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| JACKSON: Promising past, and future? |
Technically,
Jackson was sentenced in 2013 to a 2-1/2-year prison term. But with early
release provisions, his term is scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2015.
THERE
ARE THOSE people who, for political and personal reasons, want to complain that
the one-time member of Congress from the Far South Side and surrounding suburbs
didn’t get anywhere near a long-enough sentence for his guilty plea on criminal
charges.
Although
when one considers that the offense was using campaign funds to buy tacky junk
to decorate his office and that he cooperated with federal prosecutors who
brought the case against him, I can see why a short prison stint is all that
was received.
But
Jackson popped back into the news in recent days – first by being transferred on
Friday from a Bureau of Prisons facility in North Carolina to a prison camp
that is part of the Maxwell Air Force Base near Montgomery, Ala.
Then,
during the weekend, with news reports about how Jackson was trying to get into
a program for dealing with drug abuse problems – which if he completes it could
theoretically knock more time off his prison term.
THERE
WAS SPECULATION that Jackson could have so much time knocked off his prison
term that he could essentially be free – or living in a Chicago-area halfway
house – sometime around this year’s end.
Although
I couldn’t help but notice the Chicago Tribune used its website Monday to
publish an updated story that emphasized the fact that Jackson’s projected
release date remains the end of 2015.
So
what should we think? Are we going to get Jesse Jackson, Jr., back sometime
soon? I’m inclined to think that Jackson has so much public attention focused
on his case that legal breaks and benefits other inmates can obtain will not be
available to him.
He’s
going to wind up doing as much prison time as possible for his offense – which is
so much less significant than the actions that people want to believe he
committed.
AND
WHICH WERE the reasons why federal prosecutors got involved in investigating
former member of Congress to begin with.
Of
course, even if not for this issue, the ideologues would still find something
to be offended about with regards to Jackson. For his latest prison transfer is
something for them to get worked up over.
Because
back when Jackson entered his “guilty” plea, he also made a request for a
specific prison camp to be assigned to. Federal officials were under no obligation
to grant his request, and they didn’t – initially – when he was sent to North Carolina.
But
with the transfer to the prison camp in Alabama, he now gets his way. He’s
where he wanted to wind up.
TO
THE PEOPLE who despise the Jacksons for whatever reason, they would consider
that reason enough to oppose him. As though they won’t be content unless they
hear stories of Jackson being held in segregation under miserable conditions
for every day of his prison term.
Many
of these people are also the ones who want to believe that Jackson’s claims of
a medical condition (he was diagnosed as suffering from a bipolar disorder) are
somehow fraudulent.
Although
the fact that the work camp he’s now at is one designated as a federal medical
center might mean that federal authorities take his medical claims seriously.
In
today’s day and age, where there are those who aren’t satisfied until their
political opposition is incarcerated, the best resolution for all of us is for
Jackson (and spouse Sandi who also owes the federal government one year of
time) to complete their sentences so that we all can move on.
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