News FeedAuthor Archive
Eliminate Prison Camps to Cut Domestic Spending
President Obama ought to call for the elimination of prison camps to cut unnecessary domestic spending. This type of expenditure should not continue, as prison camps do not contribute to making society safer. Indeed, prison administrators have classified all prisoners in prison camps as minimum-security offenders and require those men to serve time on their […]
What About Parole?
People in prison ask me about parole. That is a concept of allowing a prisoner to serve the final portion of his sentence in the community under clearly defined conditions as enforced by a parole officer. Essentially, parole is a conditional release from prison. In the federal prison system, parole only exists for certain offenders […]
NFL Coach Tony Dungy Motivates Prisoners
Former NFL coach Tony Dungy has been an inspiration to me and other prisoners since he coached the Colts to a Super Bowl victory. My wife knew that I admired his leadership skills and ordered copies of his books. On April 19, I read Jarrett Bell’s article in USA Today describing the efforts Coach Dungy […]
Prison Reform Can Lower Recidivism
In 2002, the Bureau of Justice Statistics published Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994 by Patrick Langan and David Levin. “The study found that 30 percent [of] released prisoners were rearrested in the first six months, 44 percent within the first year, and 67.5 percen within three years of release from prison.” I gathered this […]
I Need Sponsors to Advance Prison Reform
I need sponsors to advance arguments for prison reform. As a long-term federal prisoner, I am in a unique position to serve as a voice from inside prison boundaries. The reason my background qualifies me as an outstanding candidate to speak on the need for prison reform is that while serving my entire adult life […]
Human Smuggling from Mexico
Today I spoke with Ricardo, a family man and business owner who turned to the crime of human smuggling as a strategy to cope with the pressures of debt. America’s financial crisis had hit Ricardo’s small construction company hard, and in a panic over how he would sustain his business and his family, he ceded […]
Reform the Pardon Process
President Obama ought to order the Department of Justice to reform the pardon process. Access to a Presidential pardon could be an effective tool in motivating prisoners to commit to prison adjustments that would help them emerge as successful, law-abiding citizens. For pardons to serve as a force for good, however, the President must order […]
Squandering Billions on Corrections
America squanders $59 billion each year on a system that ridiculously calls itself corrections. According to the famous social scientist James Q. Wilson, society should limit the purpose of this system to isolating and punishing offenders. I wonder when American citizens will tire of this failed public policy. Too many American citizens live with delusions […]
Bad Leadership in the Bureau of Prisons
We have bad leadership in the Bureau of Prisons! The Second Chance Act of 2007 provided federal prison administrators with the authority to release prisoners to halfway houses one year before their sentences expired. That Act also urged administrators to expand programs that would help prisoners build stronger family and community ties while the prisoners […]
Prison Reform For Justice
Recently I contributed an article for the readers of change.org that describes the absurdity of using the amount of time spent in prison as the primary gauge of justice. We need prison reforms that will encourage more offenders to work toward reconciling with society. That type of prison adjustment would yield far more in the […]
Prison Author Joe “Black” Reddick, My Friend
The New York Times published a feature article by Peter Duffy that described my friend Joe Reddick as a prison author. I knew Joe as Joe Black, which was the name he used in prison. I feel very proud to have played a role in influencing Joe to develop his writing talents as a strategy […]
Spreading Awareness for Prison Reform
David C. Fathi blogged on some of the absurdities associated with the Prison Litigation Reform Act in the Huffington Post. He called for new prison reform legislation that would amend laws that make it so difficult for those in prison to seek justice for abuses they suffered during confinement. As a long-term prisoner, I am […]
Prison Reform Will Come
Senator Jim Webb introduced a congressional bill to establish the National Criminal Justice Commission on March 26, 2009. That bill has wide support, and upon its passage, it will create a commission to study the criminal justice system and reform the process. The commission will pay particularly close attention to the prison system. After 18 […]
Preparing for Happiness Through Adversity
The headline that crossed the news this morning revealed unemployment rates for March at 8.5 percent. That’s a number I watch closely, as it suggests the struggles I expect to face after I complete a quarter century in prison. If the unemployment rate is at 8.5 percent for all Americans, for those coming out of […]
Senator Stevens Escapes Justice
As I waited in my prison cubicle for a census count to clear this morning, I listened to an NPR news broadcast over the radio describing how the former Senator Ted Stevens would avoid a term in prison. Senator Stevens had been convicted on political corruption charges last fall. Ever since then, I’d been waiting […]
