Posted on 05/01/2008 5:10:55 PM PDT by buccaneer81
Man might get prison time for sharing snack cake with inmate Thursday, May 1, 2008 6:19 PM By Mary Beth Lane THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH He slept through a fire drill, had loose tobacco in his possession and didn't show up for kitchen duty.
Then Timothy E. Caudill shared a Little Debbie snack cake with another inmate at a correctional facility in southeastern Ohio. That was the last straw.
The 21-year-old was kicked out of the residential community corrections program that was a requirement of his probation. And he could go to prison.
That is absurd, said Caudill's attorney, Claire “Buzz” Ball.
“Everybody talks about prison overcrowding. My God, you have to send some guy to prison for sharing a snack?” Ball said.
Vinton County Prosecutor Timothy P. Gleeson has asked county Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Simmons to revoke Caudill's probation and put him in prison. Simmons is expected to rule soon on the request, which he considered at a hearing April 16.
The prosecutor wants Caudill put in prison for nine months. With credit for 105 days served at the SEPTA Correctional Facility, he would serve nearly six more months.
Caudill's attorney has asked the judge to keep Caudill on probation or send him to the jail in Athens County, which costs $20 a day less than a state prison. Keeping Caudill out of prison would leave cell space for a more serious offender, Ball said.
“My God, over a 50-cent cake, the state would spend $12,600 for six months,” Ball said.
Caudill received a sentence of three years' probation Oct. 1, convicted last year of breaking and entering Krazy Katie's, a bar along Rt. 93 just south of McArthur, the Vinton County seat.
He was placed in SEPTA, a community corrections residential program in Nelsonville, on Oct. 10. The 64-bed program offers drug treatment, work training and counseling, and imposes strict rules.
Caudill bought the Little Debbie from the vending machine and then knowingly shared it with a fellow inmate who was on restriction and wasn't allowed access to the vending-machine snacks, said Bob Eaton, operations manager at SEPTA. Caudill was kicked out the next day.
“Admittedly, some of the rules seem a little strange, but the guys come to us because they made bad choices,” he said.
Caudill racked up a string of about eight misdemeanor offenses before breaking into Krazy Katie's and getting his first felony conviction, and his behavior at SEPTA shows that he still doesn't follow the rules, Gleeson said.
“It's more complicated than a Little Debbie snack cake,” he said.
Caudill said he bought a Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie to share with someone who was allowed snack privileges, but a “boy who was always messing with” Caudill and was restricted from snacks swiped part of it.
“I don't think I deserve prison time,” Caudill said. “Maybe 30 days (in jail) and extended probation.”
The probationer lives next door to his family and works at Standard Hardware in downtown McArthur, bagging livestock feed, loading trucks and waiting on customers. He has been free on $10,000 bond since a court appearance Jan. 23.
His stepmother, Judy, wishes he could return to finish the SEPTA program. She said she saw a difference in him after his time in the program.
“I don't think someone should have to go to prison for something so small,” Mrs. Caudill said. “ He's basically a good kid. He's turning his life around, and he's trying.”
mlane@dispatch.com
The State is not a parent. And sharing a snacky cake is not a crime.
LOL! That’s my neighbor two doors down. Very nice...person. She’s some kind of media PR type.
Exactly. And it shouldn't even be a "rule."
These "law and order" administrative types crack me up. When I want law and order, I expect to see someone who's been through the wars. Cops, not prison or probation "officials."
No “Twinkie Defense” posts yet?
LOL! I had forgotten about that!
I grew up in Mass. Loved Drake's as a kid. And Wise potato chips.
Maybe we are neighbors. But there are a lot of "Buzz's" around here.
So you think inmates should retain all of their freedoms and not be put upon with rules? Yea that will work, NOT.
Incarceration comes with many inconvenient rules, and rule breakers are punished. Diet is one of the many ways that inmates are rewarded or punished. That only works if you enforce the rules and don't allow other inmates to bring them snacky cakes.
Please say clearly that you think inmates should be able to do whatever they want as long as its not illegal on the outside of the prison walls. Then everyone can know to write off anything you have to say from now on.
Actually, for those who have been convicted and are being incarcerated, the State IS their custodian. Care to try again.
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