In January 2015, Travis Jeter stole nine dollars from a woman, breaking her nose and eye socket in the process. On October 6, he received a sentence of life in prison.
That's right. Life in prison. He won't be eligible for parole for 20 years.
While there are some basic details available online regarding Jeter's record, they are sparse and don't even begin tell the whole story. We do know that it's not Jeter's first offense. According to WDRB:
The judge says he started committing robberies and burglaries at the age of 11 and has had a lifetime filled with cocaine use and crime. Because of that, a jury recommended he spend the rest of his life behind bars, and the judge agreed.
As all the information is not clear, excessive speculation is inappropriate. But if Jeter started robbing at age 11 and has had a "lifetime filled with cocaine use," it certainly seems likely that he's had issues since childhood that have not been sufficiently addressed. If he's been using cocaine for a lifetime, addiction problems are almost certainly in the picture. And prison doesn't cure addiction. See more below.
Kentucky is doing with Jeter what most criminal justice systems do to repeat offenders—assume that what they deserve is increasing punishment. But the reality is that the punishment isn't working. Incarceration clearly doesn't stop recidivism, despite—or more likely, due to—the terrible conditions of prisons and jails. But when a person continues to break the law, the system rarely tries to identify and address the potential issues driving the actions or behavior. Instead they put them in prison, and prison again, and more prison. In prison, mental health issues and addiction go largely untreated. In fact, in prison, those afflictions often get worse and not better.
Now Jeter is being sent to prison for life for what happened in January. It's a remarkably harsh sentence, even considering his history, and it means that Jeter will quite likely spend the rest of his life incarcerated.
As if that wasn't enough, a woman there to support him ended up being sentenced to 10 days in jail for being in contempt of court. As he was leaving the courtroom, she called out, "I love you, fight until the end." WDRB reports:
Judge Easton called her forward, and she [sic] questioning the judge. "You are in contempt. You are in contempt for disrupting," Easton announced over the woman, who continued speaking back, "10 days in the Hardin County Jail. Go. Now. Take her, yes I'm serious," Easton responded to the woman's questions.
Remember, this woman just found out that someone she cares about will spend his life in jail over nine dollars
Surprise, surprise: Judge Easton is an elected judge. He ran unopposed last year. If you happen to know more stories about him, please pass them along.
Notes: This article's headline has been changed to include the assault, which was always mentioned in the first sentence of the article. I truly apologize for not mentioning it in the headline. I stand by the text of the article, which has not been edited at all, and my belief that this sentence is grossly unjust given the crime.