Citing family hardship, Oxford man released

NORWICH - An Oxford man who the county district attorney said chose drugs over freedom in January was released from local jail on Friday.

James I. Callan, of 265 Ryan Road, chose a plea that involved nine months of local incarceration instead of probation time in January for a reckless endangerment charge. At the time, District Attorney Joseph A. McBride said his decision to go behind bars was a way of avoiding the eye of probation, where he would be tested for marijuana use.

“I am very concerned about his attitude that he would rather smoke pot and go to jail,” McBride said then. “He needs to grow up ... or he is going to spend the rest of his life in state prison on an installment plan.”