Posted on 04/18/2016 4:20:55 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Nebraska is desperate to stop the runaway growth of its prison population, but doing so depends a lot on people like Ronald Tillman. Tillman, 54, a paroled drug dealer who suffers from bipolar disease and a debilitating back injury, has lived since his 2013 release solely on his monthly $733 disability check. When his food runs short, he faces a choice that has costly implications for the state if he gets caught.
Sometimes when you need food, you have to steal it, said Tillman, a Navy veteran. Ive shoplifted a couple of times, just to eat that night and maybe the next morning.
Nebraska is among a dwindling number of states that still enforce a lifetime ban on drug offenders receiving food stamps. If Tillman had been convicted of robbery, burglary or another crime, he could be eligible for the federal assistance. Now, Nebraska is wrestling with whether it can still afford the restrictive policy even though many residents take a dim view of giving public benefits to drug felons.
Eager to help more drug law convicts stay on the streets without committing crimes those offenders can account for more than a quarter of those released Alabama, Texas and a number of other states have decided in recent years to end or scale back the federal food stamp ban, which each state has the option to do.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
From an accounting standpoint, my liability never ends.
I was just carjacked by one of those types(attempted). Weighed 275 lbs. Don’t think he needs food.
For the love of -—, when are we going to end this idiotic “war on drugs” i.e. Prohibition II? It serves no purpose other than to line the pockets of corrupt politicians and cops. The only other beneficiaries as far as I can tell have been organized crime syndicates, the prison industry and the funeral industry.
It has not even slightly dented the rate of dug abuse/addiction in these United States. Drug abuse is a public health problem. Trying to turn a health crisis into a crime is not just stupid, it is immoral.
I believe in every state there are food banks available, usually provided by the churches. Humble food, boxed macaroni, rice, canned spam and tuna.
Heck, I donate to them and probably the rest of you do, too.
I generally have a large stock of canned goods and often donate them. In Washington, though, the food banks have gotten a bit uppity and will not accept expired canned food.
This is utterly silly. I eat expired food out of my pantry all the time, are the folks in need now little snowflakes or something?
Yes let the law abiding now formally subsidize the felon class.
They call it the “Lunch Money for Bullies” program.
All’s good. Drug dealers are more than happy to take fully charged EBT cards in lieu of cash, at a discount, of course.
Wonderful idea, now more of their money can be used on buying black market guns....
Just wonderful...
You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what Im saying? We knew we couldnt make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.
-Former White House Counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon.
Wow we need to get that guy on an exercise program. It would surely help his bipolar mood problems and likely his bad back also.
Ooops that quote was from John Ehrlich man. I included his title but not his name.
I've got to admit, that doesn't make sense.
Ahhhh, the famous “back injury”.
There are no concequences to bad behavior.
Jail is day care.
Give them food stamps but require drug testing.
Begin deporting.
You are so right, this idea that food stamps (or any monetary assistance alone) will somehow elevate a criminal to a higher moral standard is ridiculous.
What they want is this: food stamps to buy their groceries so they can use their ready cash for beer and cigs. I never could have even imagined that until I saw it with my own eyes. And they have no shyness about it either!
Somebody I am trying to help get back on their feet used to do drugs and is now getting ssi payments. They are always out if food and myself and others who know them help them and their kids out...but they get penalized for our help if it goes above a certain amount by deductions from the ssi check. They also get penalized if they earn more than eight five bucks a month. And if they earn 1130 in a particular month they are off the program. Their skills are not worth much atm so they work under the table for people that rip them off by paying them a hundred bucks a week for full time work...and often not paying them at all. But they keep working and are always hungry. They want to get on their feet and go legit but the way they are scared of losing ssi then getting fired and not eating at all.
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