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As Alabama Cuts Benefits, Desperate Man ‘Robs’ Bank To Get Food, Shelter In Jail
As Alabama Cuts Benefits, Desperate Man ‘Robs’ Bank To Get Food, Shelter In Jail
By Scott Keyes
So desperate for food and shelter, an Alabama man did the unthinkable this week: robbing a bank so he could turn himself in and get sent to jail.
Rickie Lawrence Gardner, a 49-year-old man from the small town of Moulton, Alabama, entered Bank Independent on Monday and handed the teller a note saying he had a gun and to hand over the bank’s money. After the employee complied, Gardner took the bag of cash, walked outside, and locked it in his car. He then sat on a bench in front of the bank and waited for police officers to arrive.
<...>
What drove Gardner to such a drastic measure? He was on the cusp of losing his job because a leg injury put him in so much pain that it prevented him from working. Facing possible homelessness, jail was a preferable option in his mind. And he wasn’t looking for just a short stay. Despite his note, Gardner wasn’t even carrying a gun when he committed the robbery; he’d only mentioned it in the note, according to the AP, “because he thought it would get him a longer sentence.”
<...>
Alabama lawmakers have also made it increasingly difficult for poor residents like Gardner to receive health care. Though some Republican governors in states like Arizona and Ohio have embraced Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid to cover poor citizens, Alabama has steadfastly opposed doing so, despite the fact that it’s fully funded by the federal government for the first three years. As a result, hundreds of thousands of low-income individuals won’t receive health care. Even without the Medicaid expansion, it’s already incredibly difficult to be eligible in Alabama. A single adult, like Gardner, who makes more than $1,332 per year is considered too wealthy to qualify for Medicaid in Alabama.
- more -
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/07/11/2278871/alabama-jail-poverty/
By Scott Keyes
So desperate for food and shelter, an Alabama man did the unthinkable this week: robbing a bank so he could turn himself in and get sent to jail.
Rickie Lawrence Gardner, a 49-year-old man from the small town of Moulton, Alabama, entered Bank Independent on Monday and handed the teller a note saying he had a gun and to hand over the bank’s money. After the employee complied, Gardner took the bag of cash, walked outside, and locked it in his car. He then sat on a bench in front of the bank and waited for police officers to arrive.
<...>
What drove Gardner to such a drastic measure? He was on the cusp of losing his job because a leg injury put him in so much pain that it prevented him from working. Facing possible homelessness, jail was a preferable option in his mind. And he wasn’t looking for just a short stay. Despite his note, Gardner wasn’t even carrying a gun when he committed the robbery; he’d only mentioned it in the note, according to the AP, “because he thought it would get him a longer sentence.”
<...>
Alabama lawmakers have also made it increasingly difficult for poor residents like Gardner to receive health care. Though some Republican governors in states like Arizona and Ohio have embraced Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid to cover poor citizens, Alabama has steadfastly opposed doing so, despite the fact that it’s fully funded by the federal government for the first three years. As a result, hundreds of thousands of low-income individuals won’t receive health care. Even without the Medicaid expansion, it’s already incredibly difficult to be eligible in Alabama. A single adult, like Gardner, who makes more than $1,332 per year is considered too wealthy to qualify for Medicaid in Alabama.
- more -
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/07/11/2278871/alabama-jail-poverty/
9 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I might do the same thing. I hope he gets the medical help he needs. 
... taking care of people who only commit crimes to get food, shelter and medical care.
Just imagine, commercial prisons could be delivering profits to shareholders for only twice the cost of giving money directly to desperate people living in poverty!!! You write laws so that anyone can easily commit a crime that earns them prison time. Heck, paint a few walls in town white and pass laws that make it a felony to write on those walls. Station some private policeman nearby to arrest anyone who writes on the wall. (These police could also hand out chalk...)
It's win-win for the commercial prison industry and the politicians they support.
