Folks on my Twitter feed were pretty excited yesterday about Bernie Madoff getting sentenced to 150 years in jail.
I wasn’t one of them.
Jail means Madoff gets to always know where his next meal is coming from. His cable bills and continuing education are paid for until he dies. So, for that matter, are his mortgage, heat and light bills. All he has to worry about are that he may not like the food and he may not care for the company.
This does not suit me.
I think Madoff ought to be sentenced to wearing a Lojack ankle bracelet. He should then be given a job as a janitor in a nursing home, hospital or elementary school. And he should be sentenced to live solely on the pay from that job–and any part time work he wants to get as a greeter at Walmart or a stockboy at Kroger.
In short, he ought to face what other aging Americans whose investments were robbed from them are facing.
He should have to constantly figure out where the next rent payment is coming from. Whether to spend his leftover income on the light bill or some Spam to go with his 25cent mac and cheese.
That would be a fitting way for him to serve the community he helped destroy with his cunning, greed and guile.
Just Another Pretty Farce 
[…] News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptFolks on my Twitter feed were pretty excited yesterday about Bernie Madoff getting sentenced to 150 years in jail. I wasn’t one of them. Jail means Madoff gets to always know where his next meal is coming from. His cable bills and continuing education are paid for until he dies. So, for that matter, are his mortgage, heat and light bills. All he has to worry about are that he may not like the food and he may not care for the company. This does not suit me. I think Madoff ought to be […]
Good point. There are days that I’d like to trade places with a guy in his position.
I had a similar thought after hearing NPR’s report on his sentencing: “Yep, now the taxpayers get to pay for his living expenses. That doesn’t seem fair.”
Kat, your solution seems to be more like a natural consequence of his crimes. I like your idea. I bet his victims would too.
I have a good friend who spent about 10 months in a Federal minimum-security prison (probably similar to where Madoff will spend the rest of his life). He would have preferred your alternative, Kat. Yeah, he didn’t have to worry about not getting a meal, but he worked in the kitchen, so he didn’t eat any more than he had to for survival. Even the cushiest prisons are not cushy.
Granted, I like your proposed sentence; I think it makes more sense. But don’t think that Bernie Madoff is getting off easy. Not to mention that my friend was required to pay for his own incarceration. Madoff may have to do the same thing. Sure, it would probably be with ill-gotten gains, but at least it keeps the taxpayers off the hook.