Jail time

I don’t think I want anyone to go to jail, ever.

I spent a few hours today staring at pictures of the man with the longest prison sentence in history for insider trading.

He was guilty, he was totally guilty without a doubt. He was so obviously guilty, that when his team appealed the verdict, the ruling said “actually, you were even MORE guilty than we thought the first time around!”

I don’t actually have a rational defense that I can make, “this guy doesn’t deserve to go to jail because a and b so therefore c and thus I am right.” I don’t have that. He broke laws, he thought he could get away with things that had been deemed illegal, he didn’t help his own case one bit by being non-cooperative, etc.

But I’m not really talking about a rational want. I’ve been looking at this guy’s pictures. There are pictures of his arrest, doing the perp walk, handcuffs and everything. In one particular picture, his lip is curled a bit and he is biting it and looks kind of pained. I have cried enough in public to know that look very well. He is trying not to loose it. He never, ever thought that he would be where he is right now, in this picture.

And he doesn’t look like a power broker, he doesn’t look like your typical big shot wall street man.  Most of the other guys from this insider trading round up are pretty good looking, in that privilege and money and power kind of way. Trim and fit, nice hair, good faces of the well bred and well raised. They probably have beautiful trophy wives. This guy probably has a beautiful trophy wife too, though, because you can buy those I’m pretty sure. But he wouldn’t look as picture banker perfect. He is kind of pudgy, and he smiles more than the other guys do, who are doing the stone cold guilty look. It makes him look boyish, or like he would have been your favorite teacher in school, who giggled a little too much but was really good at what he did. It makes it easier to sympathize with him and harder to send him to jail. For 11 years.

I just hate the idea of jail, so much, for anyone, especially someone that I can sympathize with, which how could you not after spending several hours looking at pictures of this person smiling or crying or emoting in some subtle way?

Jail sounds like a terrible place. And insider trading sounds like such a made up thing sometimes. There must be rules for society, but must it be like this?

Anyway, I want to interview the FBI agents who are responsible for all this busting, about their feelings. Maybe after the fact, like in 5 years or 10 years, when they can speak more candidly.