Top Ten Prison Reform Goals

Top Ten Prison Reform Goals, Article 5: Prison Reforms Ought To Enable Financial Stability

Prison rules that prohibit inmates from earning an income do not serve society’s interests. More than 650,000 people return to American communities from places of confinement each year. Those who have served lengthy periods of time leave confinement without the resources necessary to function. They lack clothing, shelter, and money. For many, finding employment may […]

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 […]

Top Ten Prison Reform Goals, Article 4: Prison Reforms Should Include Partnering Prisoners with Community Leaders and Mentors

Blinky and I were confined in the same housing unit when I began serving my term. He had been incarcerated for ten years and he had a set pattern for serving time that I found typical of the penitentiary. Every morning he left for work in the prison factory, where Blinky presided over an operation […]

Top Ten Prison Reform Goals, Article 3: Prison Reforms Should Encourage Prisoners to Build Supportive Success Networks

Prison administrators like to hang signs and posters promoting success platitudes. Reach For The Stars! Be Persistent! Never Give Up! The motivational signs might fool those in groups that tour institutions into believing that administrators make authentic efforts to prepare offenders for successful re-entry into society. Those locked in prisons, on the other hand, recognize […]

Top Ten Prison Reform Goals, Article 2: Prison Reforms Ought to Offer Incentives to Transform Prisoners into Students and Teachers

Our prison system churns out repeat failures at an alarming rate. As a prisoner who has been locked in various prisons since 1987, I’ve learned a great deal from the thousands with whom I’ve served time. Personal experiences, observations, and lessons I’ve learned from others convince me that I know the prison reforms necessary to […]

Top Ten Prison Reform Goals, Article 1: Prison Reforms Should Influence Positive Attitudes

To succeed, prison reforms must begin by changing prisoner attitudes. After more than 21 years of thriving through prisons of every security level, I am well aware of the attitude necessary for a successful prison adjustment. I also know the changes administrators must make to reverse the costly and troubling trend of high recidivism rates. […]