What happens after prison depends on how we help inmates to succeed
The DOC alone has an annual budget of $211,537,766. All this money to incarcerate, and so little to rehabilitate! Why not use what we have to help those that want to help themselves?
Prison Op/Ed Project: Education, job skills, and a place to live
To truly reintegrate former inmates back into society, and also cut down on recidivism, let’s first put people in a situation to flourish and not fail. As a person that’s been incarcerated for the last two decades, I’ve seen what works and what will not.
Prison Op-Ed Project gives inmates a voice
This fall, I visited a class of smart and engaged Rhode Island students. They seemed a lot like other students I’ve visited over the years: They asked good questions. They shared their experiences openly. They thought critically about what others said. They were respectful. But unlike other students I’ve visited in the past, this group […]
Prison Op/Ed Project: Time to change what we consider ‘newsworthy’
“In 1978 I was 10 and living in Woonsocket during the great blizzard. The February storm dumped 58 inches of snow at my house, crippling the area. Days later, stories evolved, including my own positive experiences.”
Prison Op/Ed Project: They say knowledge is power, but is it?
“We have been sold a deceptive story about education.”
Mass incarceration creates a permanent underclass
Under Jim Crow, separate but “equal” treatment was legal. This systemic racism supposedly ended in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision. A new Jim Crow has arisen, however, with discriminatory effects even more powerful than the blatant racism of an earlier era.
Prison Op/Ed Project: Religion, violence and America
Religious violence is endangering our society. Furthermore, violence is an oxymoron to most religions. Religious people are expected to have good morals, faith, and an understanding that they, as individuals, are a small part of the Lord’s big plan. Religions teach you that the Lord gives you free will, and that’s exactly what terrorists are […]
Literal Segregation
When browsing the library or bookstore, you will come across a section labeled “African-American”. Why are books by African-Americans put in their own section?
Why don’t female ACI inmates have a nice, big rec yard like the men?
Gender discrimination and the invisibility of women has been an issue in this world since before I was born. In my lifetime, I have seen attempts of changing this, steps toward gender equality. In my current situation, the invisibility of women is still an issue. I am currently doing a six-year sentence in the women’s […]
Taking a play out of black Mizzou football players playbook
Recently some students at the University of Missouri said several African American were victims of racism. Students claimed that someone drew a Nazi symbol on the wall of a dormitory in feces, as well as other acts of racism, and that the administration did nothing to combat these issues. With 7 percent of the student […]
Who poses a bigger threat to US: Ben Carson or Ahmed Mohamed?
A few weeks ago I was watching the news when the story of a fourteen-year-old boy in Irving, Texas, was arrested and interrogated for bringing a homemade clock to school. His name is Ahmed Mohamed. As I sat watching this story I couldn’t help but think, what if he was white? What if he had […]
Second Chance Act deserves a second chance at full funding
We all have in our lifetime needed at least one second chance. The barriers that inmates face in the reentry process, for some, can be a life or death situation. Every year state and federal prisons release more than 650,000 people back into society, a population equal to the size of Boston. Rather than providing […]
Ike was right: Military industrial complex corrupted economy
“We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex,” said President Dwight Eisenhower, in his 1961 farewell address. “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Ironically, President Eisenhower’s time in the White House was marred by a massive arms buildup spurred […]
Was Myron Magnet a genius or just a Republican?
Was Myron Magnet a wise man and just a man, an accurate scholar who sees the true meaning behind all things? Or was he simply a golden child who puts himself atop so high a pedestal that it nearly collapses from the weight of all the nonsense he is filled with? For those of you […]
Alcohol, incarceration and what it means to matter
As human beings, we all have a strong desire to feel important to the world around us. The intense need to feel like we matter has a strong hold on our lives. If that is positive or negative … well, that is up to you. The feeling of loneliness, in a world that gives us […]
ACI administrator praises Prison Op/Ed Project
Racial injustice. Voting. Prisons. Entitlements. Zero tolerance. These are but a few of the topics written about by inmates enrolled in the Community College of Rhode Island Introductory Sociology class taught by Meghan Kallman in the John J. Moran Medium Security facility. Ms. Kallman was gracious in submitting all papers for my review and as […]
Prison is about re-socialization, not corrections
Imagine a herd of sheep on the range, with each animal going off in a different direction and doing their own thing. It would be a rancher’s worst nightmare, and would surely make the business of ranching far more difficult. Prisoners are not sheep, but the prison guards that watch over us wouldn’t mind if […]
PTA involvement instead of prison mentality in schools
Zero-tolerance policies were introduced into public schools in the 1990s, due to the rising rates of juvenile violence, according to the article, “The criminalization of school discipline in the USA”, by Paul Hirschfield. This zero-tolerance policy, he writes, also led to the importation of the criminal justice system into schools as a means of crime […]
Cars that are good for society
I’ve seen a lot of car accidents in the news these last few weeks. Just the other day two young adults were killed in a rollover accident. No one volunteers to play Russian Roulette but that is exactly what happens every time someone gets behind the wheel of a car. In my opinion, in order […]
How schools emulate prisons, and prepare students for them
It appears society is playing a major part in molding people for incarceration. The government may not admit it, but every so often their actions reveal it. Especially when schools are being shut down for lack of sufficient funds as more prisons are being developed. I assume it’s easier and cheaper to teach us a […]
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