Crime and Punishment

I'd be smiling, too (Chron photo)

Chapter 1: Longtime Contra Costa politician sentenced to jail for misusing campaign funds [bold added]

Prosecutors charged [Joe] Canciamilla last year with 30 felony counts of perjury for alleged misstatements on campaign disclosure forms and four additional counts related to his alleged personal use of more than $260,000 in campaign funds.,,

Canciamilla was sentenced to 365 days in county jail and two years of formal probation.

Chapter 2: Disgraced Contra Costa politician to serve home detainment in his Hawaii condo

Joseph Canciamilla, a Contra Costa political stalwart who pleaded guilty this month to nine counts of perjury and grand theft, will serve his one-year sentence under electronic home detention at his luxury beachfront condo in Kauai, rather than in county jail, according to public records...

The probation department is now pursuing an interstate supervision agreement with Hawaii to monitor Canciamilla’s one-year sentence, which could be cut in half for good behavior...

Public records show that Canciamilla and his wife own a 1,714-foot waterfront condo with 200-square-foot porch at the Makahuena Condo complex at Poipu Beach on the southern tip of Kauai. The unit was assessed at $1.287 million this year.

Mr. Canciamilla can thank the coronavirus for his "punishment:"

Because of COVID, jail time for nonviolent first-time offenders is rare, [Asst DA Steven] Bolen said. “Right now, jails are only holding the most violent and serious offenders,” he said. “The sheriff is very careful of not overcrowding jails.”

Comments:

1) The same relaxation of rules applies to those that the cognoscenti currently favor as well as to those they do not. Please see the meaning of blind justice.

2) Personally, I think that all the miscreants who would have been jailed pre-COVID should be. The same safety protocols (masking, distancing, sanitation) that health care workers have to follow should be applied to the prison system.

3) One wonders how hard Mr. Canciamilla will apply for a reduced sentence for good behavior. Kauai breezes vs. the angry shouts of Contra Costa citizens: it's a tough choice.