Petition to Parole Board

Although my judge sentenced me to serve 45 years, I was sentenced under provisions of sentencing laws that existed in 1987 , known as “Old Law.”  My sentence provides for a sliver of parole eligibility. This section documents my efforts to demonstrate to the parole board that I have worked consistently, over multiple decades, while serving time in federal prisons of every security level, to earn freedom. I am hopeful the parole board will find me a worthy candidate for relief, but I am preparing my mind to serve the duration of my sentence in its entirety.

October 11, 2011

To: United States Parole Board

Re: Inmate Michael G. Santos, #16377-004

Dear Parole Commission Members:

My name is Michael G. Santos and I am federal prisoner number 16377-004.  I am currently serving my 25th consecutive year.  On 3 October 2011 authorities transferred me from the prison camp in Taft, California to the prison camp in Atwater, California.  Upon my arrival in Atwater, my case manager expressed an interest in preparing me for my initial parole hearing.   She told me that she would submit paperwork with hopes that I could appear for my initial parole hearing during the week of 31 October 2011.  I offer this letter with hopes that the parole commission will consider the information I present when deliberating my suitability for parole.

I was 23 years old at the time of my arrest, back in 1987.  I deeply regret having made many bad decisions during a reckless transition between adolescence and adulthood.  Those decisions led to my taking a leadership role in a scheme to distribute cocaine.  Although I did not have a history of violence or weapons, my judge imposed a term of 45 years.  The nature of my conviction rendered me ineligible for parole until I completed a 43-year sentence.  Although the BOP has aggregated my sentence, deductive reasoning suggests that I begin serving the final two-year, parole-eligible term that ran consecutively to my nonparoleable sentence whenever I complete the 43-year nonparoleable sentence.

Earning Freedom:

Upon entering the prison system, I set a plan in motion to work toward earning freedom.  It was a deliberate strategy that would sustain me through the duration of my sentence.  Specifically, it had three components requiring me to work toward the following: 1) educating myself; 2) reconciling with society through measurable contributions; and 3) building a support network that would assist my transition into society as a law-abiding citizen upon release.  This letter will summarize some accomplishments that I hope the parole board will consider as the members deliberate whether I am a worthy candidate for parole and the superior-achievement award.

Education:

Earning academic credentials would be an ongoing journey.  I had been a mediocre student in high school and did not have a well-developed moral compass.  While serving my sentence, I made a commitment to earning university degrees that I expected to add meaning to my life, enabling me to contribute to society in measurable ways.  In 1992, Mercer University awarded my bachelor of art’s degree.  In 1995, Hofstra University awarded my master of arts degree.  Through the help of one of my mentors, I enrolled at the University of Connecticut with expectations of earning a Ph.D.  The warden at FCI McKean, however, determined that my continuing education would interfere with the security of the institution, putting a stop to my pursuit of a doctorate after I completed the first year toward that credential.  I then turned my attention toward the other two components of my tripartite plan.

Reconciling with Society:

As a long-term prisoner, one of the ways that I hoped to contribute to society was by helping others understand America’s prison system, the people it holds, and strategies for growing through confinement.  To achieve such goals, I worked to develop writing skills.  By then I had cultivated mentor relationships with some of the most distinguished names in academia.  As letters in this package attest, they included Professor Norval Morris from The Law School at The University of Chicago; Professor John J. DiIulio from Princeton University (now at The University of Pennsylvania); Professor Todd Clear at Rutgers University; Professor George Cole at The University of Connecticut; and Professor Joan Petersilia who is now at Stanford Law School and also serves as the governor’s liaison to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the State of California.  Those mentors inspired me to pursue a quasi-career writing to help others understand imprisonment in America and strategies for growing through it.

My attached curriculum vitae offers some insight into the work I’ve done toward this end.  I began by writing articles for peer-reviewed journals related to the criminal justice system.  Then I wrote chapters for books that my mentors published.  In the year 2001, with encouragement and sponsorship from my mentors, I began authoring my own books.  Those books include the following:

• About Prison
• Profiles From Prison
• Inside: Life Behind Bars in America
• Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-year Prison Term
• Prison! My 8,344th Day
• Triumph! The Straight-A Guide to Conquering Imprisonment and Preparing for Reentry
• Success: The Straight-A Guide for At-risk Adolescents

This package includes letters of endorsement that some of my mentors wrote on my behalf.  I include them with hopes that the endorsement letters will show the parole commission how some leading members of society consider the work that I’ve done to reconcile with society and earn freedom.  This package also includes copies of the books that I have written.

In addition to writing books, through the help of my wife, Carole Santos, I have maintained an active website at www.MichaelSantos.net.  I document my prison journey by writing for that website everyday.  It expresses my remorse for the bad decisions of my late teens and early 20s, then shows the steps that I have taken during the past 25 years to atone and redeem the criminal decisions of my past.

Recently, I have been instrumental in forming a charitable foundation that allows me to work toward sharing lessons I’ve learned as a long-term prisoner.  The purpose of the foundation is to distribute literature and a curriculum I wrote with hopes of inspiring more offenders to work toward emerging from prison as law-abiding, contributing citizens.  The foundation also works to help at-risk adolescents understand the consequences of bad decisions, introducing them to strategies that will help them lead productive, law-abiding lives.  The foundation’s website at www.Straight-A-Guide.com offers some validation for the commitment I have made to reconcile with society.

Throughout the course of my prison adjustment, this commitment has kept me away from problems and focused on the deliberate steps I would need to take in preparation for success upon release.  It has helped me focus on leading a values-based, goal-oriented life, one that is totally transparent.  The value categories by which I profess to live and invite others to hold me accountable include commitments to the following: 1) discipline; 2) fitness; 3) Godliness; 4) industriousness, 5) integrity; 6) marriage; and 7) proving worthy of my support network.  My well documented journey may prove of interest to members of the parole board as they deliberate over my suitability for parole.

Support Network:

Since the start of my term, I understood that I must prepare my mind to serve a lengthy sentence.  I also knew that upon my release I would face enormous challenges in acclimating to society.  To prepare for such challenges, I worked hard to cultivate a strong support network, one that would help me overcome the obstacles I expected to meet.  I am proud to include letters that show the level of trust others have placed in me over the past quarter century.  Although I did not have mentorship from such distinguished leaders when I began serving this sentence, I feel a great sense of honor that such people support me now.  They will prove helpful as I work to build my career and I will never stop working to prove worthy of the sponsorship they’ve extended to me.  I am especially proud that Dr. Sam Torres, a leader who retired as a senior United States Probation Officer and a professor of criminal justice from California State University wrote a letter in support of my release.  This package also includes an offer letter for employment, as well as numerous invitations to speak at universities across America upon my release; I also received an invitation to speak from the prestigious Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

In addition to the strong professional support network I’ve built, I’m enormously proud to have married the love of my life, Carole Santos, while in the midst of this long climb to liberty.  Carole and I have known each other since grade school.  She has joined her life to mine, strengthening and inspiring me through every step of my journey.  Through the work we’ve done together, Carole had the resources to return to college and earn credentials as a registered nurse.  I am grateful that I will always be able to count on her love and support.  Her stable income, along with the documented after-tax savings we put together, ensure that I will have the resources necessary to transition into society whenever authorities deem me worthy of release from prison.

Conclusion:

I do not know when the parole board will have authority to release me.  But I pray that the members of the board will consider the enormous commitment I have made toward preparing myself in every way possible to emerge as a law-abiding, contributing citizen.  I am hopeful that it will recognize me as a good candidate for release and authorize my parole at the soonest possible time.

Thank you for considering these comments.

Respectfully submitted,