"Prison Reform"

A number of years ago California announced its program called “Three strikes and you’re out.”
Felons who committed their third felony could be sent to prison for life. As this program was publicized,
IAPH founding member and current president, Bob Ross, along with associate Gary Beals,
issued a press release stating that the State would engage in an innovative pilot program at the local state prison
that would save California an enormous amount of money. The State would, the announcement said,
pay a substantial sum to “lifers” who voluntarily committed suicide.

The idea was that the State would save millions of dollars from not having to feed, clothe, house and guard these inmates.
The State would, in turn, pay a stipend to the inmates’ heirs. Beals played the role of a State official
and Ross was in the role of the prison warden who, the PR piece stated, was being brought in from Alabama
to implement the program. It sounds loony but after all this is California.

In interviews Ross explained that suicide was the most sincere form of apology and that a Japanese expert
in the ancient art of Hari Kari had been hired as a consultant for this pilot effort.
This item was publicized by several news media and raised many eyebrows
until it was exposed as a hoax in a Bar Association magazine article.