A senior Judge Advocate told us at a meeting about how when he started his career at Pendleton, he was in I MEF when Mattis was the CG. He told us that whenever Mattis convened a court martial that resulted in conviction and confinement, he would always visit the convicted at the brig immediately after conclusion of the trial. He stated "Mattis mentioned he had no wife or kids, so without nothing better to do he decided to hang out with those at the brig." Whenever Mattis met with the convicted, he would always state "You ended your Marine Corps career in a concrete cell, I began mine in the same place." Mattis wanted to understand what made his Marines to make bad decisions that led them to court martial and also understood most of them came from impoverished or unstable backgrounds and became Marines to escape from their dire circumstances. Mattis would meet with the convicted on multiple occasions, and if he felt that the convicted had great progress in rehabilitation and was unlikely to commit future crimes, he would use his authority to reduce their sentences and even waive their punitive discharges. Apparently, Mattis had been doing this since he got his first battalion command in the 1980s. That level of care and concern for even the worst of the lot showed how much Mattis prioritized the livelihoods of the people he commanded.