I have a friendly relationship with my case manager here at Taft Camp. She’s in her early thirties and she treats all prisoners with courtesy that I appreciate. She sometimes asks questions about whether I’ll be able to adjust to society after all the years I’ve served. For example, she was puzzled when I told her [...]
This morning I spoke with Ralph, a young man who is beginning a 10-year sentence at Taft Prison Camp. Understandably, Ralph is a bit lost as he advances through his first weeks of confinement. He worries that his girlfriend will leave him, he worries how his life will change, he worries about the challenges he [...]
Many prisoners ask whether I’ll be faithful to my wife once my prison term ends. I don’t identify with the logic that leads them to ask me such questions. They assume that as a consequence of the decades I’ve served I would want to enjoy relationships with many women. When I respond that I will [...]
I resumed work on the rewrite of the chapter for Professor Joan Petersilia at 2:20 this morning. By 7:30 I had completed the project. Had I been able to access a typewriter, I could have typed the document in a couple of hours at most. Prison has made me a fast typist, but the rules [...]
At 2:22 this morning I resumed work on the chapter for Professor Petersilia. I wrote the first words for this chapter last Wednesday morning at 2:15, and today, at 7:15, I finished a first draft. Professor Petersilia asked me to write 7,000 words. Since I’ve written the chapter in longhand I don’t have an exact [...]
This morning I resumed work on the chapter for Professor Joan Petersilia’s book at 1:55. It was my third day of writing for the chapter and I’ve made good progress. If my writing is as productive tomorrow, I ought to finish a first draft of the chapter. The chapter provides a condensed view of the [...]
This morning I woke at 2:15 in order to make more progress on the sample chapter. Carole was scheduled to visit me early, soon after the visiting room opened. I had a lot of work to complete, and since this book proposed is important to me, I began writing about 30 minutes earlier than usual. [...]
Today I achieved a goal I set last December. Never having run more than 36 days in a row, I set the goal of running for 100 straight days. As I advanced closer to that goal, I lifted it to run every day until I reached 1,000 miles. Today marked my 114th consecutive day of [...]
While talking with my wife over the telephone today, I learned that the editors of change.org published an introductory article I wrote. I feel grateful for this opportunity to build upon my network of support. These efforts to reach out and connect with society, I am convinced, will help me overcome the challenges I expect [...]
