Those Outspoken Against Drugs

For the first time since 1987, I left prison to participate in a community service program. More than 246 months had passed since I walked in society. The sensations surprised me. They began soon after I walked out of the Taft camp and sat in the back seat of a van that our staff sponsor […]

College Professor and Students Visit Me at Taft Camp

After more than 20 years of continuous confinement, every opportunity to interact with or contribute to society comes as an incredibly welcome treat. Yesterday, I had such a privilege, and I will savor the memory for many years to come. These experiences remind me that I will not live as a prisoner forever and that my return […]

Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America’s Prison Population

Read Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America’s Prison Population, a new report published by the JFA Institute (November 19, 2007). This report is a wonderful testimony for change and much-needed reform and relief in America’s prison system. Overview: Report Says U.S. Prison System In Need of Major Change Criminology experts and practitioners gathered […]

The Second Chance Act of 2007

The Second Chance Act of 2007 continues to bring hope to the lives of prisoners confined in Taft Camp. As of this writing, the possibility of this legislation passing remains alive. I’m hopeful that both Houses of Congress will approve the Bill and present it for signature to the President before the year ends. Although […]

Taft Prisoners Contributing to the Lives of Others

TOAD is an acronym for a leadership group in which I participate under the direction of Counselor Griffin at Taft Camp. The letters in TOAD stand for Those Outspoken Against Drugs. Several inmates participate in the group with the intention of helping others make better decisions. Each month, Counselor Griffin escorts a group of TOAD […]

Preparing Goals That Lead to Happiness and Success

With more than 20 years of prison behind me, I expect to serve somewhere between 51 and 63 more months as a federal prisoner. Because I am an old-law inmate, prison officials must compute my good time differently from most others. Besides that, I have a sliver of parole eligibility. On account of those complications, […]

Encouraging Others to Use the Free Services of PrisonSuccess.com

I’m very grateful to my sponsors and my wife for having built PrisonSuccess.com. This is a social networking Web site that we designed with hopes of helping other prisoners prepare for law-abiding lives upon release. It costs inmates nothing to participate on the site, yet allows them to document the progress they make through their […]

A Message of Gratitude to my Wife

More than three months have passed since administrators transferred me from the camp at Lompoc to the camp at Taft. As I’ve written in various other articles, this move has been a good one for me. The living conditions are better than anywhere I’ve been since my confinement began, back in 1987. The one difficulty […]

Comments on Ted Koppel’s Prison Special

The television room at Taft’s minimum-security camp was packed last night. Many of the inmates gathered to watch Ted Koppel’s two-hour show on the Discovery Channel that detailed California’s troubled prison system. Not long ago, Governor Schwarzenegger renamed California’s Department of Corrections. Now it uses the catchy phrase “Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections,” or some […]

Weekly Writing Activities

Now that I have finished the fall classes I was taking at Taft Community College, I am left with more time to work on my independent projects. That does not mean I will have free time, as the projects on which I’m working have no end. Specifically, I am revising the content on MichaelSantos.net, and […]

Thriving Through Adversity: 3rd Quarter 2007

During this past quarter I’ve moved into my third decade of continuous confinement. I am glad to have more than 20 years of continuous confinement behind me, and I’m hopeful that I can conclude my sentence from my current place of confinement, in Taft, California. I have been in the Taft prison camp for more […]

Hoping for More Access to Telephones and Visiting Time

As a long-term prisoner, maintaining close family and community ties is extremely important to me. The more love and support I receive, the more able I am to grow and prepare myself to emerge successfully from this quarter century that I expect to serve in federal prison. Over the past 20 years, I have served […]

Mondays at Taft Camp

Mondays bring a busy schedule for me here at Taft Camp. I participate in two groups; one consumes my mornings, and another takes up my afternoons. Each Monday morning, at 8:30, I join between 25 and 35 other men for our chapter meetings of the Taft Camp Toastmasters Club. I have participated in Toastmasters for […]

Avoiding the Prisoner Profile

Every man in federal prison is assigned to a particular job. At Taft Camp, where I was transferred in June of 2007, I was assigned to work in the food service department. As far as prison jobs are concerned, I consider my job at Taft one of the best work assignments that I’ve had during […]