Sooner or later, you knew this story would become reality.

A homeless, jobless, sixty three year old man has found a way to keep a roof over his head and enough food to survive on. He robbed a bank explicitly to go to prison.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A man who couldn't find steady work came up with a plan to make it through the next few years until he could collect Social Security: He robbed a bank, then handed the money to a guard and waited for police.

On Wednesday, Timothy J. Bowers told a judge a three-year prison sentence would suit him, and the judge obliged.

"At my age, the jobs available to me are minimum-wage jobs. There is age discrimination out there," Bowers, who turns 63 in a few weeks, told Judge Angela White.

The judge told him: "It's unfortunate you feel this is the only way to deal with the situation."

Bowers said he had been able to find only odd jobs after the drug wholesaler he made deliveries for closed in 2003...

He pleaded guilty to robbery, and a court-ordered psychological exam found him competent.

"It's a pretty sad story when someone feels that's their only alternative," said defense attorney Jeremy W. Dodgion, who described Bowers as "a charming old man."

Prosecutors had considered arguing against putting Bowers in prison at taxpayer expense, but they worried he would do something more reckless to be put behind bars.

"It's not the financial plan I would choose, but it's a financial plan," prosecutor Dan Cable said.

Of course we have seen Republicans cut, cut and cut more from the social safety net until there are holes that are big enough for a truck to fall through. And all of it to finance the trillions in corporate welfare that they have handed out in legislation like the energy bill and the prescription drug bill.

So now we finally see the day when voluntarily committing a felony in order to go to prison is the only option left for an honest citizen who just wasn't one of the winners in the new game of Social Darwinism.