I got Ninety-nine Problems But a B<<<< Ain't One

Elizabeth Escalda, aged 23 was sentenced to ninety-nine years for child abuse. She beat her toddler, and glued the girls hands to the wall. Apparently this woman was previously investigated by Texas child protective services. This 23 year old woman had five children. All of whom have been placed with their maternal grandmother.

Before I say what I am about to say on this matter, I want to be poignantly clear that Escalda is an evil human being who does not deserve to be a mother, let alone be allowed to even keep her ovaries. The District Attorney offered her forty-five years, an offer she turned down only to get ninety nine years.



I do have some problems with the sentencing. First, a life sentence means that a human being is beyond redemption. It means that they can never be reformed, they can never change, they can never be functioning members of society. Life sentences mean - we give up.

Escalda was pregnant at the time of this incident. She most likely gave birth in prison then handed the baby over to her mother. I would have given her a twenty year sentence. What she did was very bad, it was evil. But sentences are suppose to do a few things, protect, punish, and prevent. The children are protected by a twenty year sentence. The woman is prevented from abusing her children by a twenty year sentence. Therefore, the ninety nine year sentence is all about punishment. It may also be about sending a message to society that if you abuse children, you can go to prison for a very long time. Personally, I do not think these kinds of deterrents work. Most child abusers get away with it. The sentence was entirely about punishment and I am not okay with that.

There are people who took the life of another human being, and spent less time in prison than this woman. She got the same sentence as any murderer on the street. What she did was VERY cruel, but it was not murder.

I think that the sentence should be appealed and commuted to a solid twenty years. By the time she gets out, menopause will set in and she will not be able to procreate anymore. We should also think about how her children will feel about a life sentence.

This woman will probably be shuttled off to one of those privately owned Texas prisons. According to NASDAQ, the shareholders are still making fairly good money off of sentences like this.