Abbamonte's $25K fee isn't just going to pay itself you know.

Go for the all day and all night partying. Stay for the trafficked girls and unexpected but surely deserved rohypnol cocktails and subsequent liver removal.

BREAKING: White person exposed to US criminal justice system. In depth analysis and feigned interest in prison reform to follow.

if you are paying 10k per person for a couple of days in Eastern Europe shooting guns, riding tanks, eating chicken, and hiring tour guides, you are paying a totally ridiculous markup. You can shoot machine guns in Poland for a day for about $100...every pretty guides don't cost more than $40 per hour. This is a…

Why would I open my heart to get hurt again????

It's a good point, and would have liked to ask her about how the fact that she's white, well-off, female, etc. makes her a "good" criminal that people can rally behind, but we couldn't go that in-depth due to the time constraint on our calls. I definitely agree with you, though, and I do think it's hugely problematic…

Because a punitive model for prison has not been proven to deter crime. In fact, it seems to encourage it: the current model we use in the United States for incarceration actually increases the likelihood of an inmate committing a crime that will return them to prison. The modern American prison has become a criminal…

Same reason "Orange Is the New Black" needed a educated, liberal white main character to get made. It's a hook to the (predominantly) educated, liberal white people who read this site. Black and brown drug offenders, etc. are sadly viewed as too common to be worth writing about.

Yes, because of course the only two choices we have are "make prison pleasant" and "ignore medical needs completely."

It's easy to never return when you die there from negligence, I guess?

I just love that this was DIRECTLY below yours.

Callie, thanks! You've been posting the greatest (and most heartbreaking) articles lately. I'm really impressed by how much compassion she has for the C.O.s.

Only white women know how to properly reveal society's ills. Duh!

Why is it important to mention that she is a "pacifist activist and grad student"? Seems like this odd need to distinguish her from "THOSE" inmates who are just poor and most likely Black or Brown, who aren't activists. Who likely never went to college, let alone to grad school. Who are just people locked up for…

"I don't see how you can keep somebody locked up if they haven't done anything."

No, he did meet with the woman (whom I think - it's been a long time, so I'm not remembering for sure - was someone he found through the files he had access to) for lunch but she left because he was acting strangely. She didn't know he was intending to kidnap her for this other man.

That certainly undercuts the prosecution's case. However, a jury did vote to convict after hearing all the evidence. Juries can and do get things wrong (and Judge Gardephe clearly feels that they did here), but I'm personally dubious about overruling them on this one.

gross. How terrifying to have been this man's wife..

I don't think the amount of cannibal porn he amassed is an issue, or even the chats in which he made plans to kidnap and murder women. I accept that the latter could simply be unusually twisted with no intention to follow through. It's the assembly of dossiers and research into how to drug and kidnap women which is…

No.