Ginny Burton: Ex-drug addict and convicted felon advocates for incarceration in order to save lives
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: Ginny Burton, 48, who was addicted to drugs, convicted of 17 felonies, and served three separate terms in prison, told 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' about why law enforcement needs to change its approach on crime and consider incarceration. Burton has been sober for nine years now since 2012. The mother-of-three graduated from the University of Washington with her degree in political science in June.
Now, Burton is calling on the Biden administration to stop coddling criminals and implement “incarcerating with intention,” a plan she said would help criminals get the help they need to get back on track. “I’m extremely grateful in this moment that incarceration was an option for me because if I was using today, with the policies that are in place right now, I wouldn’t be where I am,” said Burton, as per the New York Post.
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“We’re denying people an opportunity to actually thrive and to get their lives back. What I can tell you about my own experience is that I didn’t have the necessary skills to navigate society and if not for that separation, I wouldn’t have been able to accumulate the different kinds of services that I did in order to get me to where I am today,” Burton continued, about how drug overdoses are skyrocketing nationwide, yet incarceration for drug-related offenses is decreasing.
She argued incarceration with intention would help people take control of their lives. “What this would also do, is it would create more of a safety-net in the community. People that have been victimized, people that have been impacted by those who are committing crimes, which I want to say [is] probably upwards of 90% of people that are in active addiction commit crimes,” she told host Tucker Carlson. “Those that are committing crimes are also using drugs and alcohol. These underlying causes would be addressed very intentionally so that we’re making sure that we’re attacking the problems when we have people separated from the destructive path,” she added.
As per a report in Fox News, Burton was seven years old when she was introduced to drugs by none other than her mother, and by 15 she was a "full-blown crack addict," and by the ninth grade, she officially quit school. In her 20's she would be in and out of prison. Though she got sober for about a year and a half, after her second prison term she ended up relapsing. "I had a really hard time. Once I started using again, I had a hard time quitting," Burton said.
Burton's mother and grandmother, who had a significant influence on her upbringing, both passed away around that time. She claimed that she later married an abusive man. In 2012, Burton was arrested again, but this time the bail was set too high and she was not release, she said. She was also given the opportunity to go to drug court and had support to get a private attorney.
Burton has since taken up running, cycling, hiking, and rock climbing over the past nine years. She called this "probably the most transformative thing that I have ever allowed myself to experience," as per the report. She recently relocated from Rochester, Washington to San Diego for a new job opportunity with her 15-year-old daughter. Her older kids are 28 and 29 years old. Burton also uses her social media posts to encourage some of her online friends who are still actively abusing substances.