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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 of financial crisis worse [...]
President Obama… Answer This
This is fantastic!
Check out: http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/990
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34p0YiSp8g&feature=player_embedded
What it’s about:
1. Alienation of people: We are creating refugees amongst our own people. Inmates come back not feeling like they are part of their own community; not knowing “we the people” means them too.
2. Break up of families: unreasonable prison policies and a culture of oppression is further tarring up [...]
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 served [...]
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 grateful [...]
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 [...]
BOP Director’s Misrepresentation to Congress
Harley Lappin, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, issued a prepared statement to a Congressional committee on March 10, 2009. In Director Lappin’s lengthy statement pertaining to the Second Chance Act, he expressed that an integral part of the BOP’s mission indicates that “the post-release success of offenders is as important to public safety [...]
Senator Jim Webb Brings a Voice to Prison Reform
Please support this effort by contacting your Congressional representatives! Tell them to support Sentator Webb and embrace prison reform. Find your representatives here: http://www.vote-smart.org.
America has too many people languishing in prisons for too many years, causing social and financial consequences that are destructive and wasteful.
****** Read Senator Webb’s Message to American Citizens******
http://webb.senate.gov/email/criminaljusticereform.html
The National Criminal Justice Act [...]
Senator Webb Moves Forward On National Panel for Prison Reform
The article below brings very exciting news! It’s what we’ve been waiting for… President Obama is positively endorsing Senator Jim Webb’s efforts to reform the current state of the prison system. Please write, call, fax, email… any way you can think of to contact the individuals identified in the message below and voice your support. Ask [...]
My Wife Opposes Funding Prisons in Economic Stimulus
I feel very proud of my wife for the active efforts she makes to live as an integral part of my life. In late January of this year, Carole told me that she had contacted the offices of both California senators to express her outrage that Republicans were trying to squeeze a billion dollars into [...]
Enthusiastic Endorsement for Prison Legal News
As a long-term prisoner, I want to express my admiration for what Paul Wright and Alex Friedman have accomplished. They are former prisoners who have made a huge difference in society through their publication known as Prison Legal News. Through that newspaper, they publish content that can be of great value to prisoners, family members [...]
Support Senator Jim Webb’s Call for Prison Reform!
The article below appeared in The Washington Post. Contact your elected Congressional officials and: 1) urge them to learn the facts about America’s failed prison system, 2) tell them to support legislation for national prison reform.
Click here to find your legislators and their contact information: United States Senators, US House of Representatives
Webb Sets His [...]
A Long-term Prisoner’s Reaction to Bush’s Clemency Orders
As I sat watching the CNN broadcast on Monday evening, November 24, 2008, I read a streaming announcement on the bottom of the screen. President Bush had commuted the sentences of two federal prisoners and granted pardons to fourteen other people. Although that news should have filled me with optimism, I was filled with a [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Speech on Second Chance Act
I delivered this speech from memory to a large audience at a Toastmasters Group meeting at Taft Camp on March 31, 2008 to share my understanding of the Second Chance Act.
Good morning Toastmasters and guests. Thank you for the honor of your attendance and attention.
I want everyone in this room to know that I stand here [...]
