Warehousing vs. Rehabilitation as the Goal of Prison

I would like to believe that rehabilitation mattered in the prison system. If rehabilitation mattered to the system, administrators would have released me many years ago. After all, during my first eight years of confinement, I earned an undergraduate degree from Mercer University and a graduate degree from Hofstra University. I was 31 and as […]

Educate Prisoners!

The Pell Grant ought to be available to people in prison. Congress provided that funding to help poor people advance their education. People who have access to higher education make greater contributions to society. They earn higher incomes than those without an education, and the incomes they receive stimulate the economy. Further, the taxes those […]

Prisons Divert Billions of Tax Dollars From Education and Health Care Programs

Rachel and Ana asked me some poignant questions on prison reform that I appreciate. An article I wrote on work-release and study-release interested them. They are criminal justice students and they understandably expect prisoners to pay a price for the crimes they committed against society’s laws. Rachel thought it unjust that people in prison could […]

Prison Administrators Can Lower Recidivism Rates by Offering Incentives

As I watched political news shows this past Sunday morning, I heard many Republican pundits assailing President Obama’s economic stimulus package with accusations that it lacks incentives for success. I wish those conservatives would support the use of incentives when deliberating over strategies for prison reform. For more than 21 years I’ve served time in various […]

Prison Reform Like Foreign Policy Reform

As a prisoner in the midst of my 22nd year in continuous confinement, I have had a first-hand look at this system. I’ve served virtually my entire adult life within prison boundaries of every security level. This perspective has given me unique opportunities and experiences from which I have learned. They convince me that prisons […]

Prisoners Can Earn University Degrees

Christine sent me a question asking whether prisoners could earn university degrees while they served sentences inside federal prison. The answer is yes. I provide details about education in my article Opportunities for Higher Learning and College Degrees. During the course of my imprisonment, I found the pursuit of higher education to be extremely fulfilling. […]

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 […]

In Our Current Economic Crisis, do Prisoners Have Life Too Good?

Our country currently suffers through an economic crisis. Millions of Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure. Others live with worry about whether they will be able to hold onto their jobs. Credit is drying up, yet basic costs of living are rising. Those who live in prison, on the other hand, receive clothing, food, […]

Does Mandatory Education Help Prisoners Prepare For Release?

In federal prison, those inmates who cannot offer verification that they have earned a high school diploma or high school equivalency are required to attend classes. A staff member assigned to the education department oversees a cadre of inmate tutors who assist those who are mandated to attend. Prisoners who lack high school equivalency and […]

Does Prolonged Prison Exposure Leave a Negative Influence?

People who meet me for the first time have a hard time believing that I have been in prison since 1987. When I tell them that I served more than 16 years in higher security prisons before administrators transferred me to minimum-security camp, they think that I’m exaggerating. Yet it is true. Almost all of […]

Why Don’t More Prisoners Take Advantage of Improvement Programs?

America is a magnificent country because it inspires hope in all of its citizens. Anyone who applies effort and works toward excellence can succeed. Every American has the power within to reach meaningful goals. Those who live in prison, on the other hand, struggle through constraints that are much more like communism than the society […]

Extortion Targets in Prison

I received a letter from a reader who asked whether other prisoners had ever extorted me in prison. The answer is no, I have never succumbed to extortion. That does not mean prisoners have not tried. I spent the first 16 years of my sentence inside higher security prisons. When I was locked inside the […]

Prison Led me to Reflect, Repent, and Reform

My judge sentenced me to serve a 45-year prison term. That sanction at the age of 23 really woke me up. It helped me to understand that I had made some really bad choices as a younger man. I had to acknowledge my guilt. The decades that I would serve in prison gave me an […]

Why Don’t More Prisoners Take Advantage of Improvement Programs?

America is a magnificent country because it inspires hope in all of its citizens. Anyone who applies effort and works toward excellence can succeed. Every American has the power within to reach meaningful goals. Those who live in prison, on the other hand, struggle through constraints that are much more like communism than the society […]

How to Avoid the Negative Drama of Prison

My focus during this lengthy prison sentence has always been on preparing for the law-abiding life I wanted to lead upon release. I understood that I would spend several decades in prison. Yet I was only 23 when I was locked inside a high-security penitentiary. If I did not focus on how I wanted to […]