G.O.G.I. (Garbage Out, Garbage In)

I’ll sometimes walk past parolees sitting a few electronic gates away from their freedom. Some are nervous; most are anxious. It’s not uncommon to hear side conversations regarding which prisoners “might” make it and which ones will “definitely” return. No one knows for sure. It’s up to each parolee to make the right choices. Survival in the real world, they’ll soon discover, is probably harder than inside the joint.

I can’t seem to remember Inmate Anthony-Bey. Did I wish him good-luck the day he left? Or had he been the defiant one, demanding state clothing at the taxpayers’ expense before leaving in someone’s new Cadillac? I remember asking myself, “If someone can pick up an ex-felon in a fancy car, why can’t they bring him clothes?”

The newspapers say Glen Patrick Anthony (the “Bey” removed) paroled in September of 2008. The date of his original sentence for Second Degree Murder began on November 6, 1989. His minimum sentence: 10 years. His maximum: 30 years.

But if I had seen him, it was after two more sentences involving drugs. Those sentences took place in October of 2006. His minimum sentence: 5 months. His maximum sentence: 20 years.

So when the newspapers identified him as the lead suspect in a series of rapes and questioned why he had been let out, my employer, The Michigan Department of Corrections, stated that he had served well over his minimum. I’m not sure which minimum they’re referring too, or whether it matters. What matters is whether his DNA matches the Detroit Serial Rapist.

“Sad thing,” an elderly prisoner in my classroom said, “is that a majority of prisoners will embrace him. They’ll welcome him back. Might even see a few high-fives.”