Angel Rodriguez -- #99685-024

20 Years -- Drug Conspiracy

One of the fundamental constitutional rights one expects when one is accused of a crime is that one is allowed to confront his or her accuser. The constitution has taken a back seat when it comes to confronting the hysteria created by political gluttons who give no thought to the greater good of society when it comes to their political life. When I was convicted, me nor my attorney were allowed to cross examine the witnesses against me. Since my incarceration I have met many that have suffered clear violations of their constitutional rights -- all in the name of the so-called "War on Drugs."

I have never been convicted of a violent crime. I am a first-time non-violent offender convicted of a cocaine offense. I, like the majority of others who share my situation, rotting in the gulags of the American prison system and do not fit the marketed profile of the dangerous violent bogeymen that so many of our politicians force-feed the public.

I am serving a 20 year sentence without the possibility of parole which means the 54 days a year given for good-time, I will serve more than seventeen years before I am released. I am the father of three young children; in all probability when I am released my children will have children and I will be a grandfather. No rational person can call this justice. If the constitution can not protect the "one" it can not protect the "many."