News FeedPrison reform
Prison Lobbyists vs Prison Reform
Read Michael’s recent posts on Change.org:
Most Popular Posts by Michael Santos
What Happened to Prison Reform?
Do Longer Prison Sentences Make the Public Safer?
The View from Inside: Prison Time Doesn’t Equal Justice
Take Action on Long-Term Imprisonment
Bring Back Federal Parole
And here’s a related article addressing the issue of prison lobbyists vs. prison reform:
First Solve Prison Crisis, then [...]
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 [...]
Prison Administrators Should Not Discourage Successful Adjustments
Many years have passed since I read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. When I read the story, I was locked inside the impenetrable walls of the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta. I was in my early 20s then, and staring down the long end of a 45-year prison sentence. A character from [...]
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 [...]
Prison Reform
Earlier this year, Senator Jim Webb introduced a bill in the senate to establish a committee that would study the need for reform of the entire criminal justice system. His announcement came with a considerable amount of media attention. Parade magazine featured a front-page spread, and numerous other national publications publicized the proposed legislation. Over [...]
Community Leaders in Taft Camp
Carole and I are grateful for opportunities to contribute to the lives of others. A few weeks ago, David and Tuvia, two men who recently joined our community at Taft Camp, kindly introduced us to their wives, Judy and Gila. Our limited time with family in the visiting room is precious, so we can’t afford [...]
Reality TV Can Advance Prison Reform
The schedule that I keep as a prisoner does not leave room for television, but that doesn’t mean I don’t read about television programming. Recently I’ve read several articles that describe America’s fascination with reality TV. One show receiving a lot of coverage is Jon and Kate Plus Eight, with reports showing that as many [...]
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 [...]
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 in [...]
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 that [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
