Ronald L. Rodgers, Pardon Attorney
1425 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 11000
Washington, DC 20530

Re: Inmate Michael G. Santos #16377-004
Petition for Commutation of Sentence

Dear President Obama:

I am writing in support a petition for communtation of the sentence of Michael G. Santos #16377-004. He is currently incarcerated in Taft Federal Correctional Institution. I had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. Santos for the first time in February of this year. I am conducting informal research on the subject of business ethics and white collar crime. My research led me to Mr. Santos, who has written numerous books on his experiences in prison as well as the stories of fellow inmates, many of whom are incarcerated for white collar crime.

Upon meeting with Mr. Santos, I will honestly say I did not know what to expect. I have had some experience with incarcerated individuals through youth group prison and youth ministry, so I was not fearful of going to a prison. I was prepared for a hardened criminal who had been institutionalized beyond recognition. After all, being locked up for over 20 years is bound to change a person.

My meeting with Mr. Santos was nothing as I expected. He was warm and friendly and extremely well spoken. His manner of speaking reflected his two degrees earned while in prison. I laughed when he told me his degree was in the same field as the PhD I am earning through the University of Minnesota (Human Resource Development). I spoke easily about my research and asked him for direction in publishing. We talked the entire two hours and could have continued for much longer. I found him to be extremely knowledgeable, helpful and genuine.

However, with all that said, it was not the most striking part of Michael Santos. What struck me the most was how happy he was. He was practically radiating positive energy. Being a University professor, I can easily spot fake people and the ways they try to communicate the opposite of how they feel. I was honestly expecting someone who was a bit jaded about the prison system and had an edge of bitterness about his long incarceration. I expected Mr. Santos to put on a show of professionalism for my benefit so that I would not be uncomfortable. This was not the case.

After the meeting at Taft FCI, I met an old friend for lunch. I struggled to describe the meeting I just had because above all else, I struggled to understand what really struck me about Mr. Santos. Upon further reflection, I now see that it was the combination of his genuine acceptance that his calling in life is to help people flourish in prison and his excitement about his writing and research on prison reform. In addition, he enjoys writing fellow inmates’ stories in order to help people like me to further our understanding about the crimes that are committed and the people behind the crime.

If the prison system’s entire purpose is to (a) punish for crime and (b) retrain individuals for entry into society, I believe the system has more than accomplished its goal with Mr. Santos. Not only has he bettered himself as an individual through education and self reflection, he designs training and mentors others in the system (and outside the system, like me). He is truly giving back to society from outside of society. That should be commended and recognized in the form of letting Mr. Santos give back to society as a citizen, rather than an inmate.

I voted for you. I voted democrat for the first time in my life in this election. People ask me why I voted for you and I say because I can see you are a true leader. I am a self described “leadership junkie”, so I know a leader when I see one. You are a person of integrity. A person who deliberates a decision and then accepts responsibility for it in the end. I know that if you met Michael Santos you would be as impressed as I am with what he has accomplished in prison in order to better both himself and others. He exhibits many of the same qualities you do. Therefore, I ask you to please consider commuting his sentence so that he can bring his expertise and knowledge to the general public sooner rather than later.

Thank you.

Jana Schrenkler
Assistant Professor of Business
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
700 Terrace Heights, box 1529
Winona, MN 55987
507-457-1491
jschrenk@smumn.edu

Lessons on Ethics from Prison: An Analysis of Correspondence Between Incarcerated Corporate Executives and Business Ethics Undergraduates

JANA SCHRENKLER, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

ABSTRACT

Business Ethics is complicated for undergraduate business students to truly understand unless they have a personal experience related to the subject. This paper explains a project that involved an exchange of letters between business undergraduate students and former corporate executives now incarcerated for ethical violations and fraudulent business practices. The project scope, results, learning objectives, and ethical themes evident in the letters are discussed and analyzed.

Introduction

Many authors, business professionals, and educators are emphasizing the need for more ethics education in business school curricula.  Dean Krehmeyer argues in Business Week Online that business schools are not doing their job to educate future MBAs  in the area of ethics. He states that business schools need to reject the idea of either teaching ethics as a course or integrated throughout the curriculum. Rather, business schools should embrace a curriculum that encompasses a single course in ethics, cross-curricular ethics, and ethics in the “broader school community”.  It requires “strong support from the business school leadership, faculty, and students…” (Krehmeyer, 2007).

While teaching on a fixed-term contract at a mid-sized state university in the Midwest, I brought up this fact to the business department, stating my dismay at not having a standalone course in Business Ethics in the undergraduate business program. After some discussion, I learned the faculty thought the integration of business ethics throughout the program (in areas such as marketing, management and business law) was sufficient to address the ethical needs of their undergraduate business students.

I successfully lobbied the department to let me offer an elective, a survey course in Business Ethics in the spring 2008 semester. After a successful registration period in which 43 students (juniors and seniors) enrolled, I embarked on the first standalone course to be offered in the past decade in Business Ethics at this University. As I pondered how to structure the course, it never occurred to me that by March we would be learning about Business Ethics from some of the most notorious corporate criminals of the 21^st century.

Beginning

After watching a few films depicting famous corporate scandals from the beginning of the decade, I found I was fielding quite a few questions from students such as, “What were they thinking?” and “How could they let it get so bad?”  Of course, I did not have the answers. One can only speculate on these matters so much from the front of the room. This tied in well with our frequent discussions of why making ethical decisions can be difficult, as if you are constantly operating in gray areas rather than black and white. In fact, I often found myself repeating our class motto of Think in the Gray when the students were frustrated with the lack of concrete answers.

I began to sense the subject of business ethics was not being communicated in a way that truly impacted the students personally. In his article, Professional Ethics: The Importance of Teaching Ethics to Future Professionals, Nichols states, “students’ ethical beliefs are shaped by their personal experiences, peer pressure, family, and cultural and religious standards.” (Nichols, et al 2007). I take Nichols’ sentiment to mean that in order to truly understand business ethics, there needs to be a personal experience attached to the subject. So, in order to give my students a good understanding of how to make ethical decisions and what exactly that entailed in the business realm, I needed to reach them on a personal level. I needed them to hear about real situations first hand, to learn from those who actually made the decisions. Thus, the Corporate Criminal Project was born.

Structure

After learning Jeff Skilling, former CEO of Enron, was incarcerated in the Federal Correctional Facility in Waseca, MN (a mere two hours from the University), the students wondered if interviewing Mr. Skilling was a possibility. After inquiries to the prison about a personal interview with Mr. Skilling failed, the idea of writing a letter was decided upon by the members of the class. After discussing the unlikely reality of Mr. Skilling actually answering a letter, the class decided it would be a good idea to contact a few more former executives who were incarcerated, like Mr. Skilling, for similar charges. An assignment was crafted that involved each student doing a search for incarcerated former business executives. They were to gather the following information: name, location, address, register (inmate) number, former company and position, charges, and release date. The students gathered information on twenty-three people. I am sure more could have been found if not for our limited timeframe.

After locating the executives, the students crafted questions they would ask if they were to interview them in person. The questions ranged in quality from, “Dude, what were you thinking?” to “Didn’t you know you would go to prison?” to “How did it feel to cheat all those people?” and finally “Are you [bleeping] crazy?” Eventually, the list of over 400 questions was narrowed and revised to fifteen questions in four categories.

As their instructor, I was a little nervous about sending the questionnaire. Knowing there would be no meaningful correspondence if the questions were offensive or intrusive, I tried to guide the class on how to create questions that would help uncover the ethical component of the situation, not the legal component.  

Ethical Development

1.       Do you feel you had/have a good understanding of your personal core values? How did those core values guide your decisions while on the job?

2.       What was the most important aspect of a career in business for you? (bottom line, wealth, challenge…) What motivated you the most while working for your company?

3.       Who do you think is responsible for the ethics of a company?

Ethical Decision-Making

4.       Did you have a written code of ethics at your company? If so, did you base your decisions around those codes?

5.       Did you believe that your business decisions followed your particular company’s core mission, vision, and values? Explain.

6.       Did you think you should have been held to a higher ethical standard, given that you were in a position of great power? Explain.

7.       Do you feel your employees were equipped to recognize and resolve ethical dilemmas? Explain.

Corporate Environment

8.       Please explain the corporate culture within your company during your involvement.

9.       Is it possible to have a very aggressive corporate culture, yet foster an ethical environment?

Reflection/Advice/Future

10.   If you could choose to redo anything, what would it be?

11.   Do you think anything good came out of this?

12.   What is your biggest regret?

13.   Do you plan on taking on the business world once again when you are released? If so, do you think you will encounter any roadblocks getting back into the business world? Explain.

14.   What advice would you give to a business student about to embark on their chosen career path?

15.   How do you feel about a Business Ethics class questioning you on your ethics?

Upon completion of the questionnaire, I crafted a personal letter to each of the twenty-three executives explaining the project, asking for their participation and ensuring that we were indeed real people, not a random journalist looking for a story. To help convey the personal nature of the request, I included a small picture of the entire class, hoping that putting faces to the questions would increase the response rate. 

The letters were mailed in mid-February and then we waited.

Answers

As we waited and progressed through the remainder of the semester, I sensed a growing anticipation and anxiety within the class. Comments like, “They have to answer us because it’s educational.” and “But, we sent a picture! They have to write us back!” and my favorite “Well, what else do they have to do?” are examples of the types of discussions held before class. Students discussed the likeliness of getting responses in a timely manner. They also discussed what the possible answers might include. Do you think they will tell us why they did it? Do you think they regret anything? Do you think we will get to read what was not in the press? I reminded them that many of the people on the list were probably filing appeals so we may not receive a lot of responses.

Our first response came about two weeks later from a former owner of a remodeling company in Kansas City, Brent Barber. (Side note: Mr. Barber gave permission to use his name and the content of his correspondence in a separate document after the letter was received.) Mr. Barber, former CEO of Midtown Restoration LLC, confessed to 104 federal felonies. His guilty plea covered 289 fraudulent mortgage loans totaling $19.6 million (Morris, 2006). He is incarcerated in the Big Spring Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring, TX until 2016. According to the FBI press release, the takedown of Mr. Barber and his associates was part of “the largest nationwide enforcement operation in FBI history directed at organized groups and individuals engaged in financial institution fraud” (FBI, 2004). Mr. Barber’s nearly illegible scrawls on the eight-page questionnaire were deciphered by the students and the results were transcribed into a document that was shared on our online course management site.

More letters came from executives, but they were handwritten apologies for not being able to fully answer the class’s questions due to pending litigation. However, even though the executives did not answer the questionnaire, we were able to glean some interesting insights from the tone and themes once their letters were compared.

Finally, two more letters arrived from incarcerated executives that fully answered all fifteen questions. Both asked for their names not to be used, but the content of their correspondence was permissible to use in the academic setting. In total we received seven responses, three which were complete responses to the questionnaire in its entirety. The industries represented in our response sample include: energy, home restoration, mortgage banking, publishing, retail, and a global conglomerate. Responses arrived from Federal Correctional Institutions in Texas, Colorado, Arkansas, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida. The range of respondent charges included grand larceny, conspiracy, falsifying documents, accounting fraud, securities fraud, and mortgage fraud. Sentences ranged from 29 months to 12 years.

 Themes

Before discussing the ethical themes in the letters, I feel it is interesting that all of the respondents apologized for their handwriting and many mentioned they did not realize how dependent they were on computers until being forced to correspond via handwritten letters.

The questionnaire respondents indicated they had all been raised with good values and personal moral character. Students’ impressions of the respondents were that they were of poor character, raised in unstable families with questionable moral values. In fact, many of the respondents were raised in stable families and stated they had a clear understanding of their personal core values. Our discussion of the students’ preconceived notion of “criminals” centered around “the chicken or the egg” questions. Was the person of questionable moral character before or after the incident in which they were caught? Did the organization make them unethical or were they unethical before?

Mr. Barber indicated his informal organization did not necessitate having a code of ethics, but the other two executives were employed by large corporations that had formal ethics programs.  All stated they were familiar with and, in fact, tried to adhere to the values stated in the code. Further, one executive admitted, “I assumed since I wrote them I had them well mastered.”  

All agreed that ethics starts at the top. The ultimate responsibility for ethics is with the owners or executive team. At the very least, the theme was communicated over and over that the executives were responsible, but overall everyone needed to also be accountable for the ethics of the company and their own personal ethics. A quote from one of the executives sums it up well, “The ‘tone at the top’ is very important and mistakes made at a high level can cascade through an organization.”

If the tone at the top is so important, how is that tone communicated throughout the organization? Many feel ethics is communicated through hiring the right people or through corporate culture.  Others feel it is enough to communicate ethical expectations through a values statement or code of ethics. In fact, our respondents agreed that there should be clear expectations sent out from the executive team to all organization members in multiple ways. “… I assumed too much that others would do or think as I do and perhaps failed to make my feelings clear to everyone. Without direction everyone will choose their own path.” It seems you need to give employees a framework for making ethical decisions and a language with which to communicate about ethical issues.

One example of a company that has done just that is Lifeworks Services, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Eagan, Minnesota. Lifeworks’ mission is to serve “our community and people with disabilities as we live and work together.” (Lifeworks, 2004) On a tour of their corporate offices a few years ago, I noticed the same 5×7 sign hanging throughout their offices. I noticed it because it was everywhere – on every cube wall, desk, framed on the wall, etc. Their way of communicating ethical language was to create and communicate to everyone their version of ethical standards and behavior.

Being the cynical business professor that I am, I asked my student (an employee in the accounting department) if this mantra was really followed by all Lifeworks’ employees. She shared with me that all decisions made were basically run through these four criteria. If you could justify all four areas to your boss, you were likely to get your request granted on the spot. Everyone in the organization could recite the Values-Based Decision-Making model by heart. Lifeworks had successfully created a language of ethics and decision-making for their employees.

Assuming the employees have a common ethical language and template for decision-making, there is another issue the executives agreed upon. Executives should be held to a higher ethical standard, but there is a point where the employees should be held accountable too. Surprisingly, not one of the response letters read like an excuse. Specifically, the executives were fully aware they were ultimately responsible for what went wrong in their company. However, accountability at the lower levels was a theme. This theme was evident in the following quotes:

Several times during the time frame [in] which this was happening (being investigated for mortgage fraud) I told myself to shut down the company and stop what was happening. I was the one person that had the ability and responsibility to do that. Once a situation arose that affected [the employees] financially, they too made personal choices to violate their beliefs.

Generally yes – [executives should be held accountable], although not so much as to let our lower levels ‘off the hook’ for a high standard as well.

I believe I was held to a [higher] standard incorrectly and alone.

While I was sifting through the 400-plus questions submitted by my class for the questionnaire, one question stood out above the rest. Is it possible to have a very aggressive corporate culture, yet foster an ethical environment? A common thread throughout all of the respondent’s letters was the high level of competition in both the corporate and industrial environments. Students connected with this question in a way I would not have expected. The majority of the students would be graduating at the end of the semester. They had high hopes and ideals for their first foray into the professional job market. In class discussions, often they would argue that competition does not bring out the worst in people. Rather, it drives sales and forward-thinking behavior within organizations. They failed to see that it could also be a company’s downfall if not properly managed. Our respondents treaded carefully in their answers to this question.

I think it is a very fine line. If [compensation] is not very carefully constructed, I believe you can lose control of a very aggressive culture.

Yes, but it is more difficult. I have found that the more aggressive employees lived in the grey areas and they dipped to the dark side easier.

Yes, but it needs to be set out from the top from the start and maintained. No plant will grow without water, so too ethics must be valued.

It seemed as though they recognized the need for an aggressive and competitive culture, yet their experience led them to realize it can quickly consume the organization and impact ethical decision-making. Let’s face it, competition drives our economy. However, how does an executive team balance both the drive to win and making ethically responsible decisions?

Following up on the prior question of aggressive culture versus ethical decision-making, the executives had contrasting opinions on the question that asked if their employees were equipped to recognize and resolve ethical dilemmas. Similar to the ethical language discussion a few paragraphs back, the executives opinions differed in that some felt the open management style (open door policies and such) just was not enough to guide employees through difficult decisions. However, another stated that it seemed that once their ethics were tested, the employees compromised their values for personal gain. And yet another, Mr. Barber, blamed the clients his employees were working with (banks, lenders, etc) because as he saw it, the lenders’ ideals were “all a bit lax”. Only one executive offered a solution in hindsight, “We probably could have developed some training, led by senior management, to reinforce our values and to try to influence our culture. “

Learning Outcomes

What did the students learn from this experience? The students asked for advice upon entering the business world from all of the executives. You can tell from the advice that some are still a little bitter and yet others have taken a more reflective approach.

You only have one life to live and your reputation can never be erased.

Look [at] how you live your life and the issues you have. These issues will occur in business also. The hard choices will generally get you where you set your goal. Never take an easy solution if you know it’s wrong. Things will always work out if you do the right thing.

Always stay on a path that allows you to be learning as much as possible. One of your most important assets is your capabilities as you can put yourself in an environment where you are learning and enhancing them or you will be stagnant and this asset will be depreciating. Second, conduct yourself with the highest degree of integrity possible. Your reputation is a binary attribute – it is either an asset or liability. Understand that your integrity is at risk with every memo you write, e-mail you send (or, in fact receive) or maybe you leave on phone mail. If ever viewed at a later date, such communication can be misinterpreted or misunderstood so beware of unintended nuance. As Arthur Andersen used to say – ‘think straight, talk straight’.

An overwhelming theme was the honesty and graciousness with which the former executives shared their thoughts and feelings about ethics. They were candid in their responses, which helped the students identify with them on a personal level. For example, when asked how the executives felt about a business ethics class questioning them on their personal ethics, the responses were frank and sincere.

Mixed feelings. Obviously people that do not know me probably think I have been unethical in the past. That is not a good feeling; especially for someone who believes in his integrity. However, I would like to think that one day my experiences can help future business people learn and that businesses will be better for me sharing my thoughts. So, in that sense, I am pleased to share some with you.

I wish I could flood the mountain tops and yell to everyone [about ethics] whether they listened or not. Do not make the needless mistakes I have made.

I know the position I have put myself in so I don’t have issues with it. I actually am surprised the questions weren’t more difficult and personal. I am not and would not be afraid to answer any other questions you or anyone else put before me. I hope you find [some] value in my answers.

 As a business instructor, I struggle with how to communicate both the personal and subjective nature of ethics to my students. How can I make them realize that this is not just a set of theories – utilitarian, deontological, justice, etc? How can I get across to them that this is a very real, very common occurrence on the job? My goal with this project was for the students to realize that they may be put in a situation where they will have to choose between personal gain and ethical responsibility, just like the employees and executives who participated in this project. I feel this was accomplished to a degree that was reasonable in the time frame allowed and with the information obtained from the letters.

My overall hope is that my students came away with a greater appreciation for ethical decision-making and the sacrifices it may take to stay true to your personal morals and values in the face of competition and the drive to succeed.

The final lesson on ethics from prison is in the form of three great quotes from our respondents. All three quotes echo the one thing I wanted my students to learn from our time together in Business Ethics – no matter how strong you think your values and morals are, they can become compromised very quickly unless you are vigilant in your awareness of ethics both on the personal and corporate levels.

We all know right from wrong, it is a question of how much money, greed [and] desperation will it take for you to do what you know is wrong.

Once you take the first step it starts a process that can find you in my situation.

It is easier to move that line ever so slightly daily until you don’t realize how far off course you really have wandered.

References

FBI Announces Operation Continued Action Targeting Financial Institution Fraud. (2004) Press Release. Retrieved from www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel04/contaction091704 on August 12, 2008.

Krehmeyer, D. (2007) Teaching Business Ethics: A Critical Need. Business Week Online.  P4.

Nichols, N. (2007) Professional Ethics: The Importance of teaching ethics to future professionals. Professional Safety. P37-41

Values-Based Decision-Making. Lifeworks Services, Inc. 2004.

Jana Schrenkler is an Assistant Professor of Business at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in Winona, MN. She can be reached via email at jschrenk@smumn.edu.

The realization in the differences between our lives became more clear to me earlier this week when I was leading a seminar on ethics. Thiry other prisoners were present during the meeting. Many were white collar offenders like me who had been reared in privileged backgrounds. Others, however, had grown up in the poverty of housing projects that were infested with gangs and criminal lifestyles.

Whereas I had enjoyed many opportunities to thrive and make meaningful contributions to the world, those former gang bangers never had a real chance. They were reared without fathers or stability. Guns and violence were as normal to them as baseball was to me. I felt a heavy sense of shame as I listened to their stories and shared mine. I realized that with my background, society had a right to expect more from me.

Upon my release, I intended to devote some time mentoring or providing some leadership guidance to at-risk adolescents. Although we did not share the same background, racial identity, or life experiences, I knew that I could infuse some with hope. Those young people needed a sense of direction. They needed to understand the self-empowerment that could come through education and goals; likewise, they needed to understand how bad decisions could lead to imprisonment and loss.

I had a close friend, Julio Marcial, who built a career around opening opportunities for at-risk adolescents. I trusted that Julio could direct my efforts to contribute. At the moment, my thoughts were to contribute some time each week to homes for troubled youth or to centers that confined them, I could motivate them, guide them, show them steps that would set them on a better path. I had worked as a big brother before, but I felt much better prepared to make meaningful contributions now that I’ve served time in prison.

Some of my fellow white-collar offenders didn’t share my sense of empathy. They told me that I was too hard on myself when I expressed that as a well-educated man with opportunities, I should have been held to a higher standard. My exposure to prison may have been brief, but it has had a profound effect on me. I not only wanted to emerge successfully, I also felt compelled to redeem myself by helping others reach their full potential. I intended to start by helping at-risk adolescents.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Life was filled with disappointments. In prison, those disappointments seemed to keep coming. The attitude that worked for me required that I kept focus on the broader perspective, just as I did during that baseball game more than a decade ago. More important than my own dismal stats during that game was the advancement of our team’s efforts.

Today was a disappointing day. I watched the Dow Jones Industrial Average drop to levels not seen since 1997. I knew that millions of americans were losing value in this market, and my own retirement account was being crushed. Yet I had to keep my perspective. Instead of dwelling on what I could not control, I had to find strength and gratitude in the blessings I had. Like the miserable baseball game of so many years ago, current financial conditions were transient. I believed in America, and my experience convinced me to believe in myself.

I had endured more than 300 days of confinement. There was a time when I couldn’t conceive the end. But now I’m in March. The spring is here and in only 77 more days I will walk from the prison boundaries of Taft into the loving embrace of my family and community. My parents are in good helath; my brother and sister-in-law brought my nice into the world; I am 34-years-old and fully capable of thriving in any environment. I’ve often heard the cliche that what doesn’t kill a man makes him stronger. Now I know the meaning of that maxim. Prison has made me stronger.

Those who expect a struggle through the criminal justice system must keep perspective. I learned that lesson, among many others, from this experience. There will be ups and downs and adversity from outside forces we cannot control. Yet we do not control our attitudes. We control the manner in which we respond to all that comes our way. From this experience, I have learned the power that comes from virtues such as tolerance and acceptance. Rather than feeling crippled by adversity, I’ve learned to empower myself with confidence and gratitude. I look forward to sharing these lessons with others.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

My presentation for the class today is not spontaneous. I take this subject of ethics very seriously, as I know that it was my sliding away from ethics that led to my troubles with the law. As a young man, I felt that I lived with strong core values. Athletics and the strong role models in my life imbued me with an appreciation of right from wrong. As I entered the class of money management, however, I began to compromise my commitment to ethics. That was a mistake with lifelong repercussions.

I am convinced that both academics and human resource departments of corporations need to offer more personal stories on ethical dilemmas of the work place. When I was a student at USC, I never paid attention to abstract concepts. Ethics did not seem like a subject that I needed to learn. At Bear Stearns and UBS, the culture of  Wall Street prevailed. It was not one that placed a strong emphasis on ethics.

The other prisoners who sit in my audience today may have views that differ from mine. Most led careers in business prior to their confinement, and some were officers of publicly traded corporations. I have found that I have a deeper sense of remorse than many of the men with whom I served time — at least that has been my perception. Today I intend to open up. Perhaps together, we can find some ideas that will make a contribution of more effective ethical lessons that students and business professionals may consider.

Clearly, the need for a continuing training in ethics exists. The newspapers publish stories every day about financial scandals. I submit that many of the culprits did not set out to live as criminals. Lapses in ethics, however, led to their demise. Better training may help others. I hope to help.

Monday, March 2, 2009

In cases where the sentences were relatively short, the legislation helped, though it was not monumental. Certainly, my family and I feel thrilled that I will return to quasi freedom six weeks sooner than would have otherwise been the case, though in the bigger picture, six weeks is not life changing. This week, I learned of another prisoner who is receiving much more consideration.

The other prisoners refer to the man as Coach. He has been incarcerated for more than 16 years, and he expected to serve another 24 months before release. Coach is 73-years-old, and he has been serving time for a white-collar offense. He has worked out every day of his sentence, and as a consequence of his exercise, Coach has the build of an athlete in his mid-thirties. I am not exaggerating. He does not have access to weights, but through isometrics, and jerry-built systems on the yard with rocks and sticks, Coach has built massive biceps, a powerful chest, and kept his waist trim with slate-like abdominals. With his full head of hair, a casual glance would suggest Coach is no older than 40.

Despite his physical appearance, Coach is not 40.  He is 73.  Besides his age, Coach has served longer than 10 years, he has completed more than 75 percent of his sentence, and he does not have a history of violence. Taken together, provisions under the Second Chance Act now qualify Coach for release to home confinement. Rather than serving an additional 24 months, Coach’s case manager notified him that he will be releasing to home confinement within the next month. That was a monumental change.

As I contemplated Coach’s release, I realized the absurdity of some of these federal sentences. This was not a subject I would have contemplated had I not lived amidst so many prisoners. Coach was 73-years-old and he had been incarcerated for more than 16 years. It seemed prudent that administrators would release him to home confinement early. What purpose would two more years of confinement serve? Society reaped no further benefit from continuing to inflict the punishment of confinement after so much time had passed.

What I found troubling, however, was that our society continued to lock tens of thousands more offenders in prison despite their having served significant portions of their terms. I didn’t see the point. They could not receive consideration under the new legislation, however, because to qualify for the earlier access to home confinement, the prisoner had to be older than 65; had to have served longer than 10 years; and had to have completed more than 75 percent of the sentence imposed. Very few people would merit consideration under such provisions, and society paid a heavy price because of the lunacy in such laws.

Such was an observation I made in my final 86 days. I felt happy for Coach, but concerned that we needed further prison reforms to improve our system in meaningful ways.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Those thoughts came to me yesterday, as I was walking back toward my housing unit from the visiting room. My friend Brad had driven up from Los Angeles to visit with me and we enjoyed a wonderful few hours together. He has been a close friend of mine since childhood, and he has been extremely supportive of me throughout my ordeal. While we were visiting, another prisoner introduced me to his wife, and she told me how much she enjoyed reading my blog postings. The day before, I sat for an interview with representatives of a university who wanted to talk with me about my case and my journey through the criminal justice system.

All of that attention, with visits from home, compliments from strangers, interactions with universities, camouflaged the seriousness of my predicament. As I walked back into prison after my visit, however, I realized that I was not some kind of celebrity. I was a felon, a prisoner, a convicted criminal. It was my duty to atone, to redeem the troubles I had caused.

As I thought about the very different status I would have in society upon my release, I understood that these final 87 days I was serving may be the calm before the storm. I feel prepared to navigate my way through the challenges ahead, but new concerns are creeping into my conscience. For the rest of my life, I must accept that others will look at me as if I am a bad example. That stings. It is the shame I have brought upon myself as a consequence of my criminal behavior.

When these anxieties come over me, I feel sobered, as if I no longer have the right to smile, as if I should hold my head down in disgrace. I want so badly to live as a part of society again, to make my parents proud. Will that be possible? I don’t know, and I’m struggling with the likelihood that regardless of what good I strive to do or contribute, I will forever live with the stigmas associated with my criminal conviction. I will be the stockbroker from Bear Stearns and UBS who facilitated a Ponzi scheme.

I was once an athlete, a man who lived with a sense of honor, dignity, and integrity. Knowing that I had forfeited the right to be characterized by such virtues was my real punishment. That knowledge was far worse than the year I was serving in prison, far more substantial than the six-figure costs associated with my crime. People might shake my hand and smile upon greeting me, but what would they say behind my back? “He was in prison,” I presume. For the rest of my life, I would carry this stigma. Like Sisyphus endured, it was punishment without end. I earned it, I suppose.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

I had come into contact with Kelly through my friend Walt Pavlo, who was a leading speaker on the subject of ethics. Kelly and I exchanged a correspondence through which I introduced myself and explained the motivations behind the crimes I had committed as a stock broker with UBS. As an effort of full disclosure, I had sent Kelly all of the legal documents pertaining to my case.

After reviewing my work, Kelly and her students saw some value in gathering more data from me. She accepted the challenge of coordinating authorization from prison administrators at Taft Camp, then arranged a flight out to visit. Kelly was expecting, however, and her doctor advised that with a delivery scheduled for March, it would not be prudent for her to fly. She adjusted by coordinating several of her graduate students and teaching assistants to make the trip in her stead.

This was a real production, and I felt privileged to participate. Karen Chodzicki was a graduate student working toward her MBA, and she served in the capacity of interviewer. Along with Karen were two additional students who served as the film crew. Karen had come with a few pages of questions that she had put together with Kelly and others. Karen was going to lead the interview while the film crew recorded us both. Following her interview with me, Karen and the film crew were driving to Los Angeles in order to interview my mother, Tallie.

With the economic crisis plaguing our country, I understood that both academic and corporate leaders would need to expand the literature on the subject of ethics. I was happy to contribute in any way that seemed appropriate. As a former stockbroker with Bear Stearns and UBS, I had direct experience with the dichotomy that existed between published corporate ethics codes with the actual practices within the corporate culture. As a consequence of the continuous dilemma between ethics and compensation schedules presented in the professional environment of money management, headlines were showing that many in business were making the wrong decision. By exposing my own experiences and describing the humiliation I felt, I hoped to put a human face on the subject and help others make better decisions.

Neither Karen nor I had experience with filming such an interview before, but she was a true professional. While the camera crew was setting up the lighting equipment in a conference room, she chatted amicably with me to set my nerves at ease. She showed me the questions that had been prepared, and I understood at once that I could serve the project best by responding with both honesty and humility. Despite the cameras and attention, this was a project of shame. I had done wrong, used poor discretion, and broken criminal laws. The purpose was to convey my feelings of remorse, what had gone wrong within my sense of morality, and the price that these egregious errors in judgment I had made inflicted upon the victims, my family, and on society. Our objective was not to glamorize my status as a prisoner, but rather to help students and other audience members understand the consequences of ethical slides. I would serve as an example of a business professional who had made bad decisions.

Although I clearly understood that in participating with the interview I was exposing myself to relive the humiliating punishment of my conviction over and over again, I felt a kind of cleansing in telling my story and expressing my remorse. My dear mother would be augmenting the production by describing how my inappropriate actions had hurt her. This was an offer of atonement for me, to redeem my indiscretions by making this contribution to the study of ethics. In describing the prices I was paying for bad decisions, I hoped to provide others with the reasons to stay vigilant in their commitments to lead lives of honesty and integrity, consistent with the principles of good conduct. I felt grateful to Kelly, Karen, and all the others who brought me this opportunity to contribute.

Friday, February 20, 2009

I feel fortunate in that regard. I had better guidance. Others who had experience in moving through the system helped me understand adjustment strategies that would ensure each day passed productively. I didn’t have too much time to serve. Yet during my year of confinement, I felt that I made as much progress as possible. The choices and the discipline have brought me more confidence to confront the crises ahead.

In prison, it became easy to disengage from the wider community. Here at Taft Camp we had wonderful recreational facilities and relatively comfortable housing conditions. I saw photographs of other prisons, where men were crammed together in open dormitories and assigned to triple bunks. The conditions we enjoyed did not absolve us of the stress that came with separation from family, but we had it easier than many people in prison.

Whether a prisoner was confined in easy or hard conditions, the onus was on him to stay alert to the challenges he would face upon release. I had never been confined before, and it followed that I had never been released from prison before. Guidance I had, however, helped me contemplate steps I could take to prepare for the challenges ahead. I attributed that guidance to the confidence I felt as my release date approached. Many of the readers who stumble across my blog writings anticipate that they soon will begin serving time in federal prison camps. I know this because I’ve received messages and letters. I always emphasize that those individuals ought to seek counsel from people who have not only survived prison, but thrived through prison. Attorneys may have been helpful in leading the defendant through the criminal justice system. Prisons, however, were different social structures entirely. A dynamic existed inside prison boundaries that was absent in any other American community. That was the reason seven out of every ten people who experienced prison returned to confinement upon release.

This morning I heard government estimates that unemployment rates could top 9 percent before the end of this year. Despite those dismal predictions, people in prison could adjust in ways to prepare. For me, that meant mastering discipline. It meant working early, reading extensively, writing prolifically, and thinking constantly. As a consequence of my deliberate adjustment decisions, I felt ready to leave the turmoil of conferment, and contribute to the making of a better America. Eighty-nine more days.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

As I walked to her office, I mentally went through the possibilities. For the past several months I’ve worked as a janitorial orderly in the housing unit and my counselor also happened to be my supervisor. I wondered whether she wanted to speak with me about my work performance, or whether my bunk was made up neatly enough.

When I stepped into her office, I realized the meeting was about a different matter entirely. She needed me to sign a form that provided my consent to sit for an interview. A professor from out-of-state was flying in to visit with me, and a film crew would be accompanying her. This was not a typical experience for federal prisoners, and although I had been working on the project for several months, the imminent reality that others would find meaning in my work really struck me. I signed the authorization form.

My meeting with professor Kelly Pope was scheduled to take place on Thursday, which is tomorrow. Kelly is a professor from DePaul University, in Chicago. She is a distinguished academic who teaches both undergraduate and graduate students various courses in the business school. Her interest in my work relates to courses she teaches in ethics.

I came into contact with Kelly indirectly. I have a friend who has built a practice on speaking of ethics, and he introduced my situation to Kelly. She wrote me during my early months of confinement and indicated that providing her students with real examples of ethical dilemmas helped them understand the challenges they would face as they embarked upon business careers. I was happy to contribute by sharing a few letters with Kelly that elaborated on the complications that led to my disgrace.

That initial correspondence with Kelly coincided with some soul-searching that I was doing to cope with my confinement. In order to find my way home, I realized that I needed to make some meaning of this journey I was on through the criminal justice system. My entire adjustment began to focus on steps I could take to reconcile with society. I thought about what I could do to add value to the lives of others. The predicament I created for myself left me with one option, and that was to illuminate the consequences that frequently followed unethical behavior.

I read extensively on the subject, and I undertook a kind of ethnographic study of my own. By default, I became a kind of cultural anthropologist, immersed in this society of felons. Living amongst hundreds of other white-collar offenders, I began collecting data, trying to make sense of the motivations that drove us all from lives of responsibility, respectability, and trust in the vise grips of the criminal justice system. By sharing what I have learned from personal experience and from others, I hoped to add value to society and redeem myself.

Tomorrow, I would begin to bring a public face to my shame. I feel a quiver of trepidation in my stomach, as I realize that I’ll be opening myself on camera. Students will dissect my responses to questions, and some will seek to filet me. Yet I will respond to Kelly’s questions honestly. This contribution may expose me as a symbol of the misaligned values that have corrupted American business. Nevertheless, I accept the opportunity as a challenge. I was once a part of the problem and I cannot dispute or undo the past. Through these deliberate efforts I make, however, I intend to live as part of the solution. My interview with Kelly and the students of DePaul University represents the first of many steps.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009