Last week, I was invited by Kevin Ring to participate on a panel in the Capitol Building regarding the subject of "Compassionate Release". FAMM was previewing a new video called "5 to Life" highlighting the many frustrations families feel while trying to navigate the Federal Bureau of Prisons for a terminally ill family member. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z929XbFeoCw&feature=youtu.be [...]
Once again, another "bi-partisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill last week to create a "National Criminal Justice Commission" to review every aspect of the nation's justice system from policing to prisons. It's my opinion the national justice reform movement has become just as dysfunctional as our political system. It is time to stop the studies, blue ribbon [...]
I felt it was time for a 2017 blog and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates’s remarks at Harvard’s Law School were the catalyst to set me in motion. https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-attorney-general-sally-q-yates-delivers-remarks-harvard-law-school-sentencing-and My mantra has consistently been that many Federal prison reform initiatives can be accomplished under the existing policy framework through leadership, accountability and thinking outside the [...]
I consider myself a passionate prison reformer from outside the beltway. I’m not an academic or lawyer; just someone who worked for decades in the trenches of the Federal prison system. I feel I have a pulse on the agency with insights regarding prison policy, nuances and organizational culture. My bottom line is there can be many [...]
I listened in on the Washington Post Criminal Justice forum yesterday. One of the panels involved Congressman Goodlatte of the House Judiciary who seemed a bit pessimistic about movement on criminal justice reform during this lame duck session of Congress. What was telling is rather than speak of an upcoming vote, he mentioned there was [...]
Terminating private prison contracts should not come as a surprise to anyone. It is simply “The Perfect Storm” of events. First, The advocacy world understands future trends were already pivoting away from mass incarceration. It actually started at the state level and the Feds are simply late to the table. For many years we have been hearing about the [...]
I wrote this blog at the request of Jeff Grant over at Prisonist.org. I thought I would re-post it on my site because I’m seeing more and more people getting into the consulting arena and it’s not just the white collar people who fall prey to consultants. The bottom line is beware when someone directly [...]
Unlike the push from organizations like FAMM who place a greater emphasis on “Front End reforms”, my reform mantra focuses on getting people in the community sooner. Aside from helping individuals, I try to educate professionals on the prison system and how meaningful prison reform can be accomplished within the existing Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) [...]
The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. ~Woodrow Wilson Anyone who knows me understands I am not a fan of the prison reform bills circulating in Congress. I’m [...]
As we wind down the year, I am posting my March Testimony in DC before the Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections. As I reflect on the hype from the pundits, money thrown at the Beltway Lobbyists and NGO Mafia by naïve Billionaires; I can only hope the reform movers and shakers will soon realize many [...]