Mike on Crime Read Online Free

and associates had been caught several times trying to smuggle drugs to him during visits. However, since 2003 Johnson had showed “steady improvement” as his security status went from maximum to medium to low, where it currently stood.
    Johnson was raised in a home “plagued with violence and abuse,” the parole board wrote. He became a habitual runaway by the age of 10. He only completed grade six. He began using drugs by 11, drinking excessively by 12. He started selling drugs as a young teen to support his addiction, then found a “surrogate family” in the form of a street gang.
    The parole board rejected Johnson’s bid for full parole in January 2008, meaning he had to still report each night to a halfway house. They called a full release “premature at this point.” But they said he was on the right path, provided he avoided falling back into the same poor lifestyle choices that have seen him waste most of his life to date.
    Despite being given numerous breaks by the system and cracks at freedom, Fabian Torres kept finding a way to land back in prison. Yet a forgiving parole board had ensured his stints didn’t last long. Torres’s first break may have been when he was convicted of manslaughter instead of second-degree murder for his role in the killing of Beeper Spence. He was originally given a 12-month conditional sentence, increased to three-and-a-half years in prison on Crown appeal. Still, Torres dodged a bullet and was back on the streets after serving only one-third of that penalty.
    But he quickly went back to the gang and criminal lifestyle, culminating in an August 1998 home invasion. The victims were several adults and children. Torres and three co-accused, clad in masks, looted the home and stole the family’s van. They were nabbed after a brief chase with police. Torres’s parole was revoked, and he eventually received an additional 11 years in prison for the violent robbery.
    Just six years later, Torres was back out. He was given day parole, which eventually turned into full parole in the fall of 2005. At the time, parole officials said Torres had made great progress in dealing with his demons, which stemmed from an abusive childhood, drug addiction and poor peer choices. But success was short-lived once again. On December 9, 2006, police stopped a speeding car. Torres was behind the wheel, the smell of marijuana in the air. Torres was arrested, but his parole was allowed to continue with a condition that he live at a community residential facility until his condition “stabilized.” Torres was allowed to go home a few weeks later. But he failed to appear in court on the drug charges and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was nabbed by police on Valentine’s Day 2007 after being caught driving without a licence. The parole board gave him yet another chance. But Torres blew it when he failed to meet with his parole officer in early March 2007.
    Another warrant was issued and this time, parole was revoked. A drug test found Torres provided a false urine sample by using a device to store “clean” urine. He failed to say what drug he had been using. Torres spent two months in prison before the parole board decided to give him yet another chance in the summer of 2007. They said his breaches were serious but his risk “did not rise to an unmanageable level.” Torres was ordered to live at a halfway house and continue getting psychological counselling.
    â€œIt does not appear you have learned from your mistakes and you are indeed fortunate that you have not been revoked and returned to jail,” the parole board wrote. “Your impulsivity, poor decision-making and your inability to follow the conditions of your parole over the long term suggests you have a well-entrenched criminal mindset and values. Your behaviour suggests that you continue to require the structure, monitoring and controls of a halfway