Thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to your understanding of the criminal justice system. I am sorry to have read about the struggles your own family had with the system, and it is precisely your experience that convinces me of the need for prison reforms that would enable prisoners to nurture family ties.

In the Second Chance Act, Congress made findings that showed prisoners with strong family ties were the least likely to recidivate. That’s why prison reforms make good sense. The basis would not be to make prisons suffer, but to lower recidivism rates and to encourage more prisoners to prepare for law-abiding lives upon release. A prisoner with a strong family stands more reason to adjust to prison, and to society in positive ways.

The initial reforms I would like to see would open access for prisoners to communicate with family and positive role models. Administrators should encourage rather than restrict prisoner efforts to talk on the phone, to visit, and to communicate in writing. If necessary, administrators could condition telephone access, visiting, and e-mail on productive adjustment patterns.

These changes would not endanger society nor would they burden taxpayers. On the contrary, such reforms would lead to safer prisons and stronger family ties.

Best wishes to you and your family,
Michael Santos

Mr. Santos,
In your article “Prison Policies Block Families from Nurturing Ties with Loved Ones in Prison” you mention how it is unconstitutional to not allow an inmate to marry. Also, you mention that strong family ties are a positive influence on an inmate in and out of prison. The example with Jeff was very interesting, as he faced various barriers that encouraged him against marriage in prison. It was unbelievable that although the Supreme Court ruled that inmates can marry, the chaplain initially refused to marry Jeff. The prison administration should be in favor of anything that can be of positive influence for the inmates.
Now, my questions to you are: As an inmate who married while in prison, did you face any negative influence or barriers when you tried to marry your wife Carole? Was there anyone in the prison, such as administrators or counselors that encouraged you or helped you in the process? In this article, you focus mainly on family ties concerning marriage, and it has been been proven that children live a healthier lifestyle when both parents are a part of their life; what is you view on that? How can the prisons reform to allow an inmate to be a parent/husband/son/brother? Family ties have a positive effect on inmates, how much can be done to help strengthen those ties?
I thank you for taking your time to provide us with your insight. I really enjoyed reading this article, the article “They’re Prison Guards, Not Correctional Officers,” and your book. I also thank you ahead of time for answering my questions.

R. Hernandez

Thank you for taking the time in reading and responding to my questions.

Hope you can reply and thanks for taking the time to read it.

-JD

Mr. Santos:

In your article entitled “Prison Policies Block Families from Nurturing Ties with Loved Ones in Prison” you talked about Jeff, the inmate who was trying to get married to the mother of his children while incarcerated. I found it a bit surprising that a chaplain would purposely try and stop an inmate from getting married, when it showed that he was emotional stable and ready to think beyond himself and whatever crime he committed.

My first question to you is how you feel family ties and commitments, such as marriage and children, later effect whether or not a prisoner will commit any crimes again? Also do you think that only prison staff that believed in rehabilitating prisoners should be hired to facilitate the prisons? I would think that if prisoners are going to be released into society, they should be helped and supported by people who care.

I did enjoy reading you article and am currently in the middle of your book. Thank you for the time you take to contribute to my understanding of Corrections

– Asha Nettles

http://prisonnewsblog.com/2009/02/strong-community-ties-can-motivate-prisoners-to-adjust-positively/

Best wishes,
Carole

http://prisonnewsblog.com/2009/02/do-prison-staff-members-encourage-and-promote-a-postive-lifestyle-for-prisoners/

Thank you for writing, we appreciate your interest in Michael’s work.
Best wishes,
Carole