Prison Reform Should Include Incentives to Encourage Positive Growth

With a surge in violence in federal prisons across America, Bureau of Prison officials have responded by creating a Special Management Program inside the walls of the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg. The new program design makes living conditions at USP Lewisburg much more restrictive than other high-security penitentiaries, yet not quite as restrictive as […]

Influences of John Locke and Thomas Hobbs on Prison Reform

I’ve heard a couple of poignant political explanations since my imprisonment began, in 1987. A Democrat, I’ve been told, was simply a Republican who had been arrested. A Republican, on the other hand, was simply a Democrat who had been mugged. Such descriptions simplified political parties, of course, mistakenly reducing their total platform positions to […]

Prison Reforms Can Help Solve Gang Problems

In the 15 December 2008 issue of U.S. News and World Report, Alex Kingsbury published a lengthy story entitled “The War on Gangs.” According to Mr. Kingsbury’s article, the FBI estimates that nearly 800,000 people belong to more than 26,000 gangs. Those numbers are high, yet they exclude prison gangs, a group with which I […]

Motivating Prisoners to Make Positive Changes

In the fall of 2008, Forbes.com invited me to contribute an article on the concept of Power in Prison. As a long-term prisoner, I considered the opportunity a privilege. Intrigued with life inside the society of felons, readers issued a top ranking to the article. My wife, Carole, periodically checks the article and prints comments […]

Prison Reform Should Include Pell Grants for Prisoners

In today’s punitive prison system, fewer prisoners have access to higher education. I read an article that Matthew Ryno published at Wiscnews.com, for example, that described how the federal prison in Oxford was about to substitute a program through which inmates could earn degrees from the University of Wisconsin in order for the prison to […]

Seven Habits of Highly Successful Prisoners–Article Five

Prisoners Should Think Win-Win Prisoners who succeed on a high level commit to adjustment patterns that bring victory to all parties. Success necessitates a focus on much more than the prisoner himself. Successful adjustments require the individual to enhance the lives of others, not just his own life. Too many prisoners serve their sentences without […]

Seven Habits of Highly Successful Prisoners–Article Four

Prisoners Should Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood Prisons differ from other communities in America. Those of us who live inside the boundaries must contend with administrative rules and policies that frequently seem ridiculous. We, as prisoners, do not see the logic in restrictions that preclude us from nurturing family and community ties […]

Seven Habits of Highly Successful Prisoners–Article Three

Prisoners Should Put First Things First Once prisoners understand how to begin with the end in mind, they can advance to the next stage of a successful adjustment pattern through prison. That strategy requires prisoners to put first things first. It means developing a timeline from which they can measure their progress. For example, if […]

Seven Habits of Highly Successful Prisoners–Article Two

Prisoners Should Adjust with the End in Mind Prisoners sentenced to serve one year or 25 years share at least one eventuality in common. Both have scheduled release dates. As such, they can both begin serving their sentences with the end in mind. Those prisoners who envision how they want to emerge can chart a […]

Seven Habits of Highly Successful Prisoners–Article One

Prisoners Should Embrace Proactive Adjustment Patterns Prisoners should not allow the obstructions of confinement to block them from preparations they had to make to succeed upon release. During the 21-plus years that I’ve served in prisons of every security level, I’ve listened to numerous prisoners complain about the lack of opportunities to add value to […]

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 […]

Preparing For Love Despite Imprisonment

On Sunday, 25 January 2009, The New York Times published an article by Matthew Parker in its Modern Love section. Mr. Parker was a graduate student at Columbia University and a man who had served 11 years in prison on an installment plan, a few years here followed by a few years there. He was […]

Era of Transparency Should Abolish Administration Obstacles to Prisoner Writings.

President Obama issued an order indicating that “every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known.” As a federal prisoner who writes about the reasons our country needs prison reform, I was encouraged to learn […]

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 […]

Suggestions to Improve The Presentence Investigation Process

I write from the perspective of man who has been incarcerated for longer than 21 years. I’ve also interviewed hundreds of other prisoners for the purposes of gathering information to write content that would help others understand prison, the people they hold, and strategies for growing through confinement. My work has convinced me that defendants […]