No, not the record label (that will be 2016), this is the story of Glenn Ford (now aged 64) who has been on death row since August 1988 and was yesterday released after new evidence proved his innocence.
QuoteThirty years, 30 years of my life if not all of it. I can't go back and do anything that I should've been doing when I was 35, 38 and 40 - stuff like that. My son when I left was a baby, now they're grown men with babies.
Every now and then a story makes you stop and reflect. This one did for me, I think because of his comments about missing his kids growing up - and as a father I can relate to that in some small way (although I don't have his life experience to go with the children bit). I fear for his emotional well-being and wonder how someone who went into a high-security isolation prison in 1988 will cope with today's world. This is what 1988 was like when he was incorrectly sent to death row:
- Petrol ('gas') was 91 cents per US gallon and the 'Regular' gas you bought back then would kill today's cars as it was leaded.
- Steve Jobs was trying to sell his $6,500 NeXT computer to us.
- Nokia's flagship mobile phone was launched and looked like this:
(http://www.cntr.salford.ac.uk/comms/resources/artefacts/mobile_phones/ETACS/Nokia%20Mobira%20Cityman%201320.JPG)
- The USA state of Idaho could send you to prison for Life for having homosexual intercourse.
- The Berlin Wall still divided the German city and the cold war was in full swing.
- Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie
- Cameras still used actual film - and portable video cameras looked like this:
(http://btmemories.com/articles/departments/eng_history/images/at_rnc.jpg)
- Ronald Reagan was President of the USA
- There were no fibre optic cables across the Atlantic until December when the first ever was laid.
- Apple was selling us a green monochrome Apple IIc Plus with a motherboard that ran at 1 MHz and if you had one, it looked like this:
(http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/Apple_IIc+_System_1.jpg)
- There was no www. The worldwide web had not been invented.
Just take a minute to think about how you would feel having 25 years of your life taken away and the world you live in change whilst your remained isolated. Scary thought for the day. I hope this guy gets a huge chunk of counselling and support on his way out into today's brutal world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26540604
I keep thinking " if that were me i'd..." but then I realised that if I had spent almost 30 years on deathrow I can't even comprehend what "me" would be.
QuoteIt sets out payments of $25,000 (£15,000) per year of wrongful incarceration up to a maximum of $250,000 (£150,000), plus up to $80,000 (£48,000) for loss of "life opportunities".
Doesn't seem like enough, I hope he can live of his compensation and spend the rest of his live catching up with his family.
go out, rob a bank, that's what 10-15 years? ok so maybe rob a post office too for more retirement cash. That'll probably make it up to 25 years or so. Say to the judge, thanks I've done my time already and then live on a tropical island for the rest of your life....
Worse than 30 years was the possibility that he'd have been executed by the state of Texas. Makes you wonder how many innocent people the USA kills each year.
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