Eighty-Eight Months
Statement read at the beginning of an April 18th fundraiser in Portland,
OR
Originally, this fundraiser was going to be a celebration of Rob’s release, something he thought was going to happen by the end of this month. It is thanks to a law voted in in 1996 that Rob has served this long. That measure called for anyone convicted of any crime in Oregon to serve the full sentence meted out to him or her—no time off for good behavior, no early release, nada. Hey, we all wanna be tough on crime, right? Especially people who depend on public opinion for their jobs, like the legislature.
Last year, a measure went through making it possible for a prisoner to file for a reduction of their sentence in cases of excessive penalties set by the presiding judge.
But then the Oregon ledge put what folks in Texas call a kicker on the order, namely that the only folks who would qualify for this new ability to petition would be those with convictions beginning in Y2K.
Rob was convicted in October of 1999.
Eighty-Eight Months
Eighty-eight months for tossing a rock at a cop
Eighty-eight months
taking a whack to the head
with a hard rubber truncheon for connecting that rock
Eighty-eight months
getting smashed facedown
into the teargas-stained asphalt
getting his nose broken
in a ‘standard’ police restraining procedure
Getting his shoulder dislocated
Having two cops sit on his 148 lb. back
Getting no medical attention for two days
Eighty-eight months away from his daughter.
Eighty-eight months
of prison gangs and prison food
bad sleeping bunks and slave labor
Eighty. Eight. Months.
In eighty-eight months you can
Conceive and give life, start the child to school, get them to the 2nd
grade
Become vested in a corporate hell job
Run for president—twice.
Play lotto 154 times
Watch tv for 16,060 hours (Hon, did you set the Tivo!)
Eat 8025 meals
Pee at least that many times
Hug 8760 times
Fuck 1140 times (give or take)
Sleep 21,120 hours.
What have you done since June 18, 1999?
What will you do between now and June 27, 2006?
While you do it
Think of Rob
With seventy-four months served
And fourteen more to go.
