News FeedMarch, 2009
Prison Guards Interfere with Corrections
Brenda asked me two questions with regard to my article entitled They’re Prison Guards, Not Correctional Officers. Brenda wanted to know whether I thought guards were trained to harass prisoners or whether the culture conditioned them to abuse their authority. She also asked whether I came across any prison guards who were not abusive. When […]
Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance
Date Read: March 1, 2009 Book Title: Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance Book Author: Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker Book Publisher: Tyndale House/2009 Nonfiction/260 pages Uncommon was the fifth book I finished reading in 2009. Reasons I read Uncommon: I have been a fan of Tony Dungy’s leadership style ever since I saw profiles […]
Incentives Lead to More Effective Prisons
Noel responded to an article I wrote about the need for work-release and study-release programs in prison with questions about specific prison reforms I thought would work best to prepare more prisoners for law-abiding, successful lives upon release. The 21-plus years that I have served inside prisons of every security level convince me that we […]
Economic Crisis Opens Possibilities for Prison Reform
I’ve been following newspaper reports that describe a crisis in the California penal system. Prison population levels have soared beyond the system’s capacity to handle effectively. Without sufficient space, administrators have crammed three prisoners or more into cells designated for one. Thousands more serve their time locked inside gymnasiums and rooms designed for recreation. Such […]
Locking More People of Power in Prison Will Promote Prison Reform! Bring in the Governor!
News reports show that federal law enforcement officers have arrested the sitting governor of Illinois. Governor Blagojevich may soon follow his predecessor, Illinois’ former governor Ryan into federal prison. I’ve been locked inside various federal prisons since 1987, and it always pleases me when formerly influential members of society join our community of felons. Besides […]
Compare Sentences for White Collar Crime With Nonviolent Drug Offenders
Disparity in sentencing laws has been a topic in the news for years. Such discussions usually revolve around arguments comparing sentences for those who sold crack cocaine with sentences for those who sold powder cocaine. I’m all for expanding the argument and comparisons. As a long-term prisoner who has been locked in federal prison since […]
Prison Camps Waste Taxpayer Resources
Prison reforms should include the elimination, or significant restructuring, of minimum-security camps. I have been a federal prisoner since 1987, and since then I’ve served time in high-security penitentiaries as well as Federal Correctional Institutions. In 2003, administrators transferred me to serve the final decade of my sentence inside the open boundaries of various minimum-security […]
Media Attention May Promote Prison Reform
Television networks have begun broadcasting shows that bring the ugliest aspects of the prison culture into American living rooms. Shows like Lockdown, Maximum-Security, and Inside America’s Prisons perpetuate the stereotypical images of the prison yard. Those shows focus on the failure, the gangs, the tattoos, and the violence. I am convinced that lobbyists who represent […]
Thoughts on Pardoning Prisoners and Executive Clemency
My wife, Carole, received questions from Maya Schenwar, a reporter at Truthout.org who was writing about the pardoning process. Ms. Schenwar asked Carole about experiences we have had with our efforts to seek a Presidential commutation of sentence. The reporter and her readers were interested in changes to the executive clemency process under President Obama’s […]
Prison Culture Doesn’t Want Prisoners Writing About Prison
Nick wrote a comment in response to my article entitled They’re Prison Guards, Not Correctional Officers. He inquired as to my thoughts on why the prison system would discourage prisoners from writing about the culture of corrections. My perspective, of course, was shaped from having been locked inside prisons for the past 21-plus years. During […]
Prisoners Should Have More Access to Family and Community
Ankineh wrote a comment asking how my lack of interaction with my family and community has affected me, and also asked what suggestions I could offer to improve family interactions for prisoners. I feel privileged to have this opportunity to respond. Prison policies limit me to fewer than an average of 10 minutes of telephone […]
The Remorse and Regret of My Imprisonment
Makeda asked whether I ever regretted that I sold cocaine as a younger man, but she asked from an insightful perspective. Her question seemed philosophical, in observation that had I not sold cocaine, been convicted, and sentenced to a lengthy term in prison, I would not have had the experience of learning so much through […]
