Heroin Addict Pleads for Prison Sentence February 9
Normally a prisoner will make a plea that his sentence will be reduced but Damon Conrow made a plea that his sentence be stepped up to a higher charge and it’s a decision he wouldn’t take back. Conrow is a heroin user who has fought his addiction and failed to overcome it asking for a higher sentence is his way of trying to kick the habit for good. Conrow was being charged for a second degree felony (1-15 years jail time) related to sale of heroin and he was demanding a first degree charge (5-life).
The judge took up his plea and gave him the sentence he asked for. “My friends who are criminals say, ‘Dude, you want to plea bargain down,’ but I’ve thought about this a lot. Most people are like, ‘That’s stupid.’ But I don’t care what they think. … Obviously I keep messing up.”
Now at a point in his life where most of his family and all of his non-user friends have left him as a lost cause the man wants to get clean badly enough to think that prison and the treatment programs there are worth the prison term. Having started his drug addiction like many his age with OxyContin add the age of 17 and progressed down a hard road of addiction Conrow is done with heroin. He knows how addiction can lead to loneliness through other prisoners he met during a 3 year term he served previously. It was an awakening for the 25 year old.
Conrow’s goal is to try a tough, two-year drug rehab program at the prison called the Conquest program. If he does well there it could reduce his prison stay, but if he fails Conquest it could lead to serious time.
Tags: Addict, addiction, drug abuse, heroin, prison