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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 Lobbyists Enable Prisoners to Live Better than Some in Society
Carlos was a fellow prisoner who served with me inside Taft’s minimum-security camp. He was assigned to one of the cubicles adjacent to mine and we formed a friendship. Since he knew I spent a lot of time writing about the prison experience, he asked whether I ever wrote about what we as prisoners had […]
The Poor Get Prison, The Rich Get Pardoned
David Muniz serves a prison term with me at Taft Camp. He is a 28-year-old father of two who is serving a sentence of 11 years. During the three years that David has served thus far, he has earned his GED and he has begun accumulating college credits that will lead to his associate’s degree […]
Locking Up Bernard Madoff May Advance Prison Reform
White-collar offenders ought to learn a lesson from the scandal surrounding Bernard Madoff. He admitted to orchestrating a fraud that made victims of thousands. The man ran a diabolical scheme to enrich himself and his co-conspirators. By all accounts, Madoff’s fraud ran into the tens of billions of dollars and has led at least one […]
Say NO to $1 Billion for Prisons in Stimulus Package
From www.November.org Friends: We recommend that you call your two Senators. If you need to find out who they are, and contact information, visit: Vote-Smart () and enter your zip code. If you have faith in sending emails, there is a message and auto-email generation at (you will have to ‘sign-up’ with change.org to send […]
Legislators Should Make Changes to a Biased System of So-Called Justice that Favors the Super-Wealthy Elite.
On Tuesday, 6 January 2009, Pallavi Gogoi reported on the Bernard Madoff scandal for USA Today. The reporter identified Alan Goldstein, a 76-year-old investor whom Madoff had swindled for $4.2 million. Those funds represented all of Mr. Goldstein’s retirement savings. “He had to cash in his life insurance to make his mortgage,” the article reported. […]
Enron Chief’s Resentencing Further Illustrates Injustices Between the Rich and the Ordinary
It is just after 5 a.m. on 7 January 2009, and I just heard NPR broadcast the news. Although a jury convicted Jeff Skilling of presiding over a massive fraud that bilked billions in losses from ordinary Americans, and the appeals court affirmed Skilling’s conviction, NPR reported that the swindler will receive a new sentence. […]
Prison Reforms Should Introduce the Concept of Parity
Bernard Madoff, the con artist who led the largest Ponzi scheme in history, is said to have misappropriated more than $50 billion of investor funds. I’ve been reading about the people who suffered as a consequence of his massive fraud. One news report described people in their sixties and seventies who would have to return […]
Redemption in Prison has Meaning Under Obama Administration
We must pass through a few more weeks before a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court will swear President Obama into office. Yet reports I have read in various newspapers indicate he is moving quickly to fill the void of wisdom in leadership for our country. As a long-term prisoner, I am particularly interested in […]
Ordinary Americans Face Harsh Justice, While Powerful Enjoy Christmas at Home
In 1987, I was 23-years-old. That was the year I was arrested. I did not have more than a high school education then, and I had made some bad decisions. To earn an income, I wrongfully joined a group of friends and acquaintances to sell cocaine. We distributed cocaine to consenting adults only, and we […]
