Jonathan, a prisoner who serves time with me here at Taft Camp, introduced me to Tom, a new prisoner who self-surrendered last week. When Jonathan made the introduction, he told Tom, “You don’t want to complain to Michael about the length of your sentence.” I corrected Jonathan, telling Tom that despite the inordinate amount of [...]
Last Friday I wrote about the law library that was available to federal prisoners and I suggested that prisoners use it to educate themselves. This morning, after my exercise, I spent some time reading about procedural hurdles I would have to overcome in order to seek judicial relief. I have an issue concerning the sentence [...]
Early this morning I finished writing a profile that described some difficulties of a fellow prisoner named Jay. I interviewed Jay last week to learn about the crimes that brought him to prison. He was serving a two-year sentence for violating fraud statutes and since I’m interested in learning about business transactions that lead people [...]
One of the privileges of life in federal prison is access to a law library. I’ve never been in a law library outside of prison and I’m sure that prison law libraries pale in comparison to those that lawyers rely upon. But over the decades that I have served, I’ve educated myself by spending thousands [...]
As a long-term prisoner, I sometimes smile when I hear others discussing their theories on penology. This morning I sat in the law library typing responses to a lengthy letter for the lawyers who are working with me. The law library is in a room adjacent to the leisure library and if I ever want to laugh, [...]
