I’ve learned something about how the executive clemency process works in the federal system. Apparently, the deputy attorney general of the United States oversees the big-picture operations at the Department of Justice. The deputy reports to Attorney General Eric Holder regularly, but the deputy has extensive authority, and one of his subordinates is the U.S. Pardon Attorney.

Ronald L. Rogers, the current pardon attorney, was a career prosecutor who oversaw big drug prosecutions. He took over control of the pardon office after the previous pardon attorney, Roger Adams, was fired for making inappropriate racial comments. Both men, I’ve been told, served under the former President Bush, and neither is known for a willingness to provide recommendations for leniency.

The pardon attorney oversees a staff of five attorneys, and they prepare reports on prisoners who file requests for sentence commutations. The staff attorneys report the findings of their investigation to the pardon attorney, and then the pardon attorney makes a recommendation  to the deputy attorney general — in most cases that recommendation is a strong denial. The deputy attorney general then reports to the White House Counsel, and the lawyers make a decision on whether to approach the president. Executive clemency is an act of grace that the presidents rarely grant, and since President Obama’s office hasn’t appointed a new pardon attorney that might embrace his vision of hope and change; I’m not too surprised that the lawyers who advise me speculate that we will not see any commutations this year.

We’ll know relatively soon whether this information is accurate. November begins in only a few days. Presidents have a tradition of pardoning a turkey on Thanksgiving, but federal prisoners don’t often receive such consideration. I’m looking forward to the start of a new holiday season for the 23^rd time as a prisoner, grateful that not too many more will pass before I’m released to my family and community.

Rather than relying on law enforcement’s use of weapons, handcuffs, and prisons alone, Kennedy suggests that persuasion can also prove effective in stopping drug crimes. He instructs law enforcement officers to gather evidence against drug offenders and prepare criminal indictments. Before arresting them and locking the drug offenders into a system that perpetuates failure, he urges the officers to call the suspects in for a candid look at the evidence against them. The officers then give the criminal suspects a choice. Either they can enroll in a program with mentors who will help them develop community values and live as productive citizens, or the officers will go forward with the criminal cases against them and put them through the prison system. That liberal approach, to the chagrin of lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key conservatives has proven far more effective in reducing crime.

Prison administrators and legislators ought to consider the valuable lessons Professor Kennedy teaches. The use of intelligence is far more effective than the use of force in fostering safer communities. If prison administrators were to use incentives that would encourage prisoners to work toward developing skills and credentials and resources, the prison lenders would take a huge step toward both lowering recidivism rates and prison operating expenses.

By extinguishing hope for those who serve time in prison, administrators create us-versus-them environments. The more oppressive and controlling the prison regime, the more recalcitrant prisoners become. It is precisely the lack of hope that leads to the proliferation of gangs and violence inside America’s prison system. Such policies contribute to the cycles of failure and unsafe communities, as prisoners revert to crime upon release.

Some prisoners present a danger to law-abiding society and show no interest in living in accordance with the principles of good citizenship. Many more prisoners, however, would welcome opportunities to work toward reconciling with society and earning their freedom. The heavy-handed policies of get-tough politicians, however, keep society locked into a so-called “corrections” policy that is fundamentally flawed. It is the reason that taxpayers must spend $60 billion per year to fund a system that perpetuates failure. Although prisons churn out failure, the system ??? urge to punish.

Dr. Manette, if that is the correct spelling, had been a physician before political leaders imprisoned him in a notorious Paris prison known as the Bastille. The doctor had been locked inside the prison for 17 years, and during that time, he lost his sanity. I knew that my own prison term would require me to pass many years in prison, and I wondered then how the decades would influence my life. I did not want to lose my sanity.

Now I have more than 22 years of imprisonment behind me, and I’m scheduled to serve only a few more. I feel as if the adjustments I began making from the beginning of my confinement have prepared me for the challenges that I am certain will accompany my release. I am educated now, I have skills that will translate into a satisfying career, I have a strong support system, and I have created many resources that I can draw upon to ease my transition.

The irony is that I feel as if the system of “corrections” discourages the efforts I have consistently made to prepare for a law-abiding, contributing life upon release. I feel as if the system of corrections wants to influence more prisoners to adjust to confinement in ways like Dr. Manette; the system is designed to condition failure rather than success. That’s why I feel a duty to bring the issue of prison reform to the attention of American citizens.

Those with a vested interested in the current system of corrections have been successful in spewing propaganda that calls for more controls and more restrictions that block offenders from preparing for release. During my imprisonment, I have seen tighter policies that limit prisoner access to telephones, visiting, education, and communities beyond prison boundaries. Such policies hinder prisoners who strive to emerge as contributing citizens, though they succeed in perpetuating cycles of failure with high recidivism rates and higher taxpayer expenditures to fund “corrections.”

We need prison reforms that will offer mechanisms through which prisoners can earn graduated increases in freedom through merit. Rather than discouraging those who strive to prepare for the challenges that await release, prison reforms should encourage proactive adjustments with meaningful incentives. Such prison reforms would lower recidivism rates, lower taxpayer expenditures on corrections, make society safer, and encourage offenders to prepare for law-abiding lives.

BREAKOUT: VOICES FROM INSIDE

The event will feature luminaries from the theater and writing world, including John Turturro (Do the Right Thing), Eric Bogosian (Law and Order: Criminal Intent), Lemon Anderson (Def Jam Poetry on Broadway), and Patricia Smith, four-time winner of the National Poetry Slam.

In addition, Jamal Joseph, the Chair of the Graduate Film Program at Columbia University — who himself learned to write while serving a 9-year sentence — will read as well (bio attached).

This event will be held in New York, but can be seen worldwide during a live video webcast on Monday, November 9 at 7pm by going to www.wnyc.org/thegreenespace.

 A partnership between PEN’s Prison Writing Program and WNYC’s The Greene Space Presented as part of “The NEXT New York Conversation” Series. Lemon Andersen, John Turturro, Mary Gaitskill, Eric Bogosian, Patricia Smith, among others to read works authored by participants of PEN’s Prison Writing Program

Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 7pm

(New York, NY – November 2009)  For more than 30 years, PEN’s Prison Writing Program has been dedicated to helping make the harsh realities of American imprisonment part of our social justice dialogue. PEN’s program has also been on the front-lines of prison reform, helping inmates in federal, state and local penitentiaries cope with life behind bars, gain skills and have a voice while they are there. The Prison Writing Program accomplishes all this through mentorships and an annual writing competition that receives between 20-30 entries per day from local, state and federal prisons—including from prisoners on death row.

 On Monday, November 9, 2009 at 7pm, WNYC Radio’s The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space’s monthly dialogue series, “The NEXT New York Conversation” partners with PEN to present BREAKOUT: VOICES FROM THE INSIDE, a night of literature and conversation. Luminaries from the New York cultural landscape – writers Mary Gaitskill, Eric Bogosian and Patricia Smith, along with actor John Turturro, among others–will read pieces chosen from the best of the winning manuscripts of the Prison Writing Contest, and from the extraordinarily moving diaries that men and women have written as part of PEN’s collaboration with the Anne Frank Center, USA.   

Proceeds from the evening will benefit PEN’s Prison Writing Program. The event will be streamed live on the web at www.wnyc.org/thegreenespace.

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world; there are hundreds and hundreds of prisons across the country and, as of 2007, these institutions housed more than 2,300,000 inmates—70% of whom are non-white. Nearly 1 million of those in prison are serving time for committing non-violent crimes. Sadly, the situation is not improving.

The second-annual Prison Writing Benefit Reading will help to raise much-needed funds to enable this important program to continue into the future, but also to help the prisoners see themselves in a new way: as writers.

The NEXT New York Conversation, sponsored by HSBC, “The World’s Local Bank,” is WNYC’s The Greene Space’s multiplatform dialogue series featuring a collective of changemakers, newsmakers, tastemakers and New Yorkers, sharing their values about interesting topics that are reshaping, redefining, and re-imagining our world in the 21st century.  

Collaborator ticket covers the expenses of one-on-one mentoring services between a PEN member and an incarcerated man or woman for one year. This premier ticket includes the best views and a reception following the program.

Friend ticket covers the postage and printing costs to provide eight incarcerated men and women with a free copy PEN’s Handbooks for Writers in Prison. This ticket includes a reception following the program.

 WNYC Radio is New York’s premier public radio station, comprising WNYC 93.9 FM, WNYC AM 820 and www.wnyc.org. As America’s most listened-to AM/FM public radio stations, reaching more than one million listeners every week, WNYC extends New York City’s cultural riches to the entire country on-air and online, and presents the best national offerings from networks National Public Radio, Public Radio International and American Public Media. WNYC 93.9 FM broadcasts a wide range of daily news, talk, cultural and classical music programming, while WNYC AM 820 maintains a stronger focus on breaking news and international news reporting. In addition, WNYC produces content for live, radio and web audiences from The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station’s street-level multipurpose, multiplatform broadcast studio and performance space. For more information about WNYC, visit www.wnyc.org.

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.

http://obamaanswerthis.com/

I began thinking about this project during the second quarter of this year. With the end of my sentence approaching, it’s time to begin writing the story, documenting my deliberate adjustment strategy that successfully brought me through more than two decades in prison. It’s an intensive effort, requiring many fits and starts, many hours staring at the wall. It took several weeks and several drafts before I felt comfortable enough to share my first chapter with my mentor, Carol Zachary. After she reviewed and approved the sample chapter, I began writing the full manuscript. The writing became therapeutic for me, carrying me through the summer.

By the beginning of August, I advanced the manuscript to page 258. That didn’t reach the halfway point, but by then I felt firmly in control of the effort. I found a friend in Taft Camp whose wife, Peggy, is an English professor in Nevada and she became a new writing mentor for me. Mentor relationships have helped me throughout my term, and I’m especially grateful to have the privilege of Peggy’s assistance. After writing my manuscript pages in longhand, I sent them home to Carole for typing. Carole then sent the chapters to Peggy, and she returned them with suggestions on how I could strengthen the writing. I appreciated that guidance, and I learned lessons that will stay with me always. I’ve been blessed with many mentors who’ve helped me grow through all these years.

Besides Peggy and her husband, Steve, Carole and I have built a friendship with David and Judy during the third quarter. Like Carole and I, David and Judy visited every Friday at Taft Camp. They’re active in the Jewish community, and during one of their visits, they introduced me to a rabbi from the prestigious Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance. I wrote to the rabbi and introduced him to my work, and I’m grateful because the introduction from our friends David and Judy led to an invitation for me to speak at the Museum of Tolerance upon my release.

Since my release will likely come before 2012, I continue soliciting speaking engagements that will be scheduled after my release. The invitation to speak at the Museum of Tolerance was an honor, and I’m focusing on securing many more invitations to keep me busy through the first year after release. I want to share with audiences all that I’ve learned as a long-term prisoner, as I’m certain the lessons that have guided me can help  others as well.

My closest ties are to academia, so I began writing letters to professors who have given their support to me. Those letters I wrote, together with my work over the past 22 years, have led to speaking invitations at Stanford Law School, The City University in New York, Mercer University, New Mexico State University, Lauder University in South Carolina, and others. I will continue reaching out, as I hope to build a career through speaking, writing, and consulting upon my release.

On the first of September, I began page 454 of my manuscript. I was writing about the latter stages of my imprisonment, a much more fulfilling time because Carole had become the center of my life. Every morning I woke with enthusiasm, eager to advance the story and to relive the memory of our unconventional romance through sentences and paragraphs. By the middle of September, I reached page 581, completing a solid draft of the entire story through that moment.  

Carole launched a new version of our website in September too. The demands of my manuscript have consumed all of my writing energy. I’ve kept current with my daily blogs but I’ve had to suspend writing additional content for the Web. In late October, after I finish my edit of Earning Freedom and submit the manuscript to my agent, I’ll reserve more time for writing Internet content.

I’m still running every day, keeping my pledge to run every day of  2009. During the first quarter I ran 788 miles. In the second quarter, I ran 806 miles. During the third quarter I’ve run 830 miles.  This has been my longest stretch of running in my life, and I intend to continue.

My reading schedule has not been as impressive. During the third quarter I only read four books including Ten, Feu, Ten; Movable Feast; Death in Venice; and One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich. My writing responsibilities interfered with the reading schedule I usually kept. I woke every morning to begin writing before three, and I usually slept before 5:30 in the afternoon after only a page or two of reading.

As I advance into the fourth quarter of 2009, I intend to continue my daily exercise, and I will continue writing. These efforts prepare me for the challenges that await my release. My hopes are to secure a new publishing agreement in the fourth quarter, as I want to see Earning Freedom in print.

I’m grateful for the support I receive from so many, and I will continue these efforts to prove worthy of the trust I receive. My journey to earn freedom continues.

Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Why I read Writing With Style:

This was the second of two books on writing style that Peggy, a professor of English from Nevada sent for me to read. I met Peggy through a written correspondence that her husband, Steve, made possible. Peggy has helped me by reviewing chapters of my manuscript, Earning Freedom, as well as another chapter I wrote for a corrections book. Her comments helped me strengthen the work, and I read these books on style she sent because I hoped they would help me improve my writing skills.

What I learned from reading Writing With Style:

Although many technical rules govern the craft of writing, style helps writing flow more smoothly. I learn from reading authors critically, by considering choices in punctuation, paragraphing, cadence, word choice, sentence lengths, and other decisions writers make in expressing their ideas. This book offered suggestions that may help my writing come across more smoothly, at least that’s what I’m hoping.

Reading books like Writing With Style and Style make me more conscious of rules that govern writing. They also reaffirm my thoughts about writing – that writing is work, a job that requires many hours. I enjoy the work of writing , as I find it a creative and a fulfilling use of my time. Writing helps me think more clearly.

How reading Writing With Style will help me upon release:

Writing With Style adds to my continuing education on improving my communication skills. While living in prison, I’ve found that developing communication skills requires a constant effort, as the rules of confinement separate us from society in many ways. Without effort, a prisoner loses his communication skills over time. His vocabulary becomes polluted with profanity and vulgar expressions. By studying books on English, however, prisoners can improve their eloquence and skills at persuasion. This book has helped my ongoing efforts to improve my communication skills.

Each session begins with 30 students, but by the time we finish the class, three to four students have dropped. For prison, a 90 percent retention rate was exceptional. I attributed the reason participants stuck with the class was because it introduced them to strategies that would assist them in leading more fulfilling lives. Although Scott designed the curriculum for the broader community, when leading the course at Taft, I adapted the lesson plan to meet the challenges unique to prisoners.

Many prisoners found it difficult to sustain motivation. They missed their families, their communities, the sense of independence and freedom they had taken for granted as Americans. While serving time in prison, even at a low-pressure facility like Taft Camp, it was easy to slide into patterns of lethargy and loneliness. During the more than 21 years that I’ve served as a prisoner, I developed strategies to conquer those debilitating adjustments and through the course I hoped to motivate other participants.

The first class began with a film Scott played a role in producing. He and his partners called the film Pass It On. Through the use of brief presentations from several motivational speakers, the film expressed the importance of mentoring, setting goals, making plans, fueling passion, living in a state of gratitude, and contributing to the making of better communities. Through each two-hour class, I related these concepts to the unique challenges we all faced as prisoners and suggested steps we could take to apply them to our own adjustments.

In leading the class, I was not only able to pass along strategies I have learned over more than two decades of confinement, I was also able to refine presentation skills that I expected to build my career around upon release. As prisoners, we needed to anticipate the challenges that would await us and create our own strategies to prepare for them. Since I intended to find fulfillment upon release by introducing others to concepts that will help them reach their highest potential, I take advantage of every opportunity to practice communications and inspire others.

I understand that Americans are inundated with concerns—health care, two wars with no end in sight, and high unemployment rates—that affect millions of American families across the nation. I share those concerns. Yet as Senator Webb wrote when introducing his bill, our country incarcerates 2.3 million people. That’s more than any country in the world. Either Americans are the most evil people in the world, or we’re doing something wrong.

My release isn’t scheduled for about four more years. I have a responsibility to serve these four years, though I feel my country needs me now. I’d like to follow the leadership of the former governor of Alaska, and “resign” from my responsibility so I could pursue the greater vision of contributing to America. If I could resign from serving the rest of my term—as Governor Sarah Palin did—I would work tirelessly to reform our ridiculous system of justice and advance it to a smarter criminal justice system.

Public institutions that provide health care, education, and other social services need an effective voice to refute the loud voice of the prison industrial complex. As lobbyists call for more wasteful spending on the prison system, Americans who need access to social services continue to suffer. Billions of dollars that should flow to health care, education, and social services are diverted to the prison system.

If Americans understood more about the absurdity of confining nonviolent offenders for multiple decades, and if they were disillusioned from the propaganda spewed by the prison industrial complex, they would show more support for prison reform. It’s an issue that should concern every American. As the hypocritical conservatives like to quote: “For tyranny to prevail, Americans only have to do nothing.”

I meet many prisoners, however, whose wives did not sign up for a prison term, as Carole did. For them, the challenges are more difficult. Open communication and constant nurturing have worked for Carole and me. I am confident that the efforts we have made and continue to make to tie and link our lives together is what keeps our marriage strong.

Last year I read a career-building book by Marshall Goldsmith. Mr. Goldsmith is a well-known executive coach who wrote What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. In that book, the author suggested that the steps an executive must take to advance his career during the formative years differed from the steps he would have to take to reach the highest levels of leadership. In courses I’ve taught in prison, I frequently referenced Mr. Goldsmith’s work. I feel convinced that the lessons don’t only apply to career building, but to staining a marriage or relationship through the adversity of confinement as well.

Carole and I have thrived through seven years of my confinement together because we continuously work on understanding each other and fulfilling the needs of each other. During the beginning of our relationship, we both understood that we had to create stability. We worked together as a team to generate the resources necessary for Carole to earn credentials that would ensure her stability. We chose nursing. With that focus, we expected that we could always be close enough to nurture our marriage through visits, regardless of where administrators confined me. Carole is my family, my every breath.

Weekly visits would not be enough to carry us through the many years we had to serve. Through regular correspondence, meaning daily letters, we made plans together, measured progress together, shared dreams together, worked through problems together. I anticipated Carole’s needs and worked to help resolve them before she had to ask; I felt her commitment to do the same for me. These were the continuous investments each of us to do the same for me. These were the continuous investments each of us made to keep the passion, romance, and commitment alive in our marriage, despite our having to wait years to enjoy more physical intimacy than kisses under the bright lights of a prison visiting room.

What brought us through the first seven years of our magnificent relationship, however, differs from what we build now. We’re in the final stretch, and although we both continue to grow closer by anticipating the needs of the other, we’re also focusing more intently on preparing for the challenges that await my release. We’re focusing on building our savings. We’re focusing on preparing for my career rather than Carole’s career. We’re working harder than ever before.

The greatest blessing God has given me has been Carole’s love. I feel grateful for every second I have with her. My commitment to her and to our marriage is what drives and inspires my adjustment. It is the reason I exercise, the reason I devote so many hours to writing, and the reason behind the books I read. I feel a duty, an obligation to prove worthy of the love and commitment she gives to me. That can never stop. I will always strive to give her more. These are the strategies that allow our marriage to thrive through imprisonment.