News FeedPrison reform
Prisoners Can Be A Resource For Society
As a long-term prisoner, I am also looking for opportunities to contribute to society. One of the strategies I enjoy is writing, but when possible, I also enjoy speaking. I participate in a group at Taft Camp that goes by the unusual acronym TOAD. The name stands for Those Outspoken Against Drugs. Its purpose is […]
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 […]
Consider Prisoner Voices in Deliberations on Prison Reform
President-elect Obama spoke about reforms he intended to bring to America’s health care system. He said that in working to improve the system, as President he would bring all parties to the round table for discussion. Mr. Obama wants input from doctors, nurses, patients, administrators, and others who can suggest steps the Congress and our […]
Expanding The Broken Glass Theory for Prison Reform
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference , the author wrote about The Broken Glass Theory. I had read about the study before, as many law-and-order types extolled its merits. The Broken Glass Theory held that when society allowed the most trivial offenses to go unpunished, more […]
In Our Current Economic Crisis, do Prisoners Have Life Too Good?
Our country currently suffers through an economic crisis. Millions of Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure. Others live with worry about whether they will be able to hold onto their jobs. Credit is drying up, yet basic costs of living are rising. Those who live in prison, on the other hand, receive clothing, food, […]
Prison Reforms We Can Believe In
Ultimately, society relies upon these prisons as tools to encourage law-abiding behavior. Yet flaws within the design of the prison system render it less effective than its potential. Statistics show that more than six of every ten people in America’s prison system return to confinement after their initial release. Reforms can lower those recidivism rates […]
Overhaul the Prison System: Prison release based on merit not calendar
If society does not expect prisons to do anything more than warehouse human beings, then prisons succeed brilliantly. Yet, if taxpayers want a better return on their massive investment of public funds, then they need to overhaul the prison system.I am hopeful that the change our political leaders promise to bring to our country will […]
Why Don’t More Prisoners Take Advantage of Improvement Programs?
America is a magnificent country because it inspires hope in all of its citizens. Anyone who applies effort and works toward excellence can succeed. Every American has the power within to reach meaningful goals. Those who live in prison, on the other hand, struggle through constraints that are much more like communism than the society […]
We need President Obama to appoint a new Director in the Bureau of Prisons
The President appoints Director of the Bureau of Prisons. The Director presides over an agency that employs more than 25,000 people and incarcerates more than 200,000 people. The Director sets the policy for the Bureau of Prisons. All employees of the BOP carry out the Director’s mission, and the prisoners must live within the rules […]
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 […]
Effective Prison Reform: Restore Hope
Prisons operate with 70 percent recidivism rates for a simple reason. They extinguish hope. Instead of encouraging prisoners to develop values, skills, and resources that will help them live contributory lives, prison policies and the infrastructure of the prison system crushes the spirit and humanity of every man serving time. Overcoming the pervasive negativity requires […]
Prisons Fail to Prepare Offenders for Law-Abiding Lives
Many social scientists have observed that bureaucracies, in time, take on a life of their own. Prisons follow this pattern. Where they were originally designed to confine offenders into small cells until the men became penitent, they have since morphed into complex, total institutions that place little interest in whether offenders become penitent or whether […]
The Time is Now for Prison Reform in America
This morning, Sunday October 19th, I woke early to watch the morning news reports and saw that supporters of Barack Obama donated more than $150 million to his campaign in September, and that General Colin Powell endorsed Obama’s campaign for the presidency. Karl Rove’s electoral map showed that if the election were held today, Obama […]
How hope keeps drugs out of prisons
Over the past 21-plus years, I have served time in prisons of every security level. While I was locked inside the walls of a high security penitentiary, I saw significant problems with drugs. The problems were not much less in medium-security prisons, or in low-security prisons. Ironically, when administrators transferred me to minimum-security camps, in […]
Why Don’t More Prisoners Take Advantage of Improvement Programs?
America is a magnificent country because it inspires hope in all of its citizens. Anyone who applies effort and works toward excellence can succeed. Every American has the power within to reach meaningful goals. Those who live in prison, on the other hand, struggle through constraints that are much more like communism than the society […]
