Limited Intimacy in Prison

Joe Gonzalez asked me how prisoners coped with prison visiting rules. He thought that rules prohibiting prisoners from expressing more intimacy than a single kiss and embrace at the start and conclusion of each visit could lead to emotional struggle. He was right. As a prison family, Carole and I have had to cope with […]

Prison Made Me Liberal

Ana Diaz is a criminal justice student who takes issue with my assertion that prisons condition failure. She asks whether I have any suggestions on better alternatives to deter crime. As I read her question, I understood that it came from the premise of the conservative principle that prisons deter crime. I am much more […]

26 Years in Prison is Too Long

Maria Iniguez, a college student studying criminal justice, expressed her beliefs that a judge’s political leanings could influence a sentence imposed. She believed that judges espousing liberal philosophies imposed lighter sentences than conservative judges. That theory may not be as clear cut as it would seem on the surface. In the mid-1980s, legislators passed laws […]

Family Ties Lower Prison Recidivism

Asha Nettles asked me how I thought family ties, and personal commitments such as marriage influenced whether prisoners would revert to crime upon release. She also asked whether I thought prison administrators should limit their hiring to those who believed in the power of rehabilitation. I’m grateful that Asha has given me this privilege of […]

Serving Democracy from Prison

Prison administrators would like to stop me from writing about the culture of confinement. I know this because numerous staff members have admonished me for writing books and articles that describe what I have learned from other prisoners. Administrators have ordered my transfer from three separate prisons, each time as a consequence of my writing. […]

Prisons Need Fundamental Changes

Timothy Perea commented on an article I wrote about prison policies. He disagreed with my position that we needed reforms to improve the effectiveness of prison. Timothy felt convinced that prisons should result in harsh punishment and that providing any type of incentives would only breed more crime. I disagree, and I appreciate the opportunity […]

Purpose of Prisons

I received a comment from Angelica who was responding to an article I wrote about prison staff members. I titled that article They’re Prison Guards, Not Correctional Officers. From that article, Angelica had some questions. She wanted me to elaborate. All of my responses, of course, come from the observations and experiences I’ve had as […]

Prison Staff Can Help Prisoners Emerge Successfully

Stephanie asked several questions about my perceptions of correctional officers, or guards who take a sincere interest in helping prisoners emerge successfully. During the 21 years that I have served, I have interacted with many, many people who pursued careers with the prison system. Although the system itself is designed in such a way to […]

Incentives Would Lessen Lure of Prison Gangs

Kassandra Fraga commented on my article entitled Prison Reforms Can Help Solve Gang Problems. She wondered whether I thought most prisoners would take advantage of opportunities to earn incentives rather than succumb to gang influences. Kassandra also asked how I thought prison gangs would respond to those who pursued incentives. My experience of living in […]

Hope Leads to Positive Prison Adjustments

Daisy Gonzalez commented on my article entitled Motivating Prisoners to Make Positive Changes. She asked whether I thought the correctional system had an influence on the decisions prisoners made. She also asked about the influences family members had on prisoner decisions. I feel grateful for this opportunity to respond to both of Daisy’s questions. As […]

Redemption of Frank Fernandez

Frank Fernandez was 34-years-old when he began serving his prison sentence. That was back in 1993. He had been convicted of transporting drugs. It was his first serious drug offense, and his judge hammered him with a 210-month sentence. Feeling dazed when the judge slammed his hammer down on the bench, as if he’d received […]

Prison Camps Waste Taxpayer Resources

President Obama has repeatedly said that under his administration, leaders will evaluate the effectiveness of every government agency and program. Those that provide useful services to society will received appropriate resources, and those that fail will undergo reforms. I know the economy, the war efforts, foreign policy, energy, and health care take priority. As long-term […]

Convicted Stockbroker Describes Ethical Lessons

I met Justin Paperny in federal prison. He self-surrendered to the minimum-security camp in the late spring of 2008, and we became friends. Justin was sentenced to serve an 18-month term for a conviction redacted to securities fraud. His was not a background that would have suggested he would encounter trouble with the criminal justice […]

Intro on Ethics

As a prisoner confined inside federal minimum-security camps, I served time alongside many white-collar offenders. The other prisoners with whom I shared housing space previously held positions as corporate CEOS, executives, and small businessmen. Others had once been professionals with careers in medicine, law, accounting, and politics. Most of those offenders were new to prison. […]

Rich Man, Poor Man

I read of several financial professionals who were charged with securities fraud and other fraud charges during the past week. On February 25, James Nicholson of Westgate Capital Management, was charged with crimes that defrauded investors of more than $100 million. Paul Greenwood and Stephen Walsh of WG Trading Investors were arrested on fraud charges […]