You gotta feel sorry for this guy: a Georgia prisoner, set to be released on parole in 2009, has been banished from all but one county in the entire state. Gregory Mac Terry has spent the last twelve years behind bars after a conviction for threatening his estranged wife. The trial judge ordered that Terry not enter all but one Georgia county after his release. The Georgia Constitution prohibits both banishment from the entire state and whipping as punishments for crimes, but judges have come up with an end-around: prohibit a convict, like here, from entering all but one county.
Compounding Mr. Terry's problem here is that the's been ordered to enter a work release program after he gets out on parole. The problem is, the one county he can lawfully enter doesn't have that program. Moreover, Terry can't even get to the county he's allowed to be in without violating the judge's order because he'd have to go through a number of places from which he has been banned.
This is one of those cases that makes you scratch your head and wonder what the judge was thinking, if for no other reason than the judge's order can't logically be followed. But, things like banishment are becoming popular among law and order judges who are looking for creative ways to punish offenders. Fines and jail time can only go so far, so some of these judges are looking for ways to truly shame and embarass offenders. For example, consider the guy who got caught stealing mail and had to wear a sign that read "I stole mail. This is my punishment." That's a bucket of pure awesome if you ask me. Now we just need to bring back the stocks.
All this brings me to my question of the day. Pick an offense and pretend you're the judge. What punishment are you going to hand out? Have fun with it.
