# Life Without Parole Plus 1,000 Years **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596 "2013-07-26T15:50:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/1 "2013-07-26T15:50:05Z")
Ariel Castro, the man from Cleveland who kidnapped three girls and held them captive in his home has agreed to plead guilty. [His sentence](http://abcnews.go.com/US/ariel-castro-sentenced-thousand-years/story?id=19781739): > [@](#): > > “I knew I was pretty much going to get the book thrown at me,” Castro, 52, told the court. > > Judge Michael Russo gave him a sentence that is not in the book, giving him life “plus not less than 1,000 years consecutively to follow life without parole.” I’m a little confused here. Why the need for both parts of the sentence? I can see life without parole. I can even see 1,000 years (or any sufficiently large number that guarantees that he will spend the rest of his life in prison). But what is the point of sentencing him to both? Thanks, Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/2 "2013-07-26T15:53:21Z")
The way I was always taught this was that giving more than one life sentence without parole or giving life without parole plus X years was to help keep them in jail in case one of the sentences is later overturned, reduced, or pardoned. Maybe Castro can find a flaw in one of the charges and get one of the life sentences overturned on appeal, but because he still has a few more life sentences, nothing really happens except he gets some paperwork saying sorry. If he was only given one sentence, a flaw in that one sentence could make him a free man. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/3 "2013-07-26T15:57:16Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > The way I was always taught this was that giving more than one life sentence without parole or giving life without parole plus X years was to help keep them in jail in case one of the sentences is later overturned, reduced, or pardoned. Maybe Castro can find a flaw in one of the charges and get one of the life sentences overturned on appeal, but because he still has a few more life sentences, nothing really happens except he gets some paperwork saying sorry. If he was only given one sentence, a flaw in that one sentence could make him a free man. Fair enough – and that makes sense in cases where the sentence is not the result of an agreement between the court, prosecution and defendant. However, in this case, couldn’t the plea deal be structured in such a way that he gives up any right to appeal? Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/4 "2013-07-26T15:58:32Z")
And how would sentencing him to 1000 years keep him in jail any longer than sentencing him to 100 years? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/5 "2013-07-26T16:02:05Z")
I think of it as “Sprinkles on the icing on the cake.” Sort of like after you charge someone with 45 counts of 1st degree murder for opening up with a converted AK-47 in a crowded church you tack on charges of Trespassing and “discharging a firearm within city limits” just to let them know you care. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/6 "2013-07-26T16:07:38Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And how would sentencing him to 1000 years keep him in jail any longer than sentencing him to 100 years? I don’t see any absolute bar on the increasing of human life expectancy over the next few decades through medical advances. It may be very unlikely that people live to be 170 100 years from now, but it isn’t impossible (to the best of my knowledge). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/7 "2013-07-26T16:16:02Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > I don’t see any absolute bar on the increasing of human life expectancy over the next few decades through medical advances. It may be very unlikely that people live to be 170 100 years from now, but it isn’t impossible (to the best of my knowledge). Should we also mandate that all prisoners be cremated immediately after death occurs just in case our first aid skills advance to the point that we can revive someone who has been dead for a few hours? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/8 "2013-07-26T16:31:27Z")
Well, life _plus_ 1000 years means they’re going to keep his corpse around an awful long time. Just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/9 "2013-07-26T16:32:51Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Should we also mandate that all prisoners be cremated immediately after death occurs just in case our first aid skills advance to the point that we can revive someone who has been dead for a few hours? Not to mention preventing a future admirer from cloning his DNA. > [@](#): > > “I knew I was pretty much going to get the book thrown at me,” Castro, 52, told the court. That’s not “the book”, that’s the entire Library of Congress. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/10 "2013-07-26T16:37:05Z")
I suspect that his remaining life will be nasty, brutish and short. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/11 "2013-07-26T16:50:38Z")
A thousand years _after_ death? What’s the life expectancy of a zombie, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/12 "2013-07-26T17:09:26Z")
I think part of the idea is that a prisoner has to serve a certain portion of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. The 1000 years is in case they change the sentence from LWOP to just a life sentence. A life sentence does not mean he will die in prison, necessarily, so they tack on the 1,000 years so he will not get parole even if they commute the LWOP sentence. Of course they can always reduce the sentence, which makes the whole exercise pointless, but that was true the minute “Life” no longer meant life. The DP is the only sentence that reaches a point where it can’t be changed (after execution). For some, that’s a bug; for others, it’s a feature. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/13 "2013-07-26T17:19:56Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > I suspect that his remaining life will be nasty, brutish and short. QFT ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/14 "2013-07-26T17:22:32Z")
Good job he didn’t try to fight it or they’d _really_ have come down on him. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/15 "2013-07-26T17:34:25Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I think of it as “Sprinkles on the icing on the cake.” Sort of like after you charge someone with 45 counts of 1st degree murder for opening up with a converted AK-47 in a crowded church you tack on charges of Trespassing and “discharging a firearm within city limits” just to let them know you care. A few weeks back the police were chasing a car that took off from a traffic stop. The vehicle portion of the chase ended in my parking lot where he (oddly, very nicely) parked his car and took off running. The cops caught up with him later that night but the one that stayed back while they searched the car and got the tow truck to haul it away was chit chatting with me for a while. At some point he said “I assume this person doesn’t have permission to park here”. I was a bit confused at first and said something like “I don’t really care where he parks” and he again said “I assume he doesn’t have permission to park here [wink wink]” and then I said “Oh, got it, no he’s not a customer, he was trespassing on my property and he abandoned his car on my parking lot, no he didn’t have permission to park here” to which the officer responded “Great, that gives us a few more things to hit him with on top of what he’s already got coming”. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/16 "2013-07-26T17:40:59Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > A few weeks back the police were chasing a car that took off from a traffic stop. The vehicle portion of the chase ended in my parking lot where he (oddly, very nicely) parked his car and took off running. The cops caught up with him later that night but the one that stayed back while they searched the car and got the tow truck to haul it away was chit chatting with me for a while. At some point he said “I assume this person doesn’t have permission to park here”. I was a bit confused at first and said something like “I don’t really care where he parks” and he again said “I assume he doesn’t have permission to park here [wink wink]” and then I said “Oh, got it, no he’s not a customer, he was trespassing on my property and he abandoned his car on my parking lot, no he didn’t have permission to park here” to which the officer responded “Great, that gives us a few more things to hit him with on top of what he’s already got coming”. I assume you had signs posted stating that unauthorized cars would be towed, and that you had previous history of having cars towed after such a short period of time? [wink wink] Please let us how that works out for you in court when his lawyer asks you for specifics. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/17 "2013-07-26T17:42:48Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Should we also mandate that all prisoners be cremated immediately after death occurs just in case our first aid skills advance to the point that we can revive someone who has been dead for a few hours? If some form of resurrection becomes possible and we still have the death penalty on the books, it will certainly need to be addressed. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/18 "2013-07-26T18:01:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I assume you had signs posted stating that unauthorized cars would be towed, and that you had previous history of having cars towed after such a short period of time? [wink wink] > Please let us how that works out for you in court when his lawyer asks you for specifics. The cop just asked if he had permission to park there, I said no. What happened after that wasn’t up to me. Also, if you look at the sequence of events, the car was already getting towed. Hell, the car was already connected to the tow truck when he asked me that question. I think he was just looking to add some extra charge to everything else. What it was, I’m not sure, if I were speculating, I’d say abandoning his car or trespassing on private property, but I don’t have his name so I don’t know. I’ll let you know if it causes any trouble for me, but it’s doubtful. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/19 "2013-07-26T18:28:34Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Well, life _plus_ 1000 years means they’re going to keep his corpse around an awful long time. When I was a kid, I actually believed that prisons had cemeteries for exactly this type of situation. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596/20 "2013-07-26T18:37:21Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > When I was a kid, I actually believed that prisons had cemeteries for exactly this type of situation. Well, if you want to go back a bit, there’s an example of a prisoner being kept after death. However, the prisioner was being held for ransom, not for a crime. > **[Meir of Rothenburg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meir_of_Rothenburg)** > > Meir of Rothenburg > (c. 1215 – 2 May 1293) was a German Rabbi and poet, as well as a major contributing author of the tosafot on Rashi's commentary on the Talmud. He is also known as Meir ben Baruch (Hebrew: מאיר ב"ר ברוך), and by the Hebrew language acronym Maharam of Rothenburg ("Our Teacher, Rabbi Meir", Hebrew: מהר"ם מרוטנבורג). He was referred to by Rabbi Menachem Meiri as the "greatest Jewish leader of Zarfat" (Medieval Hebrew for France, a reference to Charlemagne's rule of Germany) ali > [@](#): > > In 1286, King Rudolf I instituted a new persecution of the Jews, declaring them servi camerae (“serfs of the treasury”), which had the effect of negating their political freedoms. Along with many others, Meir left Germany with family and followers, but was captured in Lombardy and imprisoned in a fortress near Ensisheim in Alsace. Tradition has it that a large ransom of 23,000 marks silver was raised for him (by the Rosh), but Rabbi Meir refused it, for fear of encouraging the imprisonment of other rabbis. He died in prison after seven years. Fourteen years after his death a ransom was paid for his body by Alexander ben Salomon Wimpfen, who was subsequently laid to rest beside the Maharam. Zev Steinhardt [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-without-parole-plus-1-000-years/664596.md?page=2)