What he did was hand the clerk a note that said: “This is a bank robbery, please only give me one dollar.” Then, as he later told the local NBC news station, he calmly sat in the corner of the bank having told the clerk: “I’ll be sitting right over there in the chair waiting for the police.”
…
He invited the paper to send a reporter to interview him in Gaston county jail, where he is now in custody facing charges of stealing from a person (for just $1 the prosecutors didn’t think they could hold up a bank robbery charge).
He told the paper he had lost his job after 17 years as a Coca-Cola delivery man, and with it his health insurance. He was in increasing pain from slipped discs, arthritic joints, a gammy foot and a growth on his chest.
Since being in the jail he has attained his goal: he has been seen by nurses and an appointment with a doctor is booked.
Greatest country on earth!!!
*terms and conditions apply
**must be rich, white, straight and a man to have a chance to win
mostly rich though.
Healthcare is such a basic human right. Single payer for all (Medicare) should be our priority. The wealthy look at everything as theirs. Anything that needs to be done in society is “why should I pay for that?” I have a friend who makes a lot of money and he said that people who work hard should be rewarded and I asked him if he meant people who work hard or if he meant people who earn a lot of money and he didn’t know what to say.
Years ago, I have read that Mongolian street children in the capital, Ulan Bataar, would intentionally steal to get arrested so that they would have a warm place to stay during the cold nights in Mongolia.
America has now stooped this low.
I always wondered why more homeless people didn’t do this in the us
They do, but it has to be pretty serious because you are signing up to be tortured for an unspecified length of time as well.
Private healthcare and the punitive, draconian nature of our “legal system” work in tandem. If either were fixed then the other would lose their leverage.
Yea… Why wouldn’t someone want to be imprisoned, so strange
I mean, if the outside is absolutely freezing (and people have died of hypothermia already), and you have to rummage garbage bins for food, Why not?
Some choose death over subjugation.
The US treats its people worse than its prisoners. And I bet some idiots out there think it means they should start treating their prisoners worse.
I get your point, but the US prison system is also really horrible. Healthcare is terrible and prisoners have a very high chance of dying from lack of proper treatment. Every year in prison lowers your life expectancy by two years (source).
Yep, and that applies even without any existing health concerns going in. Better hope you don’t develop any while living under those conditions.
I’m T1 diabetic, and have an unfortunately reasonable expectation that even a week spent in jail back in the US could very easily turn into a death sentence. It does happen with depressing regularity. That’s just looking at one very straightforward (and easily treatable) chronic condition, and a couple of fairly recent examples which have gotten more publicity than most such cases ever will. It’s a mess.
Tbf that happens out of jail, too.
Unfortunately that is not even close to true. I get what you mean but prisons are . . . not great. People regularly die of neglect in jails. Prisons are slightly better than that, but it costs 50x more.
People regularly die of neglect out in the streets, where everyone can see them, as well.
Yes but “the streets” don’t have a legally mandated staff whose job it is to check on people.
again?
(2011)
… oh. um, ok
Still relevant 14 years later, just like the hit show at the time where a high school chemistry teacher cooks and sells meth to pay for his cancer treatments.
Did anyone go “Wtf is wrong with the system” when that show came out? Because I don’t remember that happening. Of course I’m from Europe lol
