Prison Journal: Day 8,213
February 3, 2010
I heard a radio broadcast announcing that the Senate will swear in the newly elected Scott brown, Republican from Massachusetts, tomorrow. The new Republican eliminates the supermajority of the Democrats, and that equation, supposedly, will introduce new hurdles in bringing about a liberal agenda. I’m not clear on Senate rules that require supermajority votes of 60 to pass some bills, and simple majority votes of 51 to pass other bills. As I follow politics in 2010, I’ll become more educated on these intricacies.
My limited understanding of how the U.S. Congress operates doesn’t satisfy my curiosity. With 59 Democrats in the Senate as opposed to 41 Republicans, it seems to me that liberals have the power to pass bills that further their interests. As a prisoner, I’m most concerned about legislation that would reform the federal prison system and laws to encourage prisoners to work toward earning freedom. More of my fellow prisoners would adopt such strategies, I know, if they could see hope for a better life. But the newspapers I read lead me to conclude, sadly, that Congress is not considering prison reform bills at present and that it may not look at such proposed legislation in 2010. Too many other issues, it seems, take precedence.
In light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision that allows businesses to spend their money on supporting or opposing political candidates, I expect that all politicians will face increasing pressure from the massive Prison Industrial Complex. The financial war chests of correctional officers’ unions, as well as businesses that reap profits from the $60 billion in revenues that state and federal governments spend on our prison system, will spend with abandon to oppose anyone who strives for a more effective prison system. When I write “effective”, I envision a system that encourages more prisoners to earn freedom through merit, a system that lowers recidivism rates because more prisoners would leave confinement with skills to function in society, a system that would not waste billions of taxpayer dollars.
The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) has an opposite agenda—it wants expenditures to rise, regardless of what havoc such misguided policies have on society. Rather than wanting to end the cycle of failure, the PIC wants it to spin faster, with not only higher recidivism rates, but by expanding prison systems with sons, daughters, wives, husbands, and friends of prisoners coming into the system as well.
Upon my release, I intend to work toward educating citizens on ways we can improve America’s prison system while simultaneously lowering costs. But I expect to serve my full term, which means about three more years of wasting $100,000 in taxpayer funds to keep me in prison.
This morning I ran 10 miles. I met with the youth outreach group after my run so I didn’t strength train today.
[consecutive running log: 3,713 miles over the past 418 days]
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Obama…Answer This
October 27, 2009
This is fantastic!
Check out: http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/990
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34p0YiSp8g&feature=player_embedded
What it’s about:
1. Alienation of people: We are creating refugees amongst our own people. Inmates come back not feeling like they are part of their own community; not knowing “we the people” means them too.
2. Break up of families: unreasonable prison policies and a culture of oppression is further tarring up families and communities. How can this system support fathers in taking responsibility?
3. Transparency in government: We are turning one group of people to another (great majority of inmates are minorities) With Media barred from facilities and no independent oversight there is no accountability in Massachusetts DOC. Why isn’t media allowed in? If they want to investigate abuses and mismanagement why are they are constantly denied access.
4. President’s Leadership needed: How can President go and see Guantanamo Bay but doesn’t look into his own prisons? Can he assume that everything is right here? How come he can address schools, Middle Eastern countries, but will not address prisons?
5. System accountability: Every prison is different; there is no “system.” So who is responsible for outcome? Each State should be accountable about its prison system to the President. Focus on one place at a time. Find what’s wrong in MA to pass it on to another institution.
Prison Journal: Day 8,050
August 24, 2009
I saw a blurb cross the streaming news ticker at the bottom of the CNN screen this morning that related to prison crowding in the State of California. The state legislature is deliberating over prison reforms that would allow nonviolent California prisoners who participate in education or vocational programs to serve the remainder of their sentences in community confinement centers. I applaud this progressive news.
Some citizens oppose any type of early release for people in prison, regardless of what efforts the prisoners make to reconcile with society. I don’t understand such a lust for punishment. It would seem that by now, all citizens would recognize the need for “smarter” use of our prison resources. It’s absurd to me that some citizens limit their perceptions of justice to calendar pages turning.
What would prove more beneficial to society?
- Requiring a nonviolent offender to serve every day of a 10-year sentence OR
- Encouraging that nonviolent offender to earn a vocational certificate and train for sustainable employment over a four-year period, then releasing him to a supportive group and employment?
To me, the second alternative makes so much more sense. The only segment of society that would benefit from the first would be the bloated prison industry, or those who identify with “Shylock,” Shakespeare’s character from The Merchant of Venice.
This morning I began writing at 1:51 am. I’m continuing to enjoy writing about my earliest months with Carole. Today I wrote through page 401 of the manuscript, and I feel so proud of Carole’s commitment to our marriage and happiness.
I ran 10 miles in the morning, bringing my running tally to 2,261 miles over the past 255 days.
Prison Journal: Day 8,031
August 5, 2009
During the 22 years I’ve been confined, I’ve never heard a U.S. Attorney General say that America’s dependence on incarceration is economically unsustainable. Yet that was what Attorney General Eric Holder told the nation’s lawyers at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association.
Mr. Holder isn’t the first high profile government leader to call for smarter incarceration policies. In 2003, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said the same thing. I’m optimistic that change is coming. At the same time, I recognize that I have an ongoing responsibility for the challenges I will face upon release.
This morning I began my preparations at 1:51 am, when I sat down to outline chapter seven of my new manuscript, Earning Freedom. I feel good about the progress I made, and I began writing the first pages of the chapter. By the time I put my writing gear away, I wrote through page 281 of the manuscript.
I ran 10 miles in the early morning, boosting my mileage to 2,092 miles over the past 236 days.
Following my run, the generous staff sponsor of our youth outreach program, TOAD, provided an assortment of fresh pastries for everyone in our group. That was a real treat, a gesture that everyone appreciated.
Then a bit later in the morning, I enjoyed a lengthy telephone call with a lawyer who has joined my legal team to help me. I’m feeling very blessed to have their support.
Prison Journal: Day 7,925
April 21, 2009
At 3:00 this morning, as I waited for officers to walk by my cubicle for a morning census count, I listened to an NPR broadcast reporting on Pesident Obama’s mandate to cut hundreds of millions in wasteful spending from the U.S. budget. That report inspired me to write a few blogs on the need for prison reform.
It really troubles me to read of how massively our nation’s prison population has grown. I feel a sense of duty and a responsibility, a calling, to influence others to support prison reform. I know that Americans do not generally think about imprisonment until it has a direct influence on their life, or happens when someone close to them is arrested. As a long-term prisoner, however, I can think of myriad ways that our dysfunctional prison system afflicts the life of every taxpaying American.
As I continue reading this wonderful book by Professor Joan Petersilia, I’m amazed at the statistical data. In When Prisoners Come Home, I read that our country incarcerated 196,000 people in 1970. Since then the incarceration rate has grown by more than 1,000 percent. the costs for incarcerating so many people have risen to upsetting levels. American taxpayers now spend well more than a billion dollars every week to isolate and punish offenders.
Where do those tax dollars to fund prison expenditures come from? According to the recently released Pew Report, those funds have been redirected from educational funding, health care funding, and funding for other social services. This year I heard news reports that funding was not available for college programs at California State University to the extent necessary; 10,000 university students could not work toward their degree as a consequence.
Prison spending hits every American, and much of it is unnecessary. I have served 22 years in this system, despite my having been ready to make significant contributions to society a decade ago. We need prison reforms to cut this ridiculous program that causes more harm than good to society. I will keep writing about the need for prison reform.
I ran 10 miles this morning, lifting my tally to 1,049 miles over the past 130 consecutive days.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Prison Journal: Day 7,923
April 19, 2009
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 of Taft Camp prohibit using typewriters for personal work. Rewriting this chapter has taken about 10 hours, and I think I invested about 40 hours in total to create this first draft. I expect to invest another 40 hours to refine it before publication, though I’m grateful for the opportunity to make this contribution to prison reform.
In order to finish this chapter in five days, I adjusted my schedule. I’ve spent the majority of my writing time over the past two weeks writing projects that have a long lead times. The first project was the sample chapter for my next book proposal. The next project was this chapter draft for Professor Petersilia. As a consequence of this deliberate commitment to goals I set, I have had to sacrifice some of my blog writing energy. Tomorrow morning I intend to catch up by writing several blogs that I’ve been neglecting. It remains a goal of mine to keep readers informed about how I thrive through imprisonment. I hope they see that a key component of my prison adjustment has been setting goals and using them to guide me through each day. All of the goals work in harmony to advance the purpose of my life, which is to contribute to society and to prepare for a successful return.
Following my completion of the rewrite, I went outside to run 10 miles. That boosts my tally to 1129 miles over the past 128 consecutive days. I’m grateful that my body feels strong, without aches, despite the running without a break. I believe the exercise makes me stronger, healthier, wiser, and more disciplined. I intend to exercise every day of 2009, and to run without a day off for as long as I can.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Prison Journal: Day 7,922
April 18, 2009
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 word count, though with 28 pages of about 250 words per page, I expect that I am within the range.
The reason writing this project has been so important to me is because I consider it a great privilege to publish alongside some of America’s leading penologists and academics. These types of projects expand my sphere of influence. Our country confines more than 2.3 million people, and I know that few Americans really understand the culture of confinement. The more I’m able to contribute to the literature, the more chances I have of debunking the myth that prisons only produce failure. I hope to influence prison reforms that will help more people emerge successfully, and I feel honored that Professor Petersilia opened this opportunity for me to contribute.
The title of the book Professor Petersilia is authoring is The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing and Corrections. Oxford is a distinguished academic press. I expect that many policy makers will rely upon Professor Petersilia’s book as a resource to guide their decisions, and I am glad they will have an opportunity to read about my prison adjustment. I hope to inspire those readers to promote prison reform.
Since I wrote the first draft of the chapter in longhand, I had to rewrite it neatly. I worked all day on the rewrite, though I only made it through page 12, which was not even halfway. Writing 7,000 words neatly on unlined paper takes time, though it was time well invested as it gave me an opportunity to make some initial edits. I intend to finish the rewrite tomorrow morning.
This morning I ran 10 miles and followed the run with 300 pushups. I weigh 174 pounds, which was the same weight I had when my prison term began in 1987. I feel blessed to have such good health, and I am convinced that regular exercise has contributed. Today marked my 127th day of continuous running without a beak, though I’ve been exercising steadily for 22 years. I now have 1,119 miles in my running tally.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Prison Journal: Day 7,908
April 5, 2009
Following my exercise this morning, I spent more than two hours watching prison programs on National Geographic network. The first show portrayed prison gangs. The second show focused on life in high security prisons. The third show described the history of the Aryan Brotherhood, a notorious prison gang.
As I watched the television shows, I had memories of the many years I served in higher security prisons. The television shows provide a useful service by dramatizing the struggle of living in the abnormal world of confinement. What they miss, however, and what I intend to provide, is a depiction of how prison reforms can improve these institutions that perpetuate failure.
While watching the various segments, I thought about the messages being conveyed to viewers. The men in the prisons looked and sounded so dangerous that the normal reaction would be for viewers to support longer sentences that would keep such people away from society. As I’ve been writing through my other articles, my reaction to these prisons differ. I base my observations on the nearly 22 years I’ve been locked in prison. We need fundamental reforms in our prison system if our goal is to make society safer.
As prisons function in society today, they play a huge role in conditioning the negative adjustment patterns. Simple changes in prison infrastructures and the policies by which prisoners live would condition different adjustment patterns. When prison administrators extinguish hope, they satisfy a lust for revenge though they don’t contribute to safer societies.
We need prison reforms that will encourage prisoners to work toward earning freedom through merit. By eliminating mechanisms through which prisoners can work to reconcile with society and earn graduated increases in freedom, prison administrators keep these cycles of failure going. Such strategies have resulted in a prison-population surge, massive prison expenditures, and less money available for health care, education, and other social programs. We need prison reforms to change this public policy.
I will continue working to advance the cause for prison reform through my writing. This morning I wrote two blog articles. Then I began an article I’ve been invited to contribute to the American Corrections textbook. I ran 10 miles, lifting my tally to 993 miles over the past 113 days.
Saturday, 5 April 2009
Prison Journal: Day 7,904
March 31, 2009
I received a copy of Senator Jim Webb’s bill to establish the National Criminal Justice Commission in last night’s mail. The Senate bill differed from what many prisoners were hoping to read. Prisoners had been hoping for prison reform legislation that would bring immediate relief. They wanted actions that would reinstate parole, offer more good time credit, or some type of mechanism through which they could advance their release date. I am conditioned to have more patience.
When my wife conveyed her enthusiasm to me about Senator Webb’s bill during a phone conversation last week, I misunderstood what was coming. This bill will establish a commission to study the criminal justice system and make recommendations for meaningful prison reform. I am optimistic that significant improvements will follow. Yet the Bill indicates taht the commission will not report its findings to Congress until the fall of 2010 at the earliest.
My understanding of the legislative process suggests that the Hosue of Representatives must also pass a companion bill. Once both houses of Congress pass the bill, the President will sign it into law. That is when the 18-month time line begins to toll.
After the commission makes its recommendations to Congress, the Congress will need to draft new legislation to implement the prison reform legislation. Accordingly, I do not expect prisoners will begin to see relief from this effort until 2011 at the earliest. If that scenario plays out, then a prisoner would have to have a release date scheduled in 2012 or beyond to potentially receive the relief that this initial step of prison reform legislation will bring.
When asked whether I thought the tendency of confining nonviolent offenders for decades would persist, I always answered no, but with a caveat. I always anticipated that I would serve my entire sentence. Just as I was completing the term, I reasoned, some type of prison reform would come. It appears as if that will be the case.
Currently, I am eligible for relief to a halfway house between the months of April and August of 2012. That means I’m scheduled to remain in prison for about three more years. It’s possible that legislation resulting from Senator Webb’s commission may advance that date, though Carole and I ought to keep our hopes for relief grounded. I’d like to see President Obama appoint a new pardon attorney and a new Director of the Bureau of Prisons who shared his vision of hope. Those appointments might bring more immediate prison reforms that would improve the lives of people in prison today.
I intend to continue my work. I will write about the prison system and about strategies to grow through confinement. Simultaneously I will work to strengthen my marriage and prepare for the challenges that await my release.
This morning I wrote four blogs before 7:00 a.m. Then I exercised. I ran 10 miles and followed the run with 300 pushups. My tally now stands at 960 miles over the past 109 continuous running days.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Prison Journal: Day 7,903
March 30, 2009
The possibilities for prison reform legislation continue to improve. In the early morning, often writing two blog entries on prison experiences, I wrote letters to various senators who have expressed an interest in prison reform.
Although I had not yet seen the Bill that Senator Webb submitted to Congress on prison reform, I knew that other senators joined him in sponsoring the legislation. Those senators included Specter, Reid, Leahy, Durbin, Graham, Schumer, Murray, Wyden, Brown, Warner, Gillibrand, and Burris. I wrote individual letters to each of those senators.
My purpose in writing letters was to introduce myself as a long-term prisoner who could offer a unique perspective. Each one-page letter revealed that I was in my 22nd year of imprisonment, that I had earned two university degrees, published extensively, and could offer prison reform suggestions that would lead more offenders to emerge as law-abiding citizens.
I don’t know how the members of Congress will advance the cause for prison reform. Yet I feel strongly that I can contribute testimony that will assist their deliberations. Writing letters from prison may not be the best way to establish myself as an authority on prison reform, though it is one step I will take to persuade Congress to call me as a witness on prison reform issues.
After finishing the last of those letters, I went to exercise. I ran four miles, then I had to stop because the camp administrator paged me. She wanted to speak with me about a group of at-risk adolescents who would be coming to Taft Camp to listen to our TOAD presentation. The meeting was scheduled for Wednesday evening and she asked me to coordinate. The page interrupted my exercise. Rather than resume my run, I recorded the four miles and let my legs rest. I now have 950 miles recorded over the past 108 days.
In the afternoon I led the seventh meeting in our session for the Entrepreneurial Compass class. We met in the chow hall, as the warehouse where we usually meet was filled with inventory. Scott Evans, the motivational speaker from Los Angeles was present for the class. Walt, one of the participants, delivered a speech on his prison experiences and preparations for release.
Monday, 30 March 2009
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