# What happens after a long prison sentence (fast answers not necessary) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300 "2010-09-28T01:42:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300/21 "2010-09-28T13:15:43Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > They become telemarketers and third party collection agents, seriously they do. > > Those are some of the very few places that will employ ex-cons. I am in a program that helps ex-felons find work (I am not an ex-felon and have never been in trouble with the law…but that’s another story how I got in :)) > > And every single lead they find for you and help you with involves cold calling, outbound telemarketing or working for a third party collector (that is someone who buys debts) > > There are tax incentives for hiring ex-felons but they have to be qualified so self-study would be important. > > A lot of the simply become recidivists because after 10 years or more people tend to become institutionalized, whether it’s prison or the military or school or whatever. After 10 years at a particular activity most people have trouble adjusting They also get placed at Kinko’s and Boston Market quite a bit from what I’ve observed; but perhaps that is just a local office thing. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300/22 "2010-09-28T13:52:06Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > This may be a urban legend, but if I was informed correctly, there was a case in Spain back when “life” became “20 years”, of a man who was released in his late 60s, having been in prison since his 20s. A month later he was at the door of the prison asking them to take him in: he had no family, his friends were inside… they hired him as a gardener (which was the job he’d been doing for 40 years). > [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Well, [this guy](http://www.ftpress.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1581427) robbed a bank, gave the money ($80) back to the teller, waited for the cops, and then asked the judge for a three year sentence to cover him until he was eligible to receive social security. Judge complied. If you haven’t already, this is a must-read O. Henry short story: [The Cop and the Anthem](http://www.classicreader.com/book/1757/1/) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300/23 "2010-09-28T15:43:48Z")
I believe it is not usually the case that he would serve the whole sixty years. Assuming ten years per conviction, unless the judge specified that the sentences run consecutively, in some states at least you are eligible for parole after two thirds of your sentence. If his sentences run concurrently, that would be less than seven years. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300/24 "2010-09-28T16:26:40Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > > [@PSXer](#): > > > > Brooks was here > > That’s exactly what I thought. [I was thinking of something different.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092105/) ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300/25 "2010-09-28T18:14:39Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Good point. My apologies to **Susanann**. Apology accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300/26 "2010-09-28T18:16:06Z")
The longest sentence I personally saw where somebody was released was just over thirty years. But that’s a rare exception. The reality is that once you get past twenty or twenty-five years, you’re going to die in prison. Prison ages you fast. I’ve seen prisoners in their forties who looked like sixty year olds and sixty year olds who looked like they were ninety. Based on street statistics, a twenty-five year old sent to prison for sixty years would have a good chance of being released. But realistically, he’ll be dead before he’s seventy. ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300/27 "2010-09-28T22:12:22Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I believe it is not usually the case that he would serve the whole sixty years. Assuming ten years per conviction, unless the judge specified that the sentences run consecutively, in some states at least you are eligible for parole after two thirds of your sentence. If his sentences run concurrently, that would be less than seven years. > > Regards, > Shodan I just found a website to get public information about inmates. I looked him up and found that he will be eligible for his first parole hearing in 2029, and that his maximum release date is in 2059 - so he is definitely serving these consecutively. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300/28 "2010-09-28T22:38:47Z")
When you say he recieved “10 years for each count,” do you mean he received six 10 year sentences, or one or more 60 year sentences? A parole eligibility date of 2029 sounds more like the latter. If he was serving six consecutive 10 year sentences he’d have to serve 50 years flat before he was eligible for parole, but one or more 60 year concurrent sentences on an aggravated sexual assault of a child case would mean parole eligibilty after 30 years - with an aggravated offense you have to serve either half of your sentence or 30 years to be parole eligible, whichever is less. ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300/29 "2010-09-28T23:03:43Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > When you say he recieved “10 years for each count,” do you mean he received six 10 year sentences, or one or more 60 year sentences? A parole eligibility date of 2029 sounds more like the latter. If he was serving six consecutive 10 year sentences he’d have to serve 50 years flat before he was eligible for parole, but one or more 60 year concurrent sentences on an aggravated sexual assault of a child case would mean parole eligibilty after 30 years - with an aggravated offense you have to serve either half of your sentence or 30 years to be parole eligible, whichever is less. Yeah - my initial statement about 10 years for each count was heresay from when we were talking about him. Now that I’ve actually looked up his records I can see that it’s actually 3 seperate incidents. The first is the most severe where he committed 3 offenses, 2 of those offenses have 60 year sentences, one has a 20 year sentence. The other 2 incidents each have only one offense and he received 20 years for each of those. So Shodan was right, he is clearly serving all of these sentences at the same time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-a-long-prison-sentence-fast-answers-not-necessary/555300.md?page=1)