News & Politics - Couple that caged kids gets two year sentence

migamoo · 02-15-2007, 07:47 PM

Quote:

NORWALK, Ohio (AP) -- A couple who forced some of their 11 adopted, special-needs children to sleep in wire-and-wood cages were sentenced to two years in prison Thursday.

Michael and Sharen Gravelle insisted that they were only trying to keep their kids safe.

Two of the children, however, said in statements read in court that they were treated harshly while they lived with the Gravelles. (Watch parents plead for leniency Video)

One child wrote that they should be imprisoned "for as long as my siblings had to be in cages."

Sharen Gravelle told the court the children were never confined as punishment but rather to protect them, including a child who wanted to jump out a second-floor window.

"Would you prefer that we let them jump? Either way, we'd be here. The difference is they're still alive," she said in a tearful, 26-minute statement.

Gravelle blamed social services officials for not helping her and her husband control the destructive behavior of some of the youngsters.

The children, who suffered from problems such as fetal alcohol syndrome and a disorder that involves eating nonfood items, ranged in age from 1 to 14. They were removed from the Gravelle home in September 2005 and placed in foster care in the fall of 2005. The couple lost custody last March.
"Led by the Lord"

Sharen Gravelle kept her head down taking notes while the judge read the sentences. Michael Gravelle sat back in his chair, holding his face in his left hand.

Each could have received up to five years in prison for each of the four felonies they were convicted of in December. They also were convicted of seven misdemeanors.

Michael Gravelle, his face red and his voice rising, told the judge he and his wife "felt we were being led by the Lord" when they decided to bring the first child into their home.

He said problems began when they took in a group of siblings with an array of behavior and emotional problems.

"What do you do with these kids?" Michael Gravelle asked. "I prayed constantly for the answer."

He said the enclosures resulted from the suggestions of a social worker, who recommended strict rules to improve the children's behavior.

"I'm begging you," Michael Gravelle told the judge. "I do not deserve jail."
"Never again" in a cage

The two children whose statements were read in court, a girl and a boy, were in the courtroom Thursday. The boy wrote that he was "thankful that part of my life is behind me."

He said of his new foster parents, "Because of them I don't have to steal food. I can use the bathroom whenever I want. Never again will I have to sleep in a box."

The girl's statement said Sharen Gravelle treated the children more harshly than her husband did.

"Mom, you walked around like you were God, then whenever you did go places you were Mother Teresa taking in the poor black kids that no one wanted," she said.

The girl said the Gravelles "are grown adults who know the difference between right and wrong. So I ask that they get as much time in jail for as long as my siblings had to be in cages."

The Gravelles have said they will appeal their convictions. The judge allowed them to remain free on bond pending the appeal.

The couple has said they needed to keep some of the children in enclosed beds with alarms to protect them from their own dangerous behavior and stop them from wandering at night.

Prosecutors said the Gravelles were cruel.

Witnesses, including the sheriff and some of the children, said the cages were urine-stained and lacked pillows or mattresses, but a social worker and others who testified for the defense said they never witnessed abuse and that the children's behavior improved because of the bright blue and red cages.

One Gravelle child testified he was forced to live in a bathroom for 81 days, sleeping in a bathtub because of a bed-wetting problem.

The Gravelles' attorneys said the boy exaggerated the length of his bathroom stay, and an expert for the defense testified that the technique helped the boy.

Couple that caged kids gets two year sentence - CNN.com

Anyone else feel they got off lightly? I mean, jail by no means is light, but two years only?

mild toxicity · 02-15-2007, 11:09 PM

I don't even think the maximum sentence would have been severe enough for these monsters.

**sunnykerr** · 02-16-2007, 08:53 AM

Actually, I don't know if the United States has the same system as Canada, but a two-year sentence might be even more lenient than appears at first glance.

In Canada, a 2-year sentence means the criminal goes to a... I think a provincial penitenciary. Over the 2-year sentence, they go to... I suppose a federal penitenciary.

The point here is that over the 2-year sentence, the penitenciary system is much "harder." You've got career criminals, there's far more overcrowding, the financing just isn't up to snuff, and so and so forth. Whereas the under-2-year-sentence penitenciary system (whichever one it is) has more job-training programs, better facilities and less-hardened criminals.

Now, obviously there are further divisions (supermax prisons where serial rapists, child molesters and murderers go, for instance), but the point is that the 2-year mark is crucial. Which is why, in Canada, you'll often have sentences of "2 years plus one day" so as to ensure that the criminal goes to that penitenciary system.

So, assuming the same holds for the U.S., which might not be the case but for the sake of argument... They might be going off to the same type of institution Martha Stewart occupied for a while there...

abw92 · 02-16-2007, 11:06 AM

I can't believe these people only got two years. What they did is terrible.

SoLongSelf · 02-18-2007, 09:44 PM

I'm upset that they only got 2 years as well. They certainly deserved much longer with what they put those poor children through! I feel like our justice system really let those kids down.

S.A.S.H.A. · 02-19-2007, 02:50 AM

It's not unheard of for these type of convicted criminals to be attacked/killed while in prison.

Sasha

**sunnykerr** · 02-19-2007, 08:01 AM

That is true. Child abusers typically don't fare too well in the prison system.

But, again, that depends to what kind of prison system they go to. Another Camp Cupcake or a "real" penitenciary facility?

-Kelly- · 02-19-2007, 08:21 PM

Only 2 years

Nab · 02-22-2007, 01:41 PM

Sadly, that's often the case. The parents got off lightly, and I'm bet anything they don't serve the full two years or they go to another "Cupcake". I just hope that those monsters are never allowed to adopt or be foster parents again.


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