This morning I began writing a story about an interesting man I interviewed. He’s well-educated (MBA and CPA), and for the past several years has worked as a chief financial officer for a billion dollar company. But some bad decisions he made with regard to personal expense accounts resulted in his two year prison sentence.
The more stories I hear about white-collar offenders, the more convinced I become about the need for ethics training in society. A few days ago I wrote a blog about changes in the sentencing laws that would provide consideration for corporations that offer programs designed to reduce white-collar crime. I suggested that my friend Justin Paperny expand his prison consulting business to include such training. I look forward to offering what I’ve learned about the motivations and pressures that bring so many professionals to prison.
After my exercise this morning I joined the other TOAD members and our sponsor for a field trip. We drove to a local high school and spoke to a group of 200 students between the ages of 12 and 17 about the bad decisions each of us made during our teenage years that resulted in problems with the criminal justice system. I’m hopeful that our messages inspire the students to make better decisions.
One of our TOAD members, Marcos, is only 22 and serves a 10-year sentence. He was not much older than many of the students in the audience. If he thinks about the skills he can develop over the five or six years he has remaining to serve and works to educate himself, Marcos can reenter society as an accomplished man with opportunities to make significant contributions to society. It saddens me that prison authorities do not offer incentives to motivate young prisoners, but I’ll do everything within my power to show them steps they may take to leave prison with skills, resources, and opportunities to succeed. Marcos spoke very well, with powerful honestly. I’m certain he made a connection with the students, and I hope he continues to develop his communication skills.
This morning I ran eight miles, but didn’t do any strength training because of the field trip.
[consecutive running log: 3,888 miles over the past 439 days]
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
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