Woman with baby due in two weeks sentenced to prison for selling two OxyContins

[Blue_In_AK]

This is just insane, especially given how Big Pharma pushes these painkillers.

http://www.adn.com/2012/02/18/2324476/woman-with-baby-due-in-2-weeks.html

JUNEAU, Alaska - A Haines woman who is two weeks from her baby's due date must report to prison Wednesday, a judge ruled over the woman's objections.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg ordered 24-year-old Adeline Strong to begin her sentence this week for dealing less than two pills of oxycodone in Juneau two years ago, the Juneau Empire reported ( http://bit.ly/zsX0R1).

The baby is due March 3.

"I wish we weren't here today two weeks before the birth of a little baby talking about Mom going to jail," Pallenberg said. "I wish this crime hadn't happened in 2010. It puts that baby in a place where his or her mom's got to go to jail."

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/02/18/2324476/woman-with-baby-due-in-2-weeks.html#storylink=cpy


She has been sentenced to six years in prison with three suspended. She has completed treatment for opiate addiction earlier this year.

[MADem]

1. Do they have that "keep your kid" program up that way, where the mothers can have the kids in jail

with them while they are infants? The article says nothing about a husband/father, either. Hope the kid doesn't end up in "the system."

[Blue_In_AK]

3. It's been a while (30 years)

since I worked in Corrections, so I'm not sure what the policy is now with regard to mothers and infants. I just can't imagine why they gave her such an excessive sentence. Hopefully, she can work something out for a monitor or something and not have to do much actual "inside" time, much like Levi Johnston's mother was able to work out.

[orwell]

2. She should call OxyRush's lawyer...

...he seems to know his way around a drug charge...

[AverageJoe90]

4. SIX YEARS? for TWO pills? Insane! nt

[Meiko]

5. IMHO this is a clear violation of the constitutions cruel and unusual punishment clause.

This so called war on drugs has turned into a war on people. Breaking down peoples doors in the middle of the night,arresting the wrong people seizure of personal property without due process. The list of atrocities perpetrated against american citizens goes on and on.

This so called war has decimated our inner cities and and our black communities by removing black men from the family equation and throwing them in jail on what amounts to minor possessions charges where they spend sometimes years for the possession of a small amount of marijuana. It is way past time we take another look at how we deal with recreational drug users, locking them up is not the answer.