I know that I've been coming off as a further to the right, tough on crime kinda guy when it comes to criminal justice recently. Now, it's time to remind everyone that I'm not a "tough on crime" guy. I'm a "right on crime" guy.
This is absurd.
If Mr. Russell was, in fact, guilty of the burglary, of course he deserved his time in prison. That said, Mississippi classifying burglary as a violent crime whether or not any violence actually happened is weird -- there's a reason why the word "robbery" exists.
Mr. Russell's other two felonies shouldn't even be laws; but, it looks like he's gonna spend the rest of his life in prison for mere possession.
This is also the bullshit of mandatory minimums. I've met people who got railroaded by mandatory minimum sentences to the point that the judge apologized to them when issuing the sentences.
This needed to stop a long time ago.