WHERE TO HOUSE MURDEROUS MINOR

By Bob Walsh

The Idaho Dept. of Corrections has a problem. Its name is Eldon Samuel III. Samuel is now 16. When he was 14 he murdered his junkie father and then hacked his autistic younger brother to death with a machete. He was just sentenced to 20 years. And Idaho has no place to put him.

Under federal law you cannot lock up a juvenile within sight or hearing of adult prisoners. If they lock him up in Idaho he would have to do his first two years in segregation. That presents problems of its own. Idaho has no other incarcerated juveniles and only one on active non-custodial supervision. Another juvenile is serving what Idaho law calls a blended sentence and will be transferred from juvenile custody to adult custody on his 18th birthday.

Nationwide less than one tenth of one percent of the prison inmates are juveniles.

Idaho is looking at farming him out to a state that can house him securely in a juvenile setting until his 18th birthday. In the meantime he is being held in “solitary confinement” in a 9 X 12 foot cell at the Kootenai County Jail where he will undergo processing prior to being shipped off. I am confident his next housing assignment will have far less room and will be somewhat less hospitable.

EDITOR’S NOTE: 20 years for hacking his younger autistic brother to death? Shit, in my book that’s a lifer. I say ship the bastard to Arizona where I’m sure they’ll have prison facilities that meet the requirements of those nosy feds.