Jennifer Reynolds/The Galveston County Every day Information by way of AP, Pool
In 2018, Felipe Manuel Nieves-Perez was caught on digicam bank card skimming at a gasoline station. After his arrest, he pled responsible, hoping for a lighter punishment.
Sadly, he was caught and prosecuted in Smith County, the county in East Texas that features town of Tyler. There authorities have established subsequent degree “robust on crime” insurance policies. As an alternative of lighter punishment, he was sentenced to life in jail.
Whereas bank card skimming at gasoline stations is an issue and a severe monetary crime, that punishment far exceeded what many violent offenders obtain and — virtually actually — what Nieves-Perez would have obtained in nearly every other jurisdiction.
It is also an instance of how ever extra intense “robust on crime” insurance policies some locations have helped contribute to overpopulation in Texas prisons and extra money spent by taxpayers on these prisoners because of this.
Mincho Jacob/Houston Public Media
Houston Chronicle investigative reporter Eric Dexheimer dug into the Nieves-Perez case and its implications. In an interview with Houston Issues, he tells host Craig Cohen extra concerning the case.
Then, Cohen talks with Harris County District Lawyer Sean Teare about how Harris County and different jurisdictions even have instances the place, in Teare’s view, the usual punishment for a felony conviction far exceeds the crime.
He discusses the necessity to separate the method to violent, harmful criminals from the method to low-level offenders and the steps his workplace takes to hunt that steadiness.
We additionally focus on the state of the Harris County Jail and efforts to handle long-standing overpopulation inside it.
