I recently received the email below...

I recently received the email below...  The inmate James Powell is the despicable “money manager” who stole my mother-in-law's retirement savings about 10 years ago.  He also stole the savings of several dozen other people, mostly older widows, at the same time.  After a few years chasing him down, prosecuting, and convicting him, he was finally sent to jail for far too short a sentence.  They managed to recover about 12 cents on the dollar, which was too little and regrettably too late to help Kate in any significant way.  Her last few years on this earth should have been much more comfortable than they actually were, thanks to this utter waste of oxygen.

Anyway, this email informed us of Powell's imminent transfer to a halfway house in preparation for his release next year.  The email is a typically inscrutable government communication, but is at least useful.  What really irritates me about this is that real criminals who hurt people badly get such short sentences compared with so many non-violent drug-related convictions where only the “criminal” gets hurt.  There's something badly wrong with a system of justice that perpetrates and does not fix such obvious injustices.

The email (with some redactions):

XXXX XXXXXX

RE: JAMES POWELL 
       Register Number: 68450-061 
       Docket Number: 10-CR-00075 

Dear XXXX XXXXXX: 

You have requested to receive notifications regarding JAMES POWELL, an inmate incarcerated at this facility. Notifications concerning this inmate will be provided to you through the Victim Notification System (VNS). You may obtain current information about this matter on the Internet at https://www.notify.usdoj.gov or from the VNS Call Center at 1-866-DOJ-4YOU (1-866-365-4968) (TDD/TTY: 1-866-228-4619) (International: 1-502-213-2767). In addition, you may use the Call Center or Internet to update your contact information and/or change your decision about participation in the notification program. 

You will need the following Victim Identification Number (VIN) '2744077' and Personal Identification Number (PIN) 'XXXX' anytime you contact the Call Center and the first time you log on to VNS on the Internet. If you are receiving notifications with multiple victim ID/PIN codes please contact the VNS Call Center. In addition, the first time you access the VNS Internet site you will be prompted to enter your last name (or business name) as currently contained in VNS. The name you should enter is Lorenz. 

This notice is to inform you that JAMES POWELL has been approved for placement in a Community Corrections Center (CCC), otherwise known as a halfway house, and will transfer from this institution on April 17, 2019. After the transfer, the inmate will be located at Talbert House for Men in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

In addition to the information provided regarding this offender's CCC transfer, the following information is relevant to the inmate's eventual release. The inmate is scheduled to release on October 15, 2019. The inmate is not eligible for parole. Upon release, the inmate will reside in CINCINNATI, Ohio, and will be supervised by the United States Probation Office at USPO - Southern District of Ohio - Cincinnati, 110 Potter Stewart, United States Courthouse, 100 East Fifth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. 

You may cancel this notification at any time by calling the VNS toll-free number provided, or by submitting your cancellation request in writing to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Also, if BOP staff initiate a notification and are unsuccessful in contacting you due to inaccurate contact information, your participation in the notification program may be canceled; therefore, it is essential that you continue to ensure your contact information in the VNS remains up-to-date. Finally, notification will terminate when the inmate has completed service of the sentence for the crime which resulted in the notification.

If at any time you have any questions or concerns regarding this program or the offender's status, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above address or you may telephone the VNS Call Center. Sincerely, H. Miller Unit Manager