One of the most disliked school subjects by many people is mathematics, and the arguments of those who do not like it are practically invincible – why, one wonders, learn those different integrals and logarithms if they can never come in handy in your entire life? On the one hand, of course, a person can work all their life, for example, as a sales manager, and never encounter calculations more complicated than just multiplication and division.

On the other hand, sometimes life throws us situations where it’s not just knowledge of mathematics that becomes vitally important, but the ability to think logically, make important calculations in your mind, and also draw conclusions based on them. For example, such a case that the hero of our new post once had a chance to face. Of course, it is best to avoid such stories, but he did not succeed.

Matthew Hahn went down a slippery slope from an early age – theft, arrests, drugs, arrests again… by 2005, he had already served twice in prison, and the third strike, according to local law, threatened him with life imprisonment. However, his civic consciousness, logical thinking and, of course, the desire to change his life nevertheless led Matthew to become a respectable member of society as he has been for many years now. True, many obstacles awaited our hero on the way to this, which he recently spoke about on Twitter.

The original tweet by Matthew Hahn went viral with around 858.1K views and over 2.5K likes, bringing his entire story to more than two million views in total. It seems to us that this is quite enough to tell about it in more detail – especially since the story itself is incredibly interesting.

More info: Twitter

The author tells the story of his life since his youth when he went down a slippery slope

More info: Geoff Stearns (not the actual image)

So, in April 2005, the Original Poster was arrested on four counts of possession of stolen property, and the prospect of spending the rest of his days in prison stood before him to the fullest. In total, as Matthew admits, he got about 400 years for the “combination” of the crimes he committed. The district attorney flatly refused to change anything, but after about a year in prison, mitigating factors were revealed.

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

In 2005, after stealing a safe, Matthew found proof that its owner kept child pornography, and turned that guy in to the police

The fact is that shortly before this, also in 2005, Matthew had stolen a safe from one house, and when he opened it, he found irrefutable evidence that the owner of the safe not only kept child pornography in it, but also engaged in this disgusting business himself. Hahn was afraid to take the proof to the police himself, otherwise he would have been immediately arrested, so he simply sent a flash drive with photos to the police station, accompanied by a note: “Please get this monster off our streets.”

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

When the DA discovered Matthew was that very burglar, they agreed to revise his case, offering a plea deal

The owner of the safe was eventually arrested and imprisoned, but only after some time, it turned out that it was the OP who was that burglar who had opened the safe and handed it over to the police. At the time, almost seventeen years ago, this story was widely covered in the press. Under pressure from the public opinion, the district attorney decided to reconsider Matthew’s case and offered him a plea deal.

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Under the terms offered by the DA, Matthew pleaded guilty in exchange for a reduction in his sentence to 11 years and 8 months. He would have to serve 80% of this term, so in the summer of 2014, after almost nine and a half years, he would have been released. Just agree, compared to a life sentence, it looks almost like real luck. However, on some reflection, Hahn decided to reject the deal.

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Image credits: Rennett Stowe (not the actual image)

However, the author rejected the deal, since he wanted to serve in fire camp, which gave him an opportunity to serve 33% of his initial sentence

The fact is that the original poster wanted to go to fire camp, where prisoners are fighting wildfires in California. Among other things, serving in this division would make it possible to serve only a third of the entire prescribed term. But here Hahn faced several problems at once. Firstly, prisoners sentenced to serve 80% of the term were not eligible to participate in fire camp; only those whose sentence provided for 50%.

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Matthew asked his lawyer to talk to the district attorney about possible terms, and they replied that the DA was not interested in the length of the sentence – as long as the OP served nine years in prison. Thus, if Hahn wanted to get his desired 50%, he had to agree to an initial sentence of at least eighteen years.

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

The DA told him they didn’t mind any sentence structure if it would last no less than 9 years

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Thus, firstly, the term in the sentence should have been 18 years, and secondly, the district attorney should have been ready to annul those very first two strikes. For this, as the lawyer found out, the DA was also ready. But then Matthew and his defense faced another significant problem…

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

It consisted in the fact that, according to the laws of the State of California, prisoners with sentences of 15 years or more are placed under  so-called closed guardianship. This meant that Matthew would not be allowed out of his cell at night for the first five years of his imprisonment, and in addition, he would not be released under minimum security conditions. Thus, for the first five years, Hahn would not be able to get into fire camp – which meant all his calculations actually lost any meaning.

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Facing several problems with choosing his sentence structure, Matthew didn’t lose heart and found the only possible solution

But the original poster did not lose his heart. He had to somehow get a sentence of less than 15 years, but at the same time fulfill the district attorney’s requirement – at least nine years of actual imprisonment. How to do it? Logic turned out to be powerless, but it worked again when Matthew and his lawyer used elementary arithmetic to his aid.

Image credits: hahnscratch

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In fact, by that time, Hahn had already been in the county jail for over 14 months, and the county had 66% credit in prison. And all this meant that the OP had a credit for 21 months of serving his sentence. Thus, it was enough for Matthew to give the court permission to refuse credit for his time served (in fact, it looked as if he had just been arrested). Well, then he quietly accepted a plea deal for less than 15 years with a 50% sentence.

Image credits: Jeffrey (not the actual image)

In 2006, Matthew finally got his sentence and got paroled in 2012, spending around 7 years in jail

The district attorney, of course, had no idea about Matthew’s complex mathematical calculations, nor of his plans. All that they saw was the consent of the accused for a longer term and those very actual nine years in prison that he was to face. In the autumn of 2006, a court session was held at which Hahn was sentenced on this deal. According to initial estimates, he was due to be released in December 2013 after serving a total of 8 years and 8 months.

Image credits: hahnscratch

Image credits: hahnscratch

Well, then everything went exactly as Matthew had planned. He spent the first few years in several prisons, earning his 50% credit and lowering his security clearance along the way, until he qualified for fire camp. As soon as he was taken there, he began to serve 33% instead of the prescribed fifty. Thus, the release date had shifted to April 2012. However, Hahn then earned several more credits while studying in college. In February 2012, Matthew got paroled after spending just under seven years in prison. “Knowing the system is everything,” he claims.

Image credits: hahnscratch

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Image credits: hahnscratch

While in prison, Matthew underwent treatment for drug addiction and has been living an upright life since his release

We must say that at the same time, Matthew underwent a course of treatment for drug addiction in prison, became interested in reading and Buddhism, and just several years after his release he successfully graduated from the University of California. He is now married, owns his house, works as an electrician, writes for VICE, the Marshall Project and the Washington Post, and is a guest expert on various shows.

Image credits: hahnscratch

“I regret any harm I caused people, financial or emotional. I’ve paid back what I can, through prison time and through restitution. Of course, it wasn’t worth it.” Matthew says. “And I never get tired of telling the story of my life to help those who suffer from addiction – so that they do not get on this slippery slope.” Good luck, Mr. Hahn.

We’d love to read your comments about this true instructive tale, so please feel free to leave them below this post. And we also, as usual, are interested in similar stories you have probably witnessed yourselves. Because any such tale is incredibly eye-opening and shows just how a clear mind and cold logic could help you in literally any difficult life situation.

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