it was wrong with how they treated him there by making him wait until he was down to 3 years or less for any rehabilitation programs G.E.D. from this I do understand that the people that are about to get out deserve the priority but if they would have been able to try sooner they could have been fully rehabilitated. Like Mr. Spyres said before he was up on time he stated that if everyone in prison had of gotten a G.E.D. while in they could have been rehabilitated enough to no violate on parole and work hard they might not make much, but they will have something they have earned. For example, Mr. Spires works 3 jobs manager positions along with going to school. If I would have done that I am more than positive that I would have been burnt out and tired. how he decided he wanted to work his time down using the good time program; he quickly found out that he wasn't allowed to get any time reduced from his sentence because he had committed a class X crime. This is only because the amount of cannabis he had which was 37 pounds. It is not like he was carrying powder or crack cocaine or some of the other controlled substances that are out there. Also Mr. Spyres was imprisoned during the time of the tough on drug program and the beginning of the D.A.R.E program. JeepGuy789
Hearing Jason talk about this time in prison was really interesting. It is hard to believe that he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for selling and trafficking weed. Yes, it was a lot of weed but that does not justify how messed up our states criminal justice system is. When he talked about getting caught he mentioned that he just bought some fireworks on his way back from California and durning the search of his house they thought that the fireworks were bombs. Therefore calling in the bomb squad but anyone who looked at them could tell they were fireworks. I find it weird that the bomb squad was called in if they were fireworks and it was around the 4th of July when he was arrested. I do not like how when a person is classified as a class X offender they are considered unrehabilatable, but a rapist and a murder are considered rehabilitatable. Just because Jason was a class X felony he could not do any good time programs to reduce his sentence but those including murders and rapists could. In my opinion some of the people who need the rehabilitation are ineligible because of the conviction they were charged as. My question to that is their anyway that those who are in need of it, as of right now that can not get the help they need, can still get it but it would not be considered good time and their sentence not get reduced? I found it interesting that in his story he talked about how he went to go see the warden of Logan Correctional Center and he did not believe Mr. Spyers when he told him why he was in prison. After the ward kicked him out he called Jason back into apologize to him for not believing him because it is very rare for someone to be in his prison for serving that sentence. During Jason story he talked about what actually happened in the prison. He said that there were no actual rapes that happened and officers would bring in cigarettes for the inmates. As for the rapes he said that those would say so and so raped them because they were caught doing what they weren't supposed to do. I agree when Jason said that most people in there have a mental illness and people do commit crimes but a majority is from a mental illness. Lastly when Mr. Spyers talked about what needed to change in the prison system , I agrees. I think that more therapists and counselors are needed, sex offenders need to have their own rehab and the victim empathy could be fixed. In conclusion, I am thankful he took time out of his day and talked to us about his story and not just come in and and ask us to sign the paper so his party could be on the ballet. I found his story to be very informative and to me it had an impact on the way i look at the criminal justice system now. jw789
The story that Jason told us was very powerful. The fact that he got a 30 year prison sentence for 37 pounds of weed and being a non violent offender is ridiculous. Listening to him speak we could all learn that he is a very nice man. Even thought the fire works were thrown out of the case, it’s still unbelievable that the police thought that they were bombs. It’s good that they got thrown out because he could’ve gotten a longer sentence than he already had. I agree with Jason on the sense that we need reform in the IDOC because he was not eligible for the good time program or the GED program because he was caught with over 11 pounds of weed. But putting him under second degree murder and some sex offenders also his crim was a class X felony? That’s just absurd. I like the little lesson for life that Jason told us to “use money as a tool for life, don’t make it a goal”. What he’s trying to say there is live life to the fullest and don’t revolve your life around money. He also wasn’t allowed eligible for drug treatment due to the fact that he wasn’t in the last three years of his sentence. It thought it was interesting though that he study different material and had finished a lot of different text books for a lot of different subjects. He also said that the IDOC deals with a lot of mental health inmates and that they need to work on having more mental health professionals in their facilities to help with these certain inmates. The good news for Jason is that he is not a 4.0 GPA engineering student despite the fact that the IDOC said he could not be rehabilitated for his class X felony. Mazda789
It was such big privilege to have that guy to talk to us about life experience in his prison time. It was a lot to learn from him personally than what we can get from the books. I learned a lot from him about life in prison on how you get treated from other inmates that whose life was terrible from streets before they got into prison. It’s so scurry to share room or be around with this gangs who were either murderers or sexual offenders. every time you go to sleep you don’t know what might happen to you , it’s so terrified. And the other thing that was shocking from him is that he served 13 years in prison for just selling weed. This tells me that criminal justice system screws some individual that are not even deserve the punishment they are going through. This is where my mind tells me criminal justice need to come with the law that weighs each offender offence according to what he or she offended. To make the matter worse he said he was a class x that means he qualifies nothing that is offered in prison. With me compared with the murderer and his case there are people that are more violent but they qualify for the benefits they offer in prison than nonviolent offenders. This is one of the most things I didn’t get or understand on how criminal justice system charges such people. I also do agree with him that in prison there are people locked up because of their stupid mistakes and now they need help while in prison for things like G.E.D programs. But to what he said if you are in class x none of this is going to be offered to you. This is a situation where we find a lot of good people are locked in prison and don’t get any treatment or help to change their behaviors but they even come out more even worse than the time they get locked up. To be in prison for 30 years you will even forget your name spellings without any education offered to you that’s how I think. It’s my opinion if could be better to eliminate this class x offenders and try to help every inmate to recover from their addiction or offences. By doing this they will help a lot of people in the society that they were already destroyed their life. By providing this program as we heard from him actually it will help the majority to become productive in the society. Lastly the things that he said for inmates are advised to do is being obedience that way you can earn some good time and any other programs offered in prison. Like he said this can lower your time in prison even make yourself busy rather than sitting there doing nothing at all.GUSII 789
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what you are saying here, being able to listen to someone who has actually gone through the system and seen how the system works from an inmate's point of view. It also shows us how then system has it flaws and does not always work the way that we have intended it to work. It gives us a better idea of what we as the new generation of officers need to do in order to change things and make the system work better and smoothly for those within it. Pack789
DeleteI absolutely agree that this was an awesome experience being able to listen to him tell us what it was like to go through the system first hand. It must have been terrifying at times to go to sleep at night knowing he was locked up with murders and rapists. I am very thankful for him offering his time to us to give us a new outlook on the field that a lot of us will probably end up getting in to. - Rudedogg8357
DeleteThroughout the semester we have learned lots of things about the correctional system from how it first began to how it works on a day in and day out basis. We have also had the opportunity to hear from some wonderful speakers including the Sheriff. However, all of these speakers gave us insight into how the system works from the criminal justice side of things, we were very privileged to have Mr. Spyres come in and speak to us about his experience in the system from an inmate’s point of view. Mr. Spyres was 19 years old when he was caught mailing 37 pounds of weed from California into Illinois. In Illinois we have very strict weed laws so therefore it made turning a profit much easier for him. However, he was soon apprehended by the police and they seized all 37 pounds from his possession, because of the sheer amount of weed, this crime was classified as a class X felony in Illinois, where Mr. Spyres received a 30 YEAR sentence for this crime. Because of the class X classification for his charges he was not allowed to enter any rehabilitative programs until he had served almost 13 years of his sentence. He spoke about how the system does not always work the way we intended it to and we can see that in the case of how much time he was given for just possession of the weed. He spoke about how there were murders and sex offenders that were ok to be in the rehabilitation programs, but somehow, he was not eligible because they did not see him as someone they could rehabilitate. Mr. Spyres did not let this get him down however, and while he was in prison he would spend his time studying textbooks and bettering his education instead of just sitting there and doing nothing with his time. He talked about how the system is sometimes flawed even just within the jails as safety was sometimes a very big concern. He spoke about an incident with a cellie he had at the prison that said he was going to snap his neck for “tattling” on him. The officers and even the lieutenant said that there was nothing they could do to stop this from happening, and that he would have to file a report to get anything done. The system should not be this way and inmates should not have to fear for their own safety while they are in prison. While Mr. Spyres does not condone what he did and he knows what he did was wrong, however he believes and I for one believe him too, he should not have been given such a long sentence for just possessing weed with no violence and no other past convictions. Him coming and speaking to us has given us a better idea of how the system works from the “other side of the fence” and also shows us how broken the system can be sometimes. Pack789
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed out that Jason tried to better himself in prison by reading books and learning. It is inspirational that he continued to work hard, and he wanted to be better and he wanted to grow in knowledge. The prison did not see him as capable of doing this because they had basically said he was not able to be rehabilitated. The system gave up on Jason, but he did not give up on himself. Jason learned so much from reading textbooks and learning it seems that he probably came out smarter and better than some of the prisoners that were allowed to get GEDs. -Dp789
DeleteI really like that you pointed out that Jason did not just sit in prison wasting time and he tried bettering himself by reading books and learning. That was one of the most inspirational things about his story even though the Illinois Department of corrections really put him in a terrible spot by not allowing him to get into drug treatment or GED classes did not discourage him and the fact that he was going to make the most out of a horrible situation is truly inspirational. I also noticed that the biggest safety concern he had was the policy on moving inmates from cells when there was threatening scenarios.
Delete-RHB789
I do like that you pointed out that with with ged's that most of the time the habitual offenders are the only ones that return to prison for breaking the same laws over and over again. He can not really blame the IDOC for the sentences or the judges that sentenced him. he can blame the state along with the legislative branch of the Illinois government for passing those class x laws to get rid of offenders. JeepGuy789
DeleteThe story that Jason gave today was very impactful and informative. He mentioned a lot of great points and it was good to see the opinions of someone who had been affected by the severe sentencing on drugs and it showed how severe it was. One of the first things that he said to us was that he was also known as Mr. K-99397. He gave us some good background about his life when he told us his testimony. He mentioned that he was 17 when he first started selling pot, and he mentioned that he did not even want to sell the drug in the first place. I thought that it was very interesting that he was not intending on selling marijuana, but he ended up doing it anyway because of the money. After he sold it the first time he realized how much money he could make from it. It is very interesting that people can make so much money from selling drugs. Jason also mentioned that when he visited Illinois he realized that the price for the drug was doubled here. He saw that opportunity and he decided to get marijuana from California and sell it in Illinois. It is interesting to see how much the price of a drug can change just because of the location. With the opportunity Jason had and took, and the amount of money he was making it makes me wonder why more people do not do this. It seems to be an easy and quick way to earn a lot. Jason eventually got caught selling the drug and he ended up going to court where he spent a lot of money on a private attorney, and he still ended up getting 30 years in prison at the age of 19. While in prison he was classified as a Class X offender. This meant that he was seen as not worth the prisons time to try and rehabilitate, and that he could not earn good time, and that he could not get his GED or get into other programs. He also told us that there was a sex offender and a murderer who were able to get these things, but he could not. This seems crazy to think that a person selling weed is viewed as worse and treated worse than a sex offender and a person who has killed somebody. It is interesting to see that the policies make it so that he is treated this way. I think most people in the country would rather have the murderer or the sex offender locked up rather than the drug dealer. One last thing Jason said that caught my attention was the recidivism rates of people with GED versus the people without them. There was a 89 percent recidivism rate for the people without GED and there was only a 47 percent recidivism rate for people with a GED. Jason also phrased it in a way that seemed very impactful. He said that the difference is 42, which means for every 100-people coming out of the prison there will be 42 less victims. 42 less people that must deal with a crime committed against them. This also saves the prison lots of money for not having to house all these prisoners again. I think the policies on drugs should change, and people can learn a lot about the system from Jason's story. -Dp789
ReplyDeleteIt was crazy when he was talking about how a murderer and pedophile could get rehabilitative programs and he couldn't because his crime was seen a worse one due to being a class x. It was interesting to here that because of this class X offense every time he tried to better himself there was a road block in the way. The fact that he kept going was very inspiring. It was also interesting as you pointed out the impact that education can have on the success of a person when they get out. An 89% recidivism rate for those without a GED really says something about the seriousness of getting people an education while there incarcerated. I also enjoyed how he put it, that out of 100 people getting out of prison 42 less people we will not have to deal with and 42 less if we just help them get there GED.~pj789
DeleteThis was a very talented individual who made a mistake but to despite what this person went through was able to overcome the amount of time sent in prison and the criminal conviction on his record and make the most of it. He was able to not only get out of prison only serving half of the time on the 30-year sentence. He sent his time productively while being locked up this was a motional story of triumph along with being a story for inspiring a change in the current way in which felonies are structured. This shows also how impactful the value of education has on our correctional system for overcoming a criminal convection to how correctional officers conduct themselves when they are patrolling their perimeters. This being a class X felony had a effect that left him immorally with being able to make steps in order to get himself proper rehab treatment, counseling or even being able to earn good time to lessen the convection that he was already facing nearly 30 years for in his mind he would have lost hope but this also shows the importance of fighting for what is important for you so that you will have the chance to be involved in the life of your family. This also showed how tied your hands can be once an offense is committed the importance of how you conduct yourself with others. As what Jason had mentioned through much of his speech that regardless of what life style the person grew up in regardless of what group they believed to be a part of during the time spent in prison they would get along behaving as friends, so they wouldn’t have conflict almost one another. One interesting fact that stood out to me is the fact of once he was released he was on constant fear of facing technology violation this in turn could cause a person to end up committing a criminal offense from facing satiations and no being able to handle them as a normal reasonable person. Another thing that was mentioned to the class was the fact he had to cross his arms, for risk of adding a year onto his original sentence by falling into the correctional officer even just the simple fact of brushing the arm of the correctional officer with his shoulder, could have added a year onto the original sentence. Jason also went on to say that the importance on you functioning in society is mentors when going through the correctional process the correctional officers. This also shows inmates as well going through the process what is valued such as having time with family. This is also important to mentioned that Jason stated himself that it was more important for him to personally be able to be free and create preventive measures in order to be able to bring offenders back into the community again where they are not going to create more victims by committing other crimes. eagle789
ReplyDeleteJason is a very talented individual who didn't deserve to be in prison for that long of a sentence. Although I am glad that he was able to only serve half of his sentence, and become a functioning member of society. I was a little shocked when he said that most of the prisoners get along just fine while they are locked up. I figured it would be the other way around. However I guess when you are in prison you have to do whatever you can to be a good person. paww789
DeleteThis was an amazing story to hear. Its really awesome to hear another side of the story as it pertains to the correctional system. Mr. Spyres was a very well spoken and intelligent person to hear from. He earned an education and fought to better himself. People in similar situations don’t always make these good decisions so it was very inspiring to hear his story. I’m in disbelief that he was sentenced to 30 years for marijuana. To make his situation worse it’s a class X felony for what he did. A 19-year-old kid gets thirty years for a mistake that he made. I liked how he didn’t excuse what he did and owned it. Often it seems many people want to excuse themselves for a crime they committed and make it ok because they don’t agree with the system of laws; I believe his thought process is a more productive one. That being said the fact that he was considered the same as a murderer or pedophile is completely asinine. The list things that can make a person be sentenced to a class X felony are all violent in nature as far as I know. A non-violent offense should never give the right of members of our society to take years out of someone’s life as this sentenced did for Mr. Spyres. It was awesome to hear what he did with his time. He didn’t give up and allow himself to get sucked up in the rotating system that keeps people in the corrections system. This is why I enjoyed his story, more often than not much of what we see are people going back into prison system. I enjoyed the stories he told about life inside prison. Hearing about how gangs act inside as opposed to the outside was really interesting. I was under the impression it was all the same and each gang would stay away from one another. Something else that caught my attention was how the drug war has caused further damage than I had thought. This massive politically fueled war on drugs has taken people’s lives away even though their crime was non-violent in nature. This is not to say that there should be no policies on drugs rather ones that make sense as to the nature of these crimes. It was interesting to here some of the things we have learned in this class from a person who was inside the system. Things like the war on drugs, the education level of many of these incarcerated individuals, and the mental illness that is very prevalent within the prison system. Something else that Mr. Spyres said that caught my attention was that the CO’s didn’t believe that he was in there that long for the crime he did. Overall it was an awesome experience to hear Mr. Spyres story.~pj789
ReplyDeleteI think it is great you pointed out that he came out of all of this still trying to prove people wrong and better himself. You are completely right. Many people in this same situation would have just given up and let life pass them by. I think it is amazing as well that he has a engineering degree and is a manager of 3 different businesses. He didn’t make any excuses for himself or his actions, but i agree he did not deserve 30 years for the actions he did. I will never forget this speaker.
Delete- ST789
I really enjoyed Listening to Jason Spyres about what he experienced while he was in prison, now granted it was only a medium security prison, but either way, prison is prison. It must of been hard for him knowing that he wasn't a violent offender but he still wasn't allowed into any of the prison programs, such as the GED program or any drug rehab programs. If I were in his shoes I definitely wouldn't be very happy. Like he said, there was a 2nd degree murderer and a sex offender that had access to the GED program and the drug rehab program. I think that is completely wrong. While I also don't think someone someone shouldn't get in trouble for trafficking 37 pounds of Marijuana, I do think it is a little troubling when a non-violent offender has less rights in prison that the likes of a violent offender. While obviously I am hoping to have a long career in the criminal Justice system, there are some things I disagree with within the system, and this is one of those things. The fact that a non-violent 19 year old marijuana trafficker has less rights in prison than a murderer baffles me. The marijuana laws in this state have to change in my opinion. Personally, I'm an advocate for legalizing marijuana. I hate seeing people charged with petty cannabis possession crimes being convicted and having to spend large amounts of time in prison. To me that is unfair, especially if they are a non-violent. While Jason Spyres drug offense wasn't necessarily a petty crime, I still think it is widely unfair for him to be considered a class-x felon, and have absolutely no rights in prison. Another thing I cant rap my head around is that even though Jason Spyres has considered a class-x felon and wasn't allowed to be apart of any rehabilitation programs, he only received a 30 year prison sentence so he was going to be let out eventually so how was he supposed to become a functioning member of society? That goes a long with what he was saying regarding those inmates who struggle reading and writing. Then those prisoners get released from prison and are unable to be productive and get a job and find a place to stay and stay out of trouble as well. I find that to be very wrong with our criminal Justice system. Although I do have to applaud Jason for going out and study different subjects that interested him on his own. He studied calculus, chemistry, physics, etc. All subjects I know I would struggle with in college today. Overall I really enjoyed listening to Jason Spyres and his story and I hope that eventually the laws will change to keep people like him from receiving really harsh sentences. paww789
ReplyDeleteJason’s story was very impactful and true too many of the things we have been talking about all year in this corrections class. It was one thing to read articles about harsh punishment for various drugs and it was one thing to hear Dr. White talk about these different stories but it was way more impactful to have someone standing in the room before us giving us his life story. If I was a politician listening to Jason story I would want to do everything in my power to reduce these absolutely ridiculous laws. He stood before us and told us a story about a 17-year-old boy making one mistake that hurt no one but cost him a 30 year sentence in prison. The fact that Illinois cost this very intelligent young man 13 years of his life for selling weed is just baffling to me and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Then to make things even worse the fact that he was classified a class X felon and deemed unable to be rehabilitated was just insult to injury. The story he shared with us about being in line next to a sex offender and someone who committed second-degree murder and both of them got to participate in good time programs and educational programs and he didn’t absolutely shocked me. Here was a guy who was trying to better his life while he was in prison and the Illinois Department of corrections denied him that privilege. He talks about even though he is not able to attend the GED classes he does not get discouraged instead he starts reading things like science books and every day he goes through and does question out of the books and basically teaches himself instead of sitting in prison wasting time by watching tv or languishing. The story about his “cellie” Who said he was going to snap his neck for telling the corrections officer that he was peeing in bottles and storing them by is bunk was a very interesting one because the corrections officer could not do anything unless he filed a grievance. I understand that grievances would work for smaller things but a threat upon someone’s life I would think it would be something that would warrant immediate action at least by changing cell mates. Another big thing that stood out to me when he was talking he talked about how he was totally institutionalized. That is something we have talked about in this class as far as going back to civilian life can be hard because you feel like you need to always ask permission and we’re always worried that you get more prison time. The example he gave was when he was waiting for the bus he didn’t wanna go sit on the wrong bench because he was scared a corrections officer would see him and he would get written up for being in the wrong place. It was very refreshing to hear the end of his story that he is a successful business owner and he is trying to get into a number of prestigious schools for engineering. This kind of made me wonder where he could be in his life if he was not given such a harsh punishment for something so non-violent as cannabis.
ReplyDelete-RHB789
I agree with that it is so different from reading articles and out of the book to actually hearing a real life experience. Jason did not deserve this type of punishment and its sad that it set him back in life so much. The most amazing thing that he told us was that he wasn't discouraged when he couldn't get in the education program so he decided to learn on his own and study from all these different text books and to this day he is a 4.0 engineering student. I think this is amazing and it shows what could happen if you give people a chance.
DeleteHollywood789
The story that Mr. Jason Alan Spyres told in class the other day was very insightful and helped to make me aware of how the criminal justice correction system was working and still is working today. One thing I found very interesting from his visit was the fact that when the police searched his home, they thought he had bombs. Mr. Spyres had purchased some fireworks shortly before returning home and when his home was searched, the police thought that the fireworks he had purchased were bombs and they sent a bomb squad robot in to try and locate the bombs. That is one of the most outrageous things that I have ever heard. I do not see any way that those fireworks could have been mistaken for bombs. Everyone has seen a firework in their life, so it is not as if they looked unfamiliar to those officers. A second thing that caught my attention during the visit was the fact that Mr. Spyres was not able to apply for good time during his sentence. However, murderers and sex offenders were eligible for good time. These people have knowingly killed or sexually assaulted people and can be released back into society early for showing good behavior in prison. And yet, a man who had possession of an illegal drug is required to serve his entire prison sentence without any chance of being released early. This is just one of the many examples showing how the corrections system within the United States needs to be revised so the people who have learned from their mistakes can be released early and those who will never learn from their mistakes will be locked up for their entire sentence. A third thing that I found interesting was the fact that anyone convicted of a class X felony is not allowed to be a part of GED programs or drug rehab programs during their time behind bars. By not allowing some class X felons to take part in these programs, these prisoners who actually need to be a part of them will just be released from prison and more than likely commit a similar crime that got them in trouble in the first place. For example, how are prisoners who got arrested for drug problems supposed to get over their addictions without any help at all and by just sitting in their cells? This is part of the reason of why the recidivism rate is eighty-nine percent. Without any ways to receive help and better themselves, these people will sadly be stuck with the addiction to these drugs for a much longer time then it could have been if they had received the help that they needed earlier. Overall, I really enjoyed the visit from Mr. Spyres. After he was done speaking, my eyes were truly opened to how the corrections system works in both the state of Illinois and the country as a whole and how certain rules that make up the system need to be re-made and changed as soon as possible.
ReplyDelete-Fozz789
It was amazing to have Jason come in and talk about the correctional system from his life experience. We go through this class reading articles and out of the book but we never really get a sense of what the other side (life of inmate) is. It was a very impactful story from his point of view. He was a 19 year old kid who made one mistake that costed him. He received a 30 year sentence for having 35 lbs of weed, he was non violent, no weapons on him, and also had no previous altercations with the police department. It is beyond me that this man had to serve 13 years of life in prison for some weed. It shocked me even more that he was considered a Class X felony. This basically means that he has no bone in his body that could ever be rehabilitated. He got no benefits, no good time, bottom of the list for education. What made me even more amazed was when he was describing him standing in a line between a murderer and a sex offender, and he was the only one considered Class X. The other two were able to get education and good time but he couldn't for just selling some weed. The IDOC denied him privileges just because he sold weed. This really baffled me when I heard this because it is very silly. On the bright side what was amazing to hear was he was able to learn on his own by reading all this different textbooks in engineering, physics, and biology. This is what he did day in and out because there was nothing else to do. Throughout his time in prison he also encountered some very odd situations with people in IDOC. He basically called it a mental hospital because most people who show up have some mental issues and that is why they do the crimes they do. One story that stood out the me was that there was a guy who was taken all of his “cellies” shoes in the morning and putting them outside because he thought there was little children trapped inside the shoes and he needed to free them. He said most things you encounter in prison are people who have problems and need help more than anything. He believes that people should be punished for what they did but also thinks they should receive help because it isn't safe for them or anyone around them. Another big thing that was mentioned was how hard it is for people to go back to civilization when they get out. He talked about his personal experience about how uncomfortable he felt and was scared that an officer was going to pop out of a bush and yell at him for not sitting in the right spot. That is the problem with prisons nowadays, they do not teach the inmate how to act or what to do when they get out of prison they kind of just let them go and hope they do not come back. This was such a great story to hear and I'm hoping that we can somehow diminishes these type of sentences to other people so it doesn't ruin their lives in the long run.
ReplyDeleteHollywood789
First of all I thought it was very nice of him to share his time with us, and to really share his experience in the correctional system. I learned a lot from what he had to say. He started out by telling us about his home life and growing up in California; and what lead him to doing what he ended up spending 13 years of his life for. I thought it was very interesting that he had such a large interstate operation going without any connection to a gang. I also thought it was absolutely asinine that he could get sentenced to 30 years in prison from only selling marijuana. Marijuana has such a small effect on individuals compared to other illegal substances. It seems impossible that someone could be sentenced so harshly for that particular substance. Honestly being sentenced that harshly for anything beyond violent crimes and crimes of sexual nature seems ridiculous. He spoke of his experience when he first got in to prison and how he decided he wanted to work his time down using the good time program; he quickly found out that he wasn't allowed to get any time reduced from his sentence because because he had committed a class X crime. This particularly shocked me. To be considered a class X felon for selling weed that is moronic. Especially considering that He was roped in to the same category as murderers and rapists. there is no reason that should happen. Aside from that injustice he gave us insight on what it was like sharing his cell with other inmates. He said that he shared a cell with two rival gang members and man that went by "Big Shirley". He told us that being in a rival gang in prison was entirely different than being in a rival gang outside of prison. He said that for the most part they don't bother each other and when forced to interact they will even get along inside the prison walls. However He said that sharing a cell with Big Shirley posed a threat when he asked him to clean up after himself and when Big Shirley refused he filed a grievance. When Big Shirley heard about this he threatened his life. Another thing he spoke of was his interaction with the correctional officers. He said that he spoke politely and interacted with them frequently. This led to him being allowed in to the trustee program which allowed him more comfort while serving his time. Overall I really enjoyed him talking to us. I liked the optimism he brought to the table and how he is planning on graduating from ICC and possibly getting in to ivy league schools. I wish nothing but the best for him he seemed like an honorable man. - Rudedogg8357
ReplyDeleteJason Alan Spyres. This is what the ma speaking wrote on the board. This name did not mean anything to me at first. As the class came to an end this name will always be remembered and story behind this man. This story was amazing in many aspects. It gave me many mixed emotions during the time he was speaking. A 30 year sentence for selling weed. Some would think this is very much deserved, yet many people believe this is an extreme and should not have been nearly close to what Jason got as a sentence. Jason told us the story on how he got arrested. It all just started out as a way for him to be able to pay for a little bit of college. What made it even crazier is that the week he was buying and selling was from a police officer that was a friend. The way he was making so much money off of it was by buying from california and having it shipped to him in illinois. One thing I was surprised about was that the weed he sold was being shipped to him by his mom. Not many moms would ship you drugs. And the fact that he was getting the weed from a police officer is insane to me. When he was arrested he got arrested with 37 pounds of pots. I think it is a little extreme that they tried to charge him for having “bombs” when in reality everyone knew they were just fireworks. Luckily he got aquitted of those charges. When Jason first arrived at the Logan Correctional Facility, he tried to get into the wellness programs there to get good time marked toward his sentence. This is where the crazy part comes in. He was standing in line and on one side was a murderer and the other side was a rapist. They let the murderer into the program since he was a second degree murder, and they let the rapists in because it was a non violent rape. The sad thing is, they did not let him in due to him selling weed. I don’t understand why someone who was just selling weed would not be allowed in but people who committed very vile acts were allowed in. This aggravated me a lot. The next thing that I did not understand was why he could not get into the drug treatment program. They told him he was not allowed in because he still had too many years left to serve. In order to get into the drug treatment program you must only have a few years left to serve. This does not seem right to me at all. You would think that is someone wanted to get drug treatment and help they would not set time limit on how many years left you have to have left to get in. There was lots of great things that Jason spoke about in class. I will truly never forget Jason.
ReplyDelete- ST789
Mr. Spyres was very passionate and very easy to listen to while giving his speech. I couldn’t believe it when he told us how many years he was sentenced just for cannabis charges alone, and that he was labeled a class X offender by the state of Illinois and was not allowed to get into the good time programs nor was able to participate in the GED programs that were there when child molesters and murders in the 2nd degree were able to do these things. One thing I found really interesting was that he was represented by a private lawyer in court and not a public defender and was still sentenced to a 30 year prison term. I had thought for sure that he was represented by a public defender given the time that he got, but instead he got 30 years and owed a lawyer 10,000 dollars. Another thing that I really found interesting about Mr. Spyres is his 4.0 GPA and his offers from ivy league colleges. I think that his hard work to achieve offers from the best schools in the United States is very inspirational and shows that anyone can be successful in life if you work hard to get there. I also found interest in the fact that he never saw a fight while he was in prison because I thought that for sure in medium security facilities that there would be fights involved. I couldn’t imagine being 19 years old and doing 15 years for just selling pot. I think that his job working for the libertarian governor candidate shows how much passion he has for ending the drug war in the United States and specifically the state of Illinois. I personally wouldn’t mind seeing the legalization of marijuana in the state of Illinois or anywhere in the United States because the fines and sentences that people receive are petty punishments that go to non violent citizens and basically almost ruin their lives. The fact that his mom and dad were drug addicts had a negative impact on him in my opinion. It was his choice to move to Illinois and sell pot for profit but his mother was shipping it off to him which I think is very immature and irresponsible for a mother or father to do, to put your own child in that kind of position. I have major respect for Jason though because he owns his mistake and doesn’t advocate for breaking the law, he just is standing up for people getting too much time for crimes that don’t deserve the amount of time they receive. I really did enjoy listening to Jason speak and hope the best for him and his future ahead. -redman789
ReplyDeleteI thought this was very interesting and especially insightful. What really stood to me was that he was incarcerated for 30 years. Once he found out that in the state of Illinois that cannabis is more expensive than the state of California because it was cheaper. Also, Jason’s mom was also addicted to drugs, so she encouraged him to buy marijuana as well for her. He started selling drugs and became the local drug dealer in town, and what I thought; Jason does not seem like a bad guy what so ever. He looks like any other regular Joe out there, trying to make his life. But, the real kicker is where he gets set to prison for 30 years. Not to mention, what was worse was that he was lined up with three other guys. I believe one was incarcerated for a homicide and the other was sex offender, and than there was him who sold marijuana. But, what I thought was weird is that Jason was not eligible for any of the programs he wanted to join, kind of like a rehabilitation program. Although, the other guys where. This is where the system fails, because how is it that a regular person who does not have any mental issues incarcerated, but cannot receive any treatment due to the fact his years are to high for him to receive any help. He really spoke highly about that, and I can defiantly see that our Corrections of Department is a mess, not just that, but our criminal justice system is. Jason also spoke highly about the correctional officers, that all the officers he encountered where all very professional towards him. He never had any issues with any of the officers; he said he was just trying to make his time. Not to mention, the only help he got was being sent to another prison which was even worse, because in the prison where he was for a mental ill prison for the people who aren’t stable. Also, he mentioned that he was scare to get a job because he was afraid that he was going to be played, and all the sudden a police officer was going to pop out of the bushes, which was not the case, and also going to the gym. Which made me thing that prison does change a person, and for every person is different. Others may be more tough an all, but others learn from their mistakes and knew what was wrong, which was he case for Jason, he knew his mistake. I still believe he should of not received 30 years for prison because its asinine. Actually, nobody should receive 30 years in prison for a little bit of weed, and especially for a person like Jason who didn’t had any problems with the police in the past, and didn’t have any convictions. - LILPUMP789
ReplyDeleteIts crazy because I was thinking the same thing about Jason. He is such a nice guy and I would really like to sit down and learn more about his experience. I still cant believe that he was in a worse position than a murderer and a sex offender. Those are the two biggest crimes that I hate, especially the sex offender one. But knowing that those 2 inmates were able to do more things to positively change them while Jason sits there trying to find something to get by. I am glad that he did his own learning because I would’ve never thought about that myself.
Delete-Chewbacca789
A nonviolent crime, nonviolent person, but he gets a thirty year sentence? There is no reason for a sentence to be that long for a first time offender. I mean, of course if you kill someone you should be taken away from society and punished. I think the biggest crime that he committed was that he was that he was bringing weed from California to Illinois. The system really is broken and ruining lives, whether it’s the person that is being locked up or their friends and family. It was sad to hear his story to be honest. The fact that he wanted to go into all these programs to help him better his life while he was locked up but he couldn’t do any of them. All because of the length of his sentence and the classification of his crime which was a Class X felony. Jason brought up a very good point about the crime he did compared to a 2nd degree murder. The violent person was already doing a lot better in the prison system than Jason ever was going to. Like he said, the murderer was able to go to school and complete other programs that Jason was not able to even apply for. It’s a scary thing to even think about going to jail. I know a lot of people that are in and out of jail or prison that I grew up with and its really sad to think that that’s the only life that they know how to live. Some of them are just in and out of jail, are in gangs, or have gotten hooked on hard drugs. Its honestly baffling that Jason had to spend so much time in a prison. Each day not knowing what is going to happen to you. Not knowing if you are going to get into any trouble with anyone, worrying that you might not wake up the next morning, or anything along those lines. What is there to do in jail if you can’t better yourself because of the sentence you were given. Jason was basically self-taught. I would’ve never thought about getting work books and books to work on each day. That shows that he wanted to better himself even if the system didn’t let him into school. A part of his life story that really got my attention was when he was talking to the warden about what he did and why he was locked away in prison. I took it as the warden didn’t think that they would give such a hard sentence to someone for just selling weed. That’s just a ridiculously long sentence for no reason. He could have done so much with the time that he spent in prison. Hearing his story alone changed the way I want to police. I don’t want to arrest someone for a little bit of weed that they have on them. Its such a petty thing to send someone to jail for. I am so glad I was able to hear his story. They basically labeled him as a threat to society but look at him now. At first sight, you wouldn’t even think that he even stepped foot into the criminal justice system. So much will stick with me from this experience. Thank you so much Jason for sharing your story with me.
ReplyDelete-Chewbacca789
This semester we have learned quite a bit about the correctional system and how it functions from the inside of this giant warehousing machine. Our speaker Mr. Spyres was young when he was involved with crime but not the violent kind of crime nor the kind that would be a crime against persons but a crime for selling cannabis. This was acceptable in some states for example he said he was getting cannabis from the police in California, so it depends on the views of the state that you would be in for the crime. If anything, this class will teach you is every state views crime differently. This isn’t the only different, the charge within each state is determined how they proceed to charge people for example mandatory minimums is standard within Illinois. This causes problem since Mr. Spyres was on the wrong end of this deal even though he was nonviolent offender. I thought it was wrong with how they treated him there by making him wait until he was down to 3 years or less for any rehabilitation programs G.E.D. from this I do understand that the people that are about to get out deserve the priority but if they would have been able to try sooner they could have been fully rehabilitated. Like Mr. Spyres said before he was up on time he stated that if everyone in prison had of gotten a G.E.D. while in they could have been rehabilitated enough to no violate on parole and work hard they might not make much, but they will have something they have earned. For example, Mr. Spires works 3 jobs manager positions along with going to school. If I would have done that I am more than positive that I would have been burnt out and tired. how he decided he wanted to work his time down using the good time program; he quickly found out that he wasn't allowed to get any time reduced from his sentence because he had committed a class X crime. This is only because the amount of cannabis he had which was 37 pounds. It is not like he was carrying powder or crack cocaine or some of the other controlled substances that are out there. Also Mr. Spyres was imprisoned during the time of the tough on drug program and the beginning of the D.A.R.E program. JeepGuy789
ReplyDeleteHearing Jason talk about this time in prison was really interesting. It is hard to believe that he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for selling and trafficking weed. Yes, it was a lot of weed but that does not justify how messed up our states criminal justice system is. When he talked about getting caught he mentioned that he just bought some fireworks on his way back from California and durning the search of his house they thought that the fireworks were bombs. Therefore calling in the bomb squad but anyone who looked at them could tell they were fireworks. I find it weird that the bomb squad was called in if they were fireworks and it was around the 4th of July when he was arrested. I do not like how when a person is classified as a class X offender they are considered unrehabilatable, but a rapist and a murder are considered rehabilitatable. Just because Jason was a class X felony he could not do any good time programs to reduce his sentence but those including murders and rapists could. In my opinion some of the people who need the rehabilitation are ineligible because of the conviction they were charged as. My question to that is their anyway that those who are in need of it, as of right now that can not get the help they need, can still get it but it would not be considered good time and their sentence not get reduced? I found it interesting that in his story he talked about how he went to go see the warden of Logan Correctional Center and he did not believe Mr. Spyers when he told him why he was in prison. After the ward kicked him out he called Jason back into apologize to him for not believing him because it is very rare for someone to be in his prison for serving that sentence. During Jason story he talked about what actually happened in the prison. He said that there were no actual rapes that happened and officers would bring in cigarettes for the inmates. As for the rapes he said that those would say so and so raped them because they were caught doing what they weren't supposed to do. I agree when Jason said that most people in there have a mental illness and people do commit crimes but a majority is from a mental illness. Lastly when Mr. Spyers talked about what needed to change in the prison system , I agrees. I think that more therapists and counselors are needed, sex offenders need to have their own rehab and the victim empathy could be fixed. In conclusion, I am thankful he took time out of his day and talked to us about his story and not just come in and and ask us to sign the paper so his party could be on the ballet. I found his story to be very informative and to me it had an impact on the way i look at the criminal justice system now. jw789
ReplyDeleteThe story that Jason told us was very powerful. The fact that he got a 30 year prison sentence for 37 pounds of weed and being a non violent offender is ridiculous. Listening to him speak we could all learn that he is a very nice man. Even thought the fire works were thrown out of the case, it’s still unbelievable that the police thought that they were bombs. It’s good that they got thrown out because he could’ve gotten a longer sentence than he already had. I agree with Jason on the sense that we need reform in the IDOC because he was not eligible for the good time program or the GED program because he was caught with over 11 pounds of weed. But putting him under second degree murder and some sex offenders also his crim was a class X felony? That’s just absurd. I like the little lesson for life that Jason told us to “use money as a tool for life, don’t make it a goal”. What he’s trying to say there is live life to the fullest and don’t revolve your life around money. He also wasn’t allowed eligible for drug treatment due to the fact that he wasn’t in the last three years of his sentence. It thought it was interesting though that he study different material and had finished a lot of different text books for a lot of different subjects. He also said that the IDOC deals with a lot of mental health inmates and that they need to work on having more mental health professionals in their facilities to help with these certain inmates. The good news for Jason is that he is not a 4.0 GPA engineering student despite the fact that the IDOC said he could not be rehabilitated for his class X felony.
ReplyDeleteMazda789