Three Sheboygan County men have been charged with felony marijuana possession after being busted while camping in a state wildlife refuge this summer, according to a criminal complaint.Charges were filed Friday against Patrick J. Wymbs, Brian L. Paarmann and David H. Paarmann based on marijuana discovered Aug. 28 by a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources warden, the complaint said. All three have prior marijuana convictions, making the possession offense a felony with a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison.
The Paarmanns — who also had pipes — were charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, and all three men were cited for camping in an unauthorized area. Brian Paarmann was cited for starting a fire in an unauthorized area.
These guys didn’t do the smartest thing, possessing pot and pipes while camping and burning illegally. Steinborn’s Rule says only break one law at a time. Now they will be considered felons and possibly do a year and a half of hard time just because they were unlucky or dumb enough to get caught with pot more than once.
So, what egregious offense did these three men commit that is so deserving of the Wisconsin tax payer dollars it will cost to keep them incarcerated for eighteen months, not to mention the court and prosecutorial and perhaps public defender time?
Five men were at the site, and three had marijuana in their pockets. Wymbs, 29, had 4.3 grams; Brian Paarmann, 43, had 9.6 grams; and David Paarmann, 38, had 0.5 grams.
A half ounce of weed between three guys, worth anywhere from $25 to $200, depending on quality, is going to cost Wisconsin how much? Oh, Google, won’t you pull me up a handy criminal justice public policy paper from a prestigious Wisconsin university to make my point?
The average cost to the state of incarcerating an inmate for one year in a state facility in fiscal year 2002 was approximately $25,985.
Three guys, eighteen months, that’s $116,932.50, isn’t it? Then let’s consider the eighteen months these men won’t be contributing anything in payroll or sales taxes to Wisconsin. Perhaps their wives and kids have to get state assistance from Wisconsin when these mens’ income are interrupted. Maybe these mens’ Wisconsin employers also have to recruit, hire, and train people to replace them.
But at least for Wisconsin’s six figure investment, it will be slightly more difficult, but not impossible, for them to get some marijuana to smoke in prison. And then when they get out and can’t get decent work because they’re felons, maybe they can earn a little money dealing weed…
it’s really unreal that a person should have to explain the pros and cons of cost to house a few simple pot smokers. i truly believe every person either on a jury or for that matter even the sentencing judge well knows the cost of punishment by prison is terribly outrageous compared to optional punishments for law breaking, but as long as the long arm of the law is not upsetting my lawn for grazing i don’t care what it cost or who goes to jail for it … oh, just please don’t let it be me. baaaaa
Good points Russ…that $25 to $200 worth of weed will cost Wisconsin $200,000 – why, there is no good reason…prohibition is bankrupting us all.