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I agree with that.

apropros of nothing - I watched a Frontline episode last night on the effects of solitary confinement in our prisons. It was eye-opening.

<apropros of nothing - I watched a Frontline episode last night on the effects of solitary confinement in our prisons. It was eye-opening.>

I watched the same program as well. Eye-opening indeed.

I am hoping there will be an autopsy and perhaps reveal a brain tumor.

I too watched the episode. Eye opening and gut wrenching.

I also watched that. I am glad that the affects of isolation are being looked at. I think it was clear also that some people just can't be with other people, but as shown, that is a VERY small number. It really was a great program and was extremely informative.

There were some very interesting cases studied.

My assessment of Hernandez is that he was a small minded criminal who happened to have a talent for going across the middle of a zone defense and catching a football.

I agree crefloors with all of what you said. It was like getting a peak behind the curtain. I always knew prisons used solitary confinement pretty extensively but I never really knew what it was really like. Brutal.

We have a saying about the Buffalo neighborhood I grew up in:

"You can take the girl (or guy) out of the west side, but you can't take the west side out of the girl (or guy)." Meaning, it's in your blood.

He was purportedly a gang member before going off to Florida and on to his football career. So I would say that "You can take the guy out of the gang, but you can't take the gang out of the guy."

Well, that's my take on it.

I also watched the Frontline program last nite. I am so glad that the severe consequences of solitary confinement are being examined and that changes are being made.

The Aaron Hernandez story is a sad one for all involved.

I share your confusion over how someone with the world at his feet, who reaches the pinnacle of professional sports success, who signs a multi year multi million dollar contract to play football throws it all away.>>

Sports bodies in the UK are increasingly looking at mental health issues for players and how they can help them. Though I know next to nothing about this case, it sounds very much as if he had long-standing problems, which were perhaps exacerbated by the fame and fortune that he was being offered.

whatever his crime, solitary confinement is bound to make anyone's mental state worse, and it should absolutely not be used as a punishment.

I'll agree with what newtome said. And add, at the risk of making a lot of Gator fans unhappy with me, that UF was never going to be the place that got him back on track.

Am I sorry for his family? Sure. And I'm sorry for the families of the people he killed. Nothing but loss here.

>>> solitary confinement is bound to make anyone's mental state worse

And in Miami, we are putting up a statue commerating Jose Fernandez, a young baseball talent, who is responsible for the deaths of 2 other men and himself because he was piloting a speeding boat at 3AM, crashing into a jetty, with alcohol and cocaine in his system.

What are we doing, elevating these athletes to hero status and then expecting exemplary behavior?

Why did he have to put us all through the trouble and expense of the 2nd trial before killing himself?

Gail - you ask interesting questions. I still believe that people are born "good" not evil. But I mostly WANT and NEED to believe it.

I don't happen to believe that people are necessarily born good. My brother is an example of it to me, unbearable and was from an early age. Highly intelligent and vile when there are no witnesses. Which tells me he has a choice and chooses vile.

>>>o do you believe people are born or made good or evil? Can murderers become decent people? Are some people just wired wrong, fully responsible or some combination.

"Damaged can be fixed if they are willing to change."

Genetic make-up and faulty brain chemistry, I believe, is as much responsible as "damage". I don't believe medicine has answers, just experiments, in these cases. In the case of my brother, even though the effects in his life are clear, it seems he believes everyone else is the problem and it's his job to simply impose his will. I suspect there's little hope for those, like him, who are lemons, not broken.

He was acquitted in the second trial ira. I hope you were making some kind of sarcastic statement ira because it's really nasty, at least in MHO. Some will disagree and I can live with that.

I don't believe every criminal, or every person who commits a crime, is inherently evil.

However, I do believe that inherently evil people do exist.

And sociopaths and psychopaths exist.

The reasons people do evil things are infinite, and there are no easy answers to any of it.