A Shawshank Redemption Happens in Wisconsin

When I first saw this story, I thought, "This is a great Rabe Shot!"

Since 1972, he'd been committing crimes, and then, after being convicted of trying to kill someone, William Gallagher was supposed to spend 60 years in prison but recently had his sentence reduced to time served (about 20 years) in a New Jersey prison.

Gallagher is 68, fresh out of jail, and not sure what to do. He kind of thought of himself as the librarian from Shawshank Redemption, that was "too old' to rejoin society. He'd heard over the years that Wisconsin prisons were great, so he took the Amtrak to Milwaukee and held up a bank.

According to the Journal Sentinal...

You ever seen the movie 'Shawshank Redemption?' " Judge Hansher asked, referring to the 1994 prison movie starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. In the movie, James Whitmore played Brooks Hatlen, a longtime inmate and prison librarian, who committed suicide after his release because he couldn't cut it on the outside.

"That's me. The librarian guy," Gallagher told Hansher. "Institutionalized, couldn't adjust, everything fell apart, he hung himself. I'm not hanging myself but, you know, that's it."

He didn't get the prison time he wanted yet...but, really, read the whole story. It's kinda sad and very interesting.

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