Dirty Money Or Chump Change?
Prison is a desolate place to tread life or mark time waiting on death but it is home to thousands of Texans. The Texas prison system has a history as wriggly as a King Cobra hunting supper. Bone chill fear can't be grasped unless peering out from the inside.
Three prison squares a day is not what it's cracked up to be. It doesn't compare to a cruise ship smorgasbord that is replete with identifiable succulent delicacies like Sevruga Caviar, Chateaubriand, or Honey Crème Anglaise.
Food loaf is a prison creation which is repulsive to sight, smell, and taste. The loaf includes whatever is in, around, or near the kitchen. Few inmates have the stomach to ask what's in it and instinct alerts that the mass is not a Roman Holiday. The mystery glob is formed into loaves then baked. As bad as it is though, food loaf is a far cry better than VitaPro.
Prison existence isn't easy street. It is basic survival twenty-four sevens where food is the only tonic for many ills. Isn't it a given that a hungry person is an angry person and anger breeds violence?
James Anthum Collins was the Executive Director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for many years. He worked his way up through the ranks. His eventual requested resignation resulted in his involuntarily, voluntary departure.
Accusations had arisen that Collins and a dude by the name of Yank Barry, a Canadian who had a not-so-legitimate history, became too chummy. Collins circumvented State agency purchasing law via quasi-legal manipulation and contracted for TDCJ to purchase seventeen to thirty-nine metric tons of VitaPro per month at an estimated cost exceeding forty million dollars. Further, by using the endorsement of TDCJ, VitaPro was marketed to incarceration facilities in California, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Collins also authorized Barry to roam prison units and have his own TDCJ identification card to flash at inquiring minds. Rumors soon surfaced that for a stout fee Barry and his associate had arranged for the escape of an inmate. The rumbling snagged the attention of the notorious Texas Rangers.
In January 1998 Collins was indicted for bribery, theft, money laundering, and conspiracy. He was looking at a potential fifty years confinement which is pretty much life when your starting age is mid-life.
The cornerstone for the prosecution was VitaPro former associate Patrick Graham. Three years earlier Graham's attorney daughter had incorporated Collins' consulting business, Certified Technology Consultants (CTC). Soon afterward Barry began depositing funds into the corporate bank account which Collins then withdrew. It turned out to be a snafu for Collins when his own records proved he was still employed by TDCJ at the time he received the funds which some folks perceived to have been kickbacks.
As Collins withdrew the CTC funds, his personal financial accounts ballooned. At trial his explanation why his personal accounts enjoyed unprecedented growth was that he had always been a "voracious change saver." If so, Collins' timing for depositing his pennies, nickels, and dimes into his bank account was really, really bad.
After years of investigation and delay, a trial finally happened and Collins was convicted by a jury in August 2001. While the government still celebrated victory after the lengthy process to bring forth justice, Federal Judge Lynn Hughes cried foul.
The number one trouble with a government turncoat is simple. They all have an odor. Graham, a con artist of sorts, had been involved in multiple shady business dealings and when the IRS was about to permanently slam shut his prison door, he fed the G-men "intelligence" which enabled them to secure multiple convictions, including Collins and others. Graham was so in demand he was the government's fair haired star witness in both Texas and Louisiana. And, it seems the prosecutors had not been forthcoming about just how sweet Graham's deal was.
Judge Hughes didn't seem taken by Graham's credibility nor the prosecution coyness. To make matters worse, the court reporter failed to provide a complete transcript of the trial. Four years after the jury found Collins guilty, Judge Hughes set aside the verdict and decreed Collins not guilty.
The prosecution stopped celebrating long enough to appeal Judge Hughes' ruling. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the acquittal, and Collins gets a new trial instead. A pre-trial hearing is set for October 22nd. Stay tuned.
The prison stopped serving VitaPro because, among other things, it caused intestinal problems. Wonder whatever became of the warehouses filled with VitaPro. Your taxpayer dollars at work.
© Coninc., TheDownsideUp.Com 2007
Three prison squares a day is not what it's cracked up to be. It doesn't compare to a cruise ship smorgasbord that is replete with identifiable succulent delicacies like Sevruga Caviar, Chateaubriand, or Honey Crème Anglaise.
Food loaf is a prison creation which is repulsive to sight, smell, and taste. The loaf includes whatever is in, around, or near the kitchen. Few inmates have the stomach to ask what's in it and instinct alerts that the mass is not a Roman Holiday. The mystery glob is formed into loaves then baked. As bad as it is though, food loaf is a far cry better than VitaPro.
Prison existence isn't easy street. It is basic survival twenty-four sevens where food is the only tonic for many ills. Isn't it a given that a hungry person is an angry person and anger breeds violence?
James Anthum Collins was the Executive Director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for many years. He worked his way up through the ranks. His eventual requested resignation resulted in his involuntarily, voluntary departure.
Accusations had arisen that Collins and a dude by the name of Yank Barry, a Canadian who had a not-so-legitimate history, became too chummy. Collins circumvented State agency purchasing law via quasi-legal manipulation and contracted for TDCJ to purchase seventeen to thirty-nine metric tons of VitaPro per month at an estimated cost exceeding forty million dollars. Further, by using the endorsement of TDCJ, VitaPro was marketed to incarceration facilities in California, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Collins also authorized Barry to roam prison units and have his own TDCJ identification card to flash at inquiring minds. Rumors soon surfaced that for a stout fee Barry and his associate had arranged for the escape of an inmate. The rumbling snagged the attention of the notorious Texas Rangers.
In January 1998 Collins was indicted for bribery, theft, money laundering, and conspiracy. He was looking at a potential fifty years confinement which is pretty much life when your starting age is mid-life.
The cornerstone for the prosecution was VitaPro former associate Patrick Graham. Three years earlier Graham's attorney daughter had incorporated Collins' consulting business, Certified Technology Consultants (CTC). Soon afterward Barry began depositing funds into the corporate bank account which Collins then withdrew. It turned out to be a snafu for Collins when his own records proved he was still employed by TDCJ at the time he received the funds which some folks perceived to have been kickbacks.
As Collins withdrew the CTC funds, his personal financial accounts ballooned. At trial his explanation why his personal accounts enjoyed unprecedented growth was that he had always been a "voracious change saver." If so, Collins' timing for depositing his pennies, nickels, and dimes into his bank account was really, really bad.
After years of investigation and delay, a trial finally happened and Collins was convicted by a jury in August 2001. While the government still celebrated victory after the lengthy process to bring forth justice, Federal Judge Lynn Hughes cried foul.
The number one trouble with a government turncoat is simple. They all have an odor. Graham, a con artist of sorts, had been involved in multiple shady business dealings and when the IRS was about to permanently slam shut his prison door, he fed the G-men "intelligence" which enabled them to secure multiple convictions, including Collins and others. Graham was so in demand he was the government's fair haired star witness in both Texas and Louisiana. And, it seems the prosecutors had not been forthcoming about just how sweet Graham's deal was.
Judge Hughes didn't seem taken by Graham's credibility nor the prosecution coyness. To make matters worse, the court reporter failed to provide a complete transcript of the trial. Four years after the jury found Collins guilty, Judge Hughes set aside the verdict and decreed Collins not guilty.
The prosecution stopped celebrating long enough to appeal Judge Hughes' ruling. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the acquittal, and Collins gets a new trial instead. A pre-trial hearing is set for October 22nd. Stay tuned.
The prison stopped serving VitaPro because, among other things, it caused intestinal problems. Wonder whatever became of the warehouses filled with VitaPro. Your taxpayer dollars at work.
© Coninc., TheDownsideUp.Com 2007
Labels: EglPress
posted by KKHC | 12:36 PM
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