You know, the law really can be an ass

I've volunteered for years in a shelter that serves a population that is experiencing (or has experienced) homelessness. Some of the folks we work with are just plain poor. But many, perhaps most, of our guests are pretty much struggling with something on the list of predictable problems. Mental health issues. Substance abuse disorder. Recent incarceration. For many, it's a twofer; for others, it's the trifecta of all three. Layer on physical problems, which a lot of our guests have: the bad shoulder, the bad leg, the bad back; the lung problems, the diabetes. Because those on the lower rungs of the success ladder tend to have crappy health. And pretty much everyone who comes in through our doors has had some bad luck along the way. 

Whatever the reason, folks come to see us for breakfast, or lunch, or clothing, or a shower, help with their benefits, or companionship, or to make art in the art room, or for help with benefits, jobs, housing. 

If Joseph Sobolewski was a Boston guy rather than Pennsylvania guy, somewhere along the line he'd likely have drifted in. I probably would have signed him up for a shower, or put a slab of meatloaf on his tray, or found him a pair of pants. If I'd had a chance to chat with him a bit - and some folks like to chat - he might have told me a bit of his story. Or his version of his story. Which is, of course, how all of us tell our story. 

But I don't expect that I'll be seeing Joseph Sobolewski any time soon, which is too bad because I'd like to hear his story. He won't likely be up this way soon because Joseph Sobolewski, who is homeless, was confused about the price of a 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Drew. He put $2 down on the counter at an Exxon Station, thinking he was overpaying by by fifty cents - the sign read two for $3. But, nope, he was underpaying by forty-three cents.

Amazingly, someone at the gas station called the State Police, and Joseph Sobolewski ended up "arrested on a felony charge under the state’s “three strikes” law for retail theft, according to court records."

Now, Sobolewski, who has two nonviolent theft convictions from many years earlier, is being held on a $50,000 bond. He faces up to seven years in prison. (Source: Washington Post)

Regardless of the amount of the theft, if you have two prior convictions for retail theft of an item worth $150 or less, the third theft turns into a third-degree felonies. Sure, it's the law. But it's a dumb law. 

Involuntary manslaughter, institutional sexual assault and carrying a firearm without a license are also considered third-degree felonies in Pennsylvania.

So now Sobolewski facing a sentence of 3.5 to 7 years in prison.

In what universe does this make any sense?

Sobolewski is not exactly a hardened criminal. Over a decade ago, he drove off without paying for a tank of gas. And in 2011, he clipped a pair of $40 shoes from K-Mart. This was during December. My bet would be that he was walking around in a pair of hole-in-the-sole sneakers and lifted a pair of cheap boots. (I originally typed that as hole-in-the-soul. That, too.)

He also has a marijuana conviction in this past. Plus he owes $1,500 in child support. 

Tell me what's the point of sending this guy to PRISON for 7 years? 

Talk about Dickensian. I know that prisoners are no longer put to "work" on a treadmill, but still...

Sobolewski is not the worst of the examples of how these three-strike laws - which don't allow for any sentencing discretion - are applied.

A woman in California was just released aft 27 years in prison for breaking into a home and stealing a VCR. She had a history of petty crime, and ended up being sent away for 40 years to life. So I guess she can consider herself fortunate that she only did 27 years. 

The people I talk to when I'm volunteering will sometimes offer the information that they've been in prison. Sometimes they just flat out say they've been in the stir. Other times, they'll make a crack about Bob Barker soap. (We try to provide hygiene products and clothing items like underwear and socks that aren't prison issue, but those are more costly, and sometimes the budget dictates that we end up ordering from a supplier - Bob Barker - whose principal market is correctional institutions.) Some of the guys who come in are plenty tough, hardened, edgy, a bit on the nasty side. Most just come across as poor souls. I don't think anyone has ever told me what he was in jail or prison for. I'm not a social worker or case manager. I don't have long convos with folks, just a few minutes in passing. 

Sometimes I'll hear the scuttlebutt and learn why they did time. Other times I'll ask one of the staff members about a guest that I haven't seen in a while, and they often have some info. And that info sometimes includes an arrest and incarceration. Once in a blue moon, I'll google someone. But mostly not. 

(I did this a few months ago when some guy barged in wearing an EMT jacket and started loudly demanding to use a phone to call a fire station. My antenna went right up, and I figured this fellow was no EMT. Indeed, I found that he had prior convictions for impersonating a cop and for impersonating a firefighter. Anyway, he just wanted to use the phone. Have at it, pal.)

Our carceral system is beyond ludicrous. Even if Joseph Sobolewski doesn't end up doing hard time - some legal good-guys may make him the poster boy in a case to rework Pennsylvania's three-strikes law - it's a good example of just how idiotic it is. 

Yes, there are plenty of people who do really bad things, and they need to be put away. But some guy unintentionally underpaying for a bottle of Mountain Dew isn't one of them. If Sobolewski is anything like most of the folks I work with, he's done stupid things, he's f'd up, he's f'd up good swaths of his life. But he isn't beyond redemption. And he sure doesn't deserve seven years in the slammer.

Here's a case where the law really can be an ass.