Hi Outsider,

You write:

"...had not figured it out earlier as a more realistic person would have)..."

Why be so hard on yourself? You've got company. Very few of us here can pride ourselves on having been realistic, for if we had, we surely would not be postong to this forum.

It seems that you have long been very ambivalent about what, if anything, you ought to do for your sister. There is no doubt that you love her just as there is no doubt that she killed her husband. So where does that leave you?

You write:

"...another totally valid reason why I CANNOT testify for her even if I wanted to."

I can easily understand your point of view. I too, would have felt hurt and betrayed by discovering what you have just realised. Acknowledging the truth about something or someone is not easy at all and our first reaction upon acknowledging an unpleasant truths is often anger.

"Here the guilty party all along was my sister."

That sounds right, Sue. A P will tell a lie for no other reason than to hurt someone else. Your sister was perceptive enough to see that you and her husband had a special bond and she simply wanted to take you down a few notches. Perhaps with the intent of destroying this bond.

"QUESTION:
Do "P's" adapt to prison more easily than others?"

I think your question shows that you are concerned and worried about your sister now that you have decided NOT to testify on her behalf. I think that no matter how well or how lovingly you testified on your sisters behalf, there is NO way that you, or anyone, can keep her out of prison. By deciding not to testify, you are,IMO, saving yourself from a great deal of emotional turmoil and upheaval that in the end would hurt you while not helping your sister.

To answer your question:

There is every indication that psychopaths make the most of whatever environment they find themselves in and that they adapt to prison life much easier than you or I would.

There are many different kinds of "prison"! It seems, Sue that you are on your way out of your self-imposed emotional prison. You have worked hard to be free...

Take care,

Nan

Hi Just A Man, Dianne, and Nan,
Thanks you all. You are all right...except one little detail Nan, surprisingly for the first time in my life I am not too worried about someone at all and I had asked the question b/c she is adapting quite well. But otherwise you are all right on. The pieces are coming together for me. And no, I won't be going anywhere near that trial--the emotional turmoil it would cause for me would be a nightmare and reopen the wound plus make new ones and just make a plain mess out of me. My sister has been a damaging (to others) individual for a very long time and I cannot help but feel she is where she belongs and I am afraid she may get off lightly. a woman in this area ran her boyfriend over with her car in a fight and only got 9 to 23 months for involuntary manslaughter. I look back on our lives together and she shouldn't be back out here in 23 months.
She won't be back in my life this time.
This last hurt, of taking Paul, was the last hurt. I wish her well and good bye to her.

thanks you all.

Sue