Nurturing My Marriage Through Prison

Nurturing relationships while struggling through the complications of a prison term requires a daily commitment. Carole and I understood the challenges we would have to overcome long before we agreed to marry in a prison visiting room. I wrote about our courtship and marriage in several previous articles. I meet many prisoners, however, whose wives […]

Our Sixth Anniversary in Prison

On June 24, 2009, Carole and I celebrated the sixth anniversary since we married under bright lights of the Fort Dix prison visiting room. The devotion and love she has given so consistently over all these years has been the greatest blessing of my life, and I thank God every day for the treasure of […]

An Open Letter to President Obama from a Prison Wife

April 16, 2009 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20500  Re: Michael G. Santos, #16377-004 Dear President Obama: I write this letter in support of the Petition for Commutation of Sentence submitted by my husband, Michael G. Santos, federal registration number 16377-004. President Obama, you will find no better […]

Preparing for Happiness Through Adversity

The headline that crossed the news this morning revealed unemployment rates for March at 8.5 percent. That’s a number I watch closely, as it suggests the struggles I expect to face after I complete a quarter century in prison. If the unemployment rate is at 8.5 percent for all Americans, for those coming out of […]

Utilize the Family Structure to Prepare Offenders for Re-entry

More than two years have passed since I’ve heard my mother’s voice. I have not spoken with my younger sister, Christina, in the same length of time. During those two years I’ve seen my older sister, Julie, three times. I hardly know my nieces and nephew, as prison rules prohibit me from playing a significant […]

If I Weren’t a Prisoner

The Washington Post published a story about Ricky Bryant, a federal prisoner who has been locked in prison for 30 years. As I read through the story, I thought about what Mr. Bryant’s life may have been like had he not committed a crime that necessitated so many decades in prison. That wasn’t a subject […]

Maintaining A Thriving Marriage From Prison

Since I am a long-term prisoner, many people wonder how it is that I enjoy such a magnificent marriage with my wife, Carole. I understand those curiosities. Divorce rates in America for couples who don’t struggle through the obstacles of confinement do not bode well for the concept of marriage. Carole and I are enjoying […]

Love affair grows in a prison marriage based on love and commitment

Readers sometimes write me with questions about my marriage and my wife. They want to know how we keep our love alive and whether we anticipate challenges when we begin living together. Through books I’ve written, and articles available on www.criminal-indictment.com, I’ve described my relationship with Carole, whom I’ve known since grade school. I am serving […]

What Prisoners Miss Most

Prisoners miss what they cannot have. Those who serve time in supermax prisons, like the ADX in Florence, Colorado, live in sterile cells. They are deprived of nearly all human contact. Their mattress is thrown on a concrete slab. They can hardly move beyond the small space allotted to them. They cannot use the telephone […]

Marriage in Prison

Frequently I receive letters from readers who’ve read my books about prison adjustments. One letter that I received today asked me questions about how I met my wife Carole, about how we married in a prison visiting room, and about how we have cultivated our love through all of the tribulations and turmoil that are […]

Sexual Encounters with Prison Staff

In my book Inside; I described incidents where guards participated in illicit sexual relationships with prisoners. Chapter two described one prisoner who spoke about paying guards for sex, and in chapter ten, I described a prostitution ring that existed in the penitentiary where one guard served as a prostitute for gang members. Some of my […]

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 […]