News FeedAuthor Archive
Religious Programs in Prison
Although I have not participated in organized religious programs in prison, many prisoners find them soothing and therapeutic. Every prison where I have been held has had a room or rooms that were reserved for chapel services. They were nondenominational, as prisoners from every faith used the chapel rooms for worship services. With staff budgets […]
Why Don’t More Prisoners Take Advantage of Improvement Programs?
America is a magnificent country because it inspires hope in all of its citizens. Anyone who applies effort and works toward excellence can succeed. Every American has the power within to reach meaningful goals. Those who live in prison, on the other hand, struggle through constraints that are much more like communism than the society […]
How to Avoid Problems and Violence in Prison
During the more than 21 years that I have served in prisons so far, I’ve never had a single altercation with another prisoner. I’ve been in minimum-security prison camps since 2003. Prior to that year, however, from 1987 I served time in prisons of higher security. I walked through many puddles of blood, lived amidst […]
We need President Obama to appoint a new Director in the Bureau of Prisons
The President appoints Director of the Bureau of Prisons. The Director presides over an agency that employs more than 25,000 people and incarcerates more than 200,000 people. The Director sets the policy for the Bureau of Prisons. All employees of the BOP carry out the Director’s mission, and the prisoners must live within the rules […]
Extortion Targets in Prison
I received a letter from a reader who asked whether other prisoners had ever extorted me in prison. The answer is no, I have never succumbed to extortion. That does not mean prisoners have not tried. I spent the first 16 years of my sentence inside higher security prisons. When I was locked inside the […]
President Obama election and newly elected Congress give real hope for prison reform
Two days have passed since millions of Americans elected Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. For the sixth time, I watched election poll results from inside a federal prison. I sat in one of the television viewing rooms at Taft Prison Camp, cheering when the networks called Pennsylvania for Obama. Then […]
Why I Regret that I Sold Cocaine and Fought the Criminal Charges
When I was 21-years-old I joined a group of friends in a scheme to sell cocaine. That was a terrible decision that changed the course of my life. For nearly two years, I was deeply involved in setting up a network that transported the cocaine and distributed it through a supply chain. Those actions resulted […]
Relationships Between Prisoners and Guards
The relationships between prisoners and guards differ in accordance with security levels. In minimum-security camps, there is a much less hostile atmosphere. I have been confined in minimum security camps since 2003. Currently I am confined at Taft Prison Camp, and I find the officers here to be friendly and unobtrusive. They do not go […]
Seeking Protection in Prison
Protective custody, known as PC in prison parlance, is a choice that can have severe consequences for any prisoner. In minimum-security camps, it is not a valid concern as these types of institutions are no more volatile than a corporate office park. Yet in higher security prisons, where there are gang influences and threatening prisoners, […]
Who initiates Sex between Prisoners and Guards?
Some of my published writings about prison describe sexual relationships between prisoners and guards. One reader wrote me to ask who makes the first move, the prisoner or the guard in such relationships. Generally, I would have to say, prisoners make the first move. Yet during the more than 21 years that I have served, […]
Let Freedom Ring!
New York Times reporter Solomon Moore published an article titled Records of Obama and McCain as Lawmakers Reflect Differences on Crime. Moore wrote about a speech McCain gave to the National Sheriffs Association earlier this year. During that speech, McCain called for tougher punishments and disagreed with Obama’s refreshing observation that America’s prison population is […]
What Prisoners Miss Most
Prisoners miss what they cannot have. Those who serve time in supermax prisons, like the ADX in Florence, Colorado, live in sterile cells. They are deprived of nearly all human contact. Their mattress is thrown on a concrete slab. They can hardly move beyond the small space allotted to them. They cannot use the telephone […]
Effective Prison Reform: Restore Hope
Prisons operate with 70 percent recidivism rates for a simple reason. They extinguish hope. Instead of encouraging prisoners to develop values, skills, and resources that will help them live contributory lives, prison policies and the infrastructure of the prison system crushes the spirit and humanity of every man serving time. Overcoming the pervasive negativity requires […]
When Prisoners Ask Me for Guidance
After more than 21 years in prisons of every security level, I am usually the most senior prisoner in any institution where I am held. Others who are serving time frequently ask for my guidance. Rarely do I offer any suggestions pertaining to their legal standing, as I am not a lawyer. My area of […]
Prison Led me to Reflect, Repent, and Reform
My judge sentenced me to serve a 45-year prison term. That sanction at the age of 23 really woke me up. It helped me to understand that I had made some really bad choices as a younger man. I had to acknowledge my guilt. The decades that I would serve in prison gave me an […]
