Author Archive

Catastrophe in the Gulf: Utilize Prisoners as Manpower

Wednesday, 2 June 2010 Early this morning I heard an NPR broadcast report that Attorney General Eric Holder had traveled to New Orleans to investigate the massive oil spill caused by British Petroleum. Mr. Holder announced that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into the disaster, and that if the investigation concluded that […]

New Sentencing Rules, Still a Flawed System

Michael’s newest article on Change.org: http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/new_sentencing_rules_still_dont_fix_the_systems_flaws

Cameron Douglas’ Prison Sentence

Read Michael’s blog on the Huffington Post about Cameron Douglas’  five year sentence for drug trafficking: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-santos/what-happens-to-cameron-d_b_558229.html

New article on Prison Reform

New article by Michael on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-santos/call-for-prison-reform_b_543332.html

First Quarter Report, 2010

I’ve been writing quarterly reports to update those who follow my work for more than 20 years. Since 2003, when Carole launched MichaelSantos.net, we’ve published the quarterly reports on the Web site. I hope that readers find them useful as a source of documentation. The reports should reflect how an individual can use goals to […]

Prison Lobbyists vs Prison Reform

Read Michael’s recent posts on Change.org: Most Popular Posts by Michael Santos What Happened to Prison Reform? Do Longer Prison Sentences Make the Public Safer? The View from Inside: Prison Time Doesn’t Equal Justice Take Action on Long-Term Imprisonment Bring Back Federal Parole And here’s a related article addressing the issue of prison lobbyists vs. […]

Michael Hamden is Mad As Hell About the Failed U.S. Prison System

The following article is featured on Change.org http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/mad_as_hell_about_the_failed_us_prison_system Mad As Hell About the Failed U.S. Prison System by Michael Hamden category: Prison Reform Published March 10, 2010 @ 05:34AM PT Yeah, I’m angry. I’m all riled up because our misguided criminal justice policies destroy individuals, families and entire communities. I’m steamed because at a time […]

Why Prisons Will Always Be Full

Prison Journal: Day 8,227  It’s 3:30 on Wednesday morning as I write this entry. I’m in the room where I begin every day, watching as Dave walks on the concrete pathway that leads to the Control Center of Taft Camp. Dave is being released from prison, and in a few hours the guards will finish […]

Gary McGivern’s life work

 Click on the link below to read Michael’s most recent post on Change.org: http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/in_one_prisoners_life_work_inspiration

Community Building

Text of a recent Toastmasters speech Michael gave at Taft Camp– Community Building I don’t know how many of you remember studies of early Western Civilization, but on the pages of a history book that’s circulating I read a passage describing the early Greeks. As founders of the first known city, the Greeks recognized the […]

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave

Title: Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave Date Read: January 19, 2010 Book title: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave Author: Frederick Douglas Book Publisher: Barnes and Noble Classics Series (1845/2003) Non-Fiction / 126 pages Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave was the […]

Lessons From Prison

Date Read: January 6, 2010 Book Title: Lessons From Prison Book Author: Justin M. Paperny Book Publisher: APS (2009) Non Fiction/ 200 pages  Lessons From Prison was the first book I read in 2010 Why I read Lessons From Prison:  Justin Paperny, the author of Lessons From Prison, was confined with me at Taft Camp […]

Fourth Quarter Report–2009

It feels good to have completed the fourth quarter of 2009.  On the first day of this year I set clearly defined goals, and through my daily journal entries, along with the three previous quarterly reports that I published, I kept readers current with the progress I made toward each.  Now, on the last day […]

Black Boy

Date read: December 31, 2009 Book Title: Black Boy Book Author: Richard Wright Book Publisher: Harper Collins/1944 Nonfiction/ 419 pages Black Boy was the 21st book I finished reading in 2009 Why I read Black Boy: My friend, Steve Urie, recommended that I read accomplished nonfiction writers.  Although Steve said that he was not a […]

Mean Justice: A Town’s Terror, a Prosecutor’s Power, a Betrayal of Innocence

Date Read: November 30, 2009 Book title: Mean Justice: A Town’s Terror, a Prosecutor’s Power, a Betrayal of Innocence Author: Edward Humes Book Publisher: Simon & Schuster (1999) Non-Fiction / 491 pages Mean Justice: A Town’s Terror, a Prosecutor’s Power, a Betrayal of Innocence was the 18th book I read in 2009. Why I read […]