| It's official! Praetorian Securities
Petomane Prison is the tops, in a new survey carried out by The Inquirer.
The people of North Dakota have voted overwhelmingly in favor of their
one-time controversial privatized penal colony. It's hard to believe
that only a year ago the prison was rarely out of the headlines, with its
controversial treatment of the female inmate population. But with
falling serious crime, and the very visible effects of low-cost community
service, the people have hailed Petomane as a blessing. Yet only
a year ago Praetorian suffered a serious setback in the publicity war over
their use of the female inmates as cheap maids and housekeepers.
Ever keen to turn a problem into an opportunity, they quickly set about
putting squads of women on litter duty and on roadside weeding patrols.
Members of the public soon got used to seeing the Praetorian chain gangs
arriving each morning for a day's work, and began to enjoy their well kept
townships. The popularity of the scheme must have helped the passage
of the "Three Strikes" bill last Autumn This new law is part of the
State's zero tolerance initiative. Any citizen convicted of three
offenses in a two-year period is automatically liable for a mandatory twelve
month sentence. For a personal account of how this new law works,
read Kate Steinman's story below.
|
Shackled, but smiling, Robin Macgiver on her way to community service |
"Kate Steinman entering Petomane Prison" |
Kate Steinman came to Bruge
Hill, N Dakota, in 1996 to run her own interior design business. She never
expected to find herself at the start of 1998 facing a twelve month prison
term in Petomane Penitentiary. This is her story. "I came to Bruge Hill
to slow down and run my own business. My friends said that I was crazy
to leave Boston behind, but this town has a scale and pace that just suits
me perfectly. Like everyone else who's moved from a city, I guess I brought
the city pace with me, and within a week I had run up a speeding ticket,
followed by a parking fine three weeks later! I adjusted fine though, and
things started to go really well. The business was building up nicely and
I felt that I'd earned myself a little recreation time. I threw a small
party in the office for my new friends and clients, Christmas last, and
thought nothing of it when I was pulled over by the Highway Patrol afterwards.
I'd got a bad tail light and I'd run about ten miles and hour over the
limit, but I figured that being Christmas it wouldn't be a big deal. The
cops were really nice and offered me the chance to go to court, or sign
an acceptance of responsibility there and then for an on-the-spot fine
of $80. I signed and paid up and went home. Two days later I was arrested
and taken directly to the County courthouse. The judge explained that my
name had been thrown up by the police records computer as a Three Strikes
candidate. He was very apologetic, but explained that there was no alternative
to the mandatory sentence. Within two hours of answering my front door,
I was entering Petomane to begin a twelve-month sentence."
(Kate's story continues in the next edition of the Inquirer). |
