PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION-
omewhere near the badlands
JULY 2015
The morning after the sentencing, I drove away from our state capital without a plan. I wanted the horror of the last year to disappear. I wanted to disappear too. I sent my sons and husband back home. My car drove to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. No plan.
I needed time and space to think. There is plenty of that on Pine Ridge. Time. Space.
Community Service Pine Ridge
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Judge Brown sentenced me to 24 years. 2 years in the State Penitentiary for each 12 Felonies. Then the words, “with 3 years of probation and 500 hours community service to the poorest people in our state.”
my initial attempts at community service
500 hours . .
What are the rules of community service?
I have served my community for as long as I can remember. Growing up in a town of 800 people has a quick way of teaching community responsibility. Everyone from the grocery store owner to the town drunk showed me they each had a role to play.
Now a judge says do 500 hours to repay the community for your crime. “Be sure you are serving the poorest people in our state.” How would you do community service?
