Discussion: 'Shawshank' Escapee Caught After 56 Years On The Run

TPM Article Topics
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Discussion for article #236855

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Sounds to me like he did his time.

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Republicans should love him since he did his time and not on the tax payer’s dime.

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Ohio can pay his room and board for the next 10+ years. Oh ya, medical costs will all be covered. Send him back to his single wide.

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I’m sure some “tough on crime” Republican will soon declare that this man must be executed in order to teach others a lesson.

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The prisons aren’t full enough.

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However, the primary objectives in our corrections system are the rehabilitation of the criminal offender and the protection of society,

Odd how that philosophy is so often selectively applied.

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I’m a man of constant sorrow
I’ve seen trouble all my days

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These people are so dumb that they can’t figure out that leaving the country and living somewhere else would be a good plan.

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“I am of the opinion that Mr. Freshwaters has proved himself in the last 16 years to be an effective and responsible citizen of our state and would in no way endanger any member of society.”

How enlightened. Justice does not equal revenge.

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Have the republicans come out yet claiming voter fraud?

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Thousands of other inmates play by the rules while on work release and hose arrest. Letting this a–hole go free sends them the wrong message about following the rules— rules that often serve to protect the rest of us.

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The GOP should run him for Prez in 2016. He probably has better numbers than any of the other prospects.

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He’s been hiding out in the Red Meat comic strip where nobody would think to look for him…

protracted dental scrimshaw
rm-2015-02-24.png980×438

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So he should be re-incarcerated as a signal to others?

If that’s the state’s only interest in this I say let him go. Why waste money on prosecution and imprisonment on a man who is not a danger to society?

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His first mug shot was in 1975, but TPM makes it B&W to make it look like it was much farther in the past.

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There is no reference in this article to the Frank Darabont film, The Shawshank Redemption, or the Stephen King short story from which the film was adapted, other than the very broad topic of prison escape. But a little research reveals that the Ohio State Reformatory, from which Frank Freshwaters apparently disappeared, was later used, after its closing in 1990, as the set for the fictional Shawshank State Prison. This information is not in the TPM article, which makes the description of Freshwaters as “‘Shawshank’ Escapee” rather puzzling.

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“Shawshank”?

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Thank you – I was wondering what the connection was.

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The Washington Post identifies that picture with the caption “Freshwater, 1959,” and the article dates it as February 26, 1959. What makes you think it was taken in 1975? Freshwater is 79 years old. He would have been 39 years old in 1975. Does that picture look like a 39-year-old man to you? Or does it look more like a guy 23 years old? Sure looks more like 23 to me.

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