Friday, 26 April 2019


LONG PRISON SENTENCES
                                                       
This article doesn’t included sentences where the criminal is told that he or she will be sentenced to prison for the rest of the criminal’s life. This article is ABOUT instances where criminals have been sentenced to jail terms in excess of a human’s lifetime.
If you click your mouse on words that are ubnderlined, you will get more information.

Abdullah Iyad Barghouti
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This killer i traveled to the West Bank where he joined the Hamas paramilitary group. He is considered by the Israeli News   as Hamas' "engineer" and planned and built weapons for numerous attacks against Israeli civilians. Among the attacks he was involved in was the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing, the double suicide bombing in the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, the Café Moment bombing, the 2002 Rishon LeZion bombing, the Hebrew University bombing, the Allenby Street bus bombing, the Pi Glilot bombing attempt, and an attack on railway tracks in Lod in which he personally laid the explosive charge. A total of 66 Israelis were killed and 500 injured in attacks that Barghouti was involved in.

Israel doesn’t have the death penalty on its books since they executed a Nazi war criminal in the last century. so criminals  who murder people are sent to prison instead.

Barghouti was arrested by the Israeli Shin Bet security service in March 2003. An Israeli military court sentenced him to 67 life terms plus 5,200 years in prison. The sentence was the longest sentence given out in Israel's history. Barghouti is incarcerated at Gilboa Prison near Beit She'an. He is held in solitary confinement and is not allowed any family visits.



Gary Leon Ridgway 
This American serial killer was born on February 18th, 1949, and was referred to as the Green River Killer. Ridgway's IQ was recorded as being in the low eighties.  He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49, making him the most prolific serial killer in United States history.                           

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Ridgway is believed to have murdered at least 71 teenage girls and women near Seattle and TacomaWashington. In court statements, he later reported that he had killed so many that he lost count. A majority of the murders occurred between 1982 and 1984. The victims were believed to be either sex workers or runaways picked up along Pacific Highway South, whom he strangled. Most of their bodies were dumped in wooded areas around the Green RiverSeattle-Tacoma International Airport, and other "dump sites" within South King County. There were also two confirmed and another two suspected victims found in the  Portland Oregon area. The bodies were often left in clusters, sometimes posed, usually nude. He would sometimes return to the victims' bodies and have sexual intercourse with them. Ridgway later explained that he did not find necrophilia more sexually satisfying, but having sex with the deceased reduced his need to obtain a living victim and thus limited his exposure to being caught.

Ridgway was arrested on suspicion of murdering four women nearly 20 years earlier after first being identified as a potential suspect, when DNA evidence conclusively linked semen left in the victims to the saliva swab taken by the police. The four victims named in the original indictment were Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, Cynthia Hinds, and Carol Ann Christensen. Three more victims—Wendy Coffield, Debra Bonner, and Debra Estes—were added to the indictment after a forensic scientist identified microscopic spray paint spheres as a specific brand and composition of paint used at the Kenworth factory during the specific time frame when these victims were killed.

On December 18th, 2003, King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones sentenced Ridgway to 48 life sentences with no possibility of parole and one life sentence, to be served consecutively. He was also sentenced to an additional 10 years for tampering with evidence for each of the 48 victims, adding 480 years to his 48 life sentences.

Ridgway was placed in solitary confinement at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla in January 2004. On May 14, 2015, he was transferred to a high-security federal prison in Florence east of Cañon City, Colorado. In September 2015, after a public outcry and discussions with  Governor Jay Inslee, Corrections Secretary Bernie Warner announced that Ridgway would be transferred back to Washington to be "easily accessible" for open murder investigations. Ridgway was returned by chartered plane to Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla from the High Security Federal Prison in Florence, Colorado, on October 24, 2015.

Martin John Bryan

This mass killer was born on 7 May 1967 at the Queen Alexandria Hospital in HobartTasmaniaAustralia.  He was the first son born to Maurice and Carleen Bryant. Although the family home was in Lenah Valley, Tasmania, Bryant spent some of his childhood at their beach home in Carnarvon Bay, Tasmania. In a 2011 interview, his mother recalls that while he was very young, she would often find Martin's toys broken, and said he was an "annoying" and "different" child. A psychologist's view was that he would never hold down a job, as he would aggravate people to such an extent that he would always be in trouble.

Other cases that locals can recall include that he had pulled the snorkel from another boy while diving and had once cut down trees on a neighbour's property. He was described by teachers as being distant from reality and unemotional. At school he was a disruptive and sometimes violent child who suffered severe bullying by other children. After he was suspended from New Town Primary School in 1977, psychological assessments of Bryant noted his torturing of animals. He returned to school the following year with improved behaviour however, he persisted in teasing younger children. He was transferred to a special education unit at New Town High School in 1980, where he deteriorated both academically and in behaviour throughout his remaining school year.

Descriptions of Bryant's behaviour as an adolescent show that he continued to be disturbed that outlined the possibility of an intellectual disability. He was revealed to be borderline mentally disabled, with an I.Q. of 66, equivalent to the mind of an 11-year-old. Further testing following his arrest indicated a verbal I.Q. of 64 and non-verbal reasoning and cognitive functioning of 68, giving a full-scale I.Q. of 66.

Bryant has provided conflicting and confused accounts of what led him to kill 35 people at the Port Arthur site on the 28th in  April 1996. It appears that it could be his desire for attention, as he allegedly told a next-door neighbour, "I'll do something that will make everyone remember me".


His first victims, David and Noelene (Sally) Martin, owned the bed and breakfast guest house called Seascape. The Martins had bought the bed and breakfast that Bryant's father had wanted to buy, and his father had complained to him on numerous occasions of the damage done to Bryant's family because of that purchase.[11] Bryant apparently believed the Martins had deliberately bought the property to hurt his family and blamed the Martins for the depression that led to his father's death He fatally shot them in that guest house before travelling to the Port Arthur ruins. Bryant entered The Broad Arrow Café on the historical site's grounds, carrying a large blue duffel bag.

Once he finished eating, Bryant moved toward the back of the café and set a video camera on a vacant table. He took out a Colt AR-15 SP1 Carbine (semi-automatic rifle) and, firing from the hip, began shooting patrons and staff. Within 15 seconds, he had fired 17 shots, killing 12 people and wounding 10. Bryant then walked to the other side of the shop and fired 12 more times, killing another eight people while wounding two. He then changed magazines before fleeing, shooting at people in the car park and from his yellow Volvo 244 car as he drove away; four were killed and an additional six were injured.       Bryant drove 300 metres down the road, to where a woman and her two children were walking. He stopped and fired two shots, killing the woman and the child she was carrying. The older child fled, but Bryant followed her and killed her with a single shot.                                     

He then stole a gold BMW by killing all four of its occupants. A short distance down the road, he stopped beside a couple in a white Toyota and, drawing his weapon, ordered the male occupant into the boot of the BMW. After shutting the boot, he fired two shots into the windscreen of the Toyota, killing the female driver.

He returned to the guesthouse, set the stolen car alight and took his hostage inside with the Martins' corpses. The police soon arrived and tried to negotiate with Bryant for many hours before the battery in the phone he was using died, ending communication. Bryant's only demand was to be transported in an army helicopter to an airport. Sometime during the negotiations, Bryant killed his hostage.

The next morning, 18 hours later, Bryant set fire to the guesthouse and attempted to escape in the confusion. Suffering burns to his back and buttocks, he was captured and taken to Royal Hobart Hospital, where he was treated and kept under heavy guard.

Bryant was judged fit to stand trial, and his trial was scheduled to begin on the 7th of November 1996. Bryant initially pleaded not guilty, but was persuaded by his court-appointed lawyer and the prosecution to plead guilty to all charges.

Two weeks later, Hobart Supreme Court Judge William Cox gave Bryant 35 life sentences, plus 1,035 years in prison, without the possibility of parole, all of which is to be served concurrently; this life sentence being applied is  obviously for the term of his] natural life

For the first eight months of his imprisonment, he was held in a purposely-built special suicide-prevention cell in that amounts a almost a complete solitary confinement cell. He remained in protective custody for his own safety until he was moved to a newly built detention centre 10 years after his conviction.

On the  13th of November 2006, Bryant was moved into Hobart's Wilfred Lopes Centre that is a secure mental health unit run by the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services. The 35-bed unit for inmates with serious mental illness is staffed with doctors, nurses and other support workers. Inmates are not locked down, and can come and go from their cells. Exterior security at the facility is provided by a three-wall perimeter patrolled by private contract guards. Bryant attempted suicide on the 25th of March 2007 by slashing his wrist with a razor blade. Two days later, he cut his throat with another razor blade and was hospitalized briefly. As of 2015, Bryant is housed in the maximum-security Risdon Prison near Hobart.

Charles Scott Robinson

A judge who said he was weary of criminals serving only a portion of their time, decided to sentence a man convicted of raping six children to many years in prison.

The jury that convicted Charles Scott Robinson on December 14th and had recommended 5,000 years in prison for each of the six counts against him. The jurors wanted Robinson behind bars for good.

Robinson's previous convictions were for nonviolent crimes of burglary, attempted burglary, concealing stolen property and possession of a stolen vehicle.

District Judge Dan Owens chose to order the six sentences to be consecutively instead of concurrently, meaning that the 30-year-old Robinson probably couldn't be paroled until he is at least 108 years old. Judge Owens told Robinson”, I think I can assure  you that you will spend the rest of your natural life in the confines of the Department of Corrections."

Allan Wayne McLaurin

In 1994, this man was sentenced to the greatest amount of jail time given as a result of an appeal. Found guilty of crimes ranging from rape of an elderly woman in Tulsa County, to larceny, robbery and kidnapping, he was originally sentenced to 2,250 years. He appealed, was reconvicted, re-sentenced and received an additional jail term of 9,500 years, later reduced to 900 years. With that added to his 2,250 years, his final sentence was 11,750 years in prison.


Many years ago, I was asked by a lawyer in Canada to interview his client who was charged with raping an elderly woman. He was later convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison.


In Guatemala, former six soldiers were convicted and sentenced for their roles in the 1982 Dos Erres village massacre. In the early morning and afternoon of the month of December, the Kaibiles who were soldiers of the elite special forces commandos of the Guatemalan Army separated out the children, and began killing them. They also raped women and girls, and ripped the fetuses out of pregnant women. They bashed the smallest children's heads against walls and trees, and killed the older ones with hammer blows to the head. A baby was the first to be killed, by dropping the baby live into a deep 4 meter well, along with the rest of the bodies then after. Then the commandos interrogated the men and women one by one, raped some of the women again, then shot or bashed them with the hammer, and dumped them in the well. The massacre continued throughout 7 December. On the morning of 8 December, as the Kaibiles were preparing to leave, another 15 persons, among them children, arrived in the hamlet. With the well already full, they took the newcomers to a location half an hour away, then shot all but two of them. They kept two teenage girls for the next few days, raping them repeatedly and finally strangling them. Only one person survived this massacre who was a small child who managed to escape. Here are the sentences of the convicted  soldiers;

Daniel Martínez Martínez    6,060 years

Reyes Collin Gualip                6,060 years          

Manuel Pop                               6,060 years

Pedro Pimentel Ríos            6060 years     
      
Henri Parot                              4,797 years
             

Inés del Río Prada                  3,828 years 



The "prize" for the stupidest proposed  longest jail term in history goes to the prosecutor in Palma, Majorca who recommended that Gabriel Gandos, a letter carrier serve 384,912 years of imprisonment  for  failing to deliver 42,768 letters. The letter carrier was actually sentenced to only to 14 years and 2 months of imprisonment.


In Canada, the penalty for first degree murder is automatically a minimum of 25 years in prison. It doesn’t mean that after a murderer has served 25 ears in prison, he or she is automatically set free. If the National Parole Board of Canada feels that the murderer is still a danger to society, te prisoner will continue serving  his or her sentence. Every two years, the murder can apply again for parole.  Some murders actually died in prison even though they served the minimum sentence of 25 ears.


In 2011, the Canadian parliament passed a law that if anyone kills more than one person, they will serve the 25-yer penalties consecutively. Two men have since been sentenced to prison consecutively for killing three persons. They were sentenced to prison for 75 years. 


One man pleaded guilty to killing right men but he was only sentenced to 25 years instead of 2oo years. The judge took into consideration that he is diabetic and him being 67, he will be eligible to apply for parole when he is 91 years of age. The judge said that it is highly likely that he will live that long because he doesn’t believe that if he is alive when he is 91 years of age, he thinks it is highly unlikely that the parole Board will release him anyway.


Sentencing a mass murderer or a serial killer to many years beyond his or her normal life is really a symbolic act. The intention is that even if the multiple murderer was to be given a sentence of  25 years, he would still be ineligible for parole. But sentencing murderers to thousands of years is ridiculous.


One American killed three persons. He was sentenced to 3000 years. He appealed the sentence saying that the sentence was ludicrous. The Court of Appeal agreed. They reduced his sentence to 1500 years. That was also ridiculous.  Sentencing him to prison for 75 years would also serve the purpose of making sure that he would never walk out of prison if the parole board has its way.


Sometime in the near future, I will write and publish articles about each of the murderers that I wrote about in this article.

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