This. This is caused by the runaway corporatism in the U.S.

[DainBramaged]

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.

“When officers got there, he did not offer any kind of resistance. He was just waiting on them,” Moulton Police Chief Lyndon McWhorter said. “His is the first bank robbery I’ve ever worked where the robber was waiting outside the bank for the police to turn himself in.”

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.”

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/07/11/2278871/alabama-jail-poverty/?mobile=nc

[DainBramaged]

1. From the article, the Alabama safety net

As heartbreaking as it is that a poor American might think that giving up his own freedom is his best hope for survival, there are many reasons why someone might hold that view. Indeed, Alabama has one of the worst social safety nets of any state in the country. It has one of the stingiest maximum TANF benefits, formerly known as welfare, at just $190 per month for a family of two. In other words, even if Gardner had a child and were receiving $190 per month, that would still leave him 85 percent lower than the federal poverty line of $14,710.

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

[emmadoggy]

14. WTF?!! That's beyond pathetic. Shameful. nt

[rbnyc]

19. $14,710/year!

The poverty line has always blown my mind.

In order for $14,710 to pay just a year's worth of rent - no food, utilities, clothes, or anything else, just rent, the rent would have to be $1,225/month.

I know there are extreme regional differences, but it would be extremely difficult to find a 1 bedroom apartment for $1,225/month anywhere around here, or in most of the communities I have lived in across the country.

[DainBramaged]

20. Where I live, $900 with heat and water included

but there are A LOT of people sharing one and two bedroom apartments to make the rent and other expenses.

[rbnyc]

21. In 1994...

...I had a great little one bedroom apartment in Austin Texas for $300/month! What a find. And Austin is very livable with a wonderful bus system.

When I moved into a railroad apartment in Brooklyn in 1999-ish, it was $800. in 2005, we were paying $1,150. When we decided to look for a true two-bedroom, they ranged from $2,000 - $5,000 month. It was cheaper to buy a house in the suburbs so that's what they did. When we moved out of the Brooklyn railroad, it listed for $2,500/month.

Everything goes up except for wages and salaries.

Remember when the rule of thumb was that housing should be 25% of your income in order for you to be fiscally healthy?

At $14,710 that would mean your monthly rent would need to be $306/month. So if you're living at the poverty level, you just need a time machine to take you to 1994, Austin Texas.

[justanaverageguy]

31. I generally agree with the point you are making here

but I currently pay about 1/2 that for a one bedroom place in a decent neighborhood and that includes water and lawn service.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Move over Bangladesh, here comes America!

[tosh]

3. The society we are becoming...

[Javaman]

12. Becoming?

it's now.

the lack of compassion in our society is a terminal illness unless something is done to reverse the trend.

[magellan]

4. Incredibly sad.

It's not the first time I've heard of someone doing this, but it underscores how screwed up this country is. People breaking the law to find shelter and medical attention in jail...SMH

[Warpy]

6. I heard it as long as 30 years ago

I cared for a homeless old man who'd sock a cop when the weather got cold in order to get sent to jail until it warmed up again.

It would have been much cheaper to find him a rented room somewhere.

[cali]

5. yes, it is. k&r

[Scuba]

7. Freedom, Republican-style.

[SunSeeker]

9. +1

[Phlem]

8. why am I not surprised.

The US has been working for sometime now to level the incomes of Americans to 3rd world status. I recognized that when outsourcing started. There is no way a tech guy can compete with wages with an Indian (not native American) employee because the cost of living is night and day. That's why we work 60 hour weeks for a 40 hour week salary. That's why wages have been bottoming out or worse, you can't find a position that pays you even half of what it did before.

Wages are dropping and the cost of living continues to rise and more jobs are sent over seas.

We need to end corporate power and make them work for the people like the first corporations had to in our country.

This "corporations are people too" has to die, period because this shit won't stop even after we're all poor.

-p

[Half-Century Man]

10. If there is a republican DA

In order to save the money needed to treat the leg injury, house the victim, and because it's funny to kick people when they are at their lowest. Claiming mercy they will not charge Mr Gardner, just watch.

[RC]

15. You just kicked the props out from under my post.

I was going to mention the free health care. So much for that.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. Next up is the favorite Third World method of getting the wealthy to fork it over....

Kidnapping rich kids for ransom.

[mwooldri]

13. This is not the first time. It won't be the last.

I can't quote them right now, but people have committed a "crime" to get healthcare in jail.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

16. this happens a lot with older folks in Japan too

[AAO]

17. I'll have to remember that ploy if I ever lose everything.

[frylock]

18. terribly heartwrenching, yet at the same time just an incredible display of activism..

whether it was intentional or not.

[Ilsa]

22. I'm just sorry he didn't go to a state

with a better prison system than Alabama to be incarcerated.

That poor man. He worked until an accident caused a disability. The state apparently didn't want him to get back on his feet and back to work with those starvation wages.

[Egalitarian Thug]

27. Bank robbery is a federal crime, so he will be in the federal system.

Something to keep in mind if one is considering this course of action. The federal system is far better than almost every state system.

[Ilsa]

28. That's true. I had forgotten the federal

aspect if this. I hope this federal prison is a decently equipped one.

I really feel for this man. I hope he has family and friend's who will write.

[Egalitarian Thug]

29. I just wish this were as rare as it is to be reported.

How fucking pathetic is a nation that's only viable option for the poor and sick to get health care is to be incarcerated?

[Ilsa]

30. I'm sure GOPer Congresscritters will try to

defund medical care in federal prisons next.

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. This is a really rotten country. Rotten to the core.

Over paid CEOs and this.


Rotten country all around.

[DainBramaged]

24. And this is what the Cock Brothers think

[bluedeathray]

25. The new America!

This is our reality. This is our legacy. This is what we've allowed our nation to become. This will not change until we MAKE it change.

[Laelth]

26. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[TheKentuckian]

32. "Are there no prisons, no work house?"