The Forgotten (Another story in the never ending rants on Federal prison reform)
The Forgotten I took a few days to process the list of names who received presidential pardons and/or commutations. My wife is a clinical social worker and reminds me often how the brain resets and even solves problems while a person is asleep. I woke up last night thinking about the list and have a few thoughts to share with this rant. When the list of the chosen few became public, I looked for the names of people I have developed relationships with who have contacted me from inside our nation’s prisons. They are the marginalized who I support pro bono, not the Bannon or Assange types. They have no resources, notoriety and little support from the advocacy groups. While they have compelling stores, they simply cannot enrich politicians or organizations. Anyone who has engaged me on federal prison reform is quickly reminded of my thoughts on the “NGO [...]
The Never Ending Saga of Prison Reform rants……
I thought my recent "tongue in cheek" comments submitted to the Federal Register on the First Step Act pre-release time credits would suffice for a new prison reform rant! I could write a book on the flaws of the back end provisons of the First Step Act but this sums up a few main points. I highly doubt they will adress it publically, but they have addressed some of my other observations in the past that were of a less sarcastic nature..........Enjoy Responding to: Federal Register :: FSA Time Credits "I would need to write a dissertation to identify the numerous flaws in this poorly written legislation. While the First Step Act (FSA) good time credits are referred to as “pre-release” credits rather than statutory good time, that is simply semantics. Historically, credits have been awarded equally to ALL people not the chosen few who fit a politically correct narrative of [...]
PATTERN- The First Step backwards!
I only blog when something inspires me to go on a rant for a Federal justice related issue. I have a pulse on the Federal prison system and like to document my thoughts for an “I told you so moment” when these inspirations occur. So here we go….. Several of my previous rants were focused on the numerous deficiencies of the First Step Act (FSA) as it relates to the so-called reforms regarding the “back end” or prison related aspects. Aside from the discriminatory aspects of the law which reward people, yes people, differently and the unattainable and disingenuous incentives for programming, I am focusing today on the PATTERN risk assessment which purportedly determines the potential for recidivism as either minimum, low medium or high. PATTERN is a risk assessment tool developed by the DOJ in accordance with the FSA. It includes both static and dynamic factors not very different [...]
Violence, Politics & The NGO Mafia
As I launched my new website last week, I wanted to write a new blog which is a bit controversial but fashionable none the less. This month marks nine years that I’ve been retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons and thirty three years working with incarcerated people. Yes people! I’ve written about the topic of violence before this more nuanced perspective was inspired by a recent prison reform meeting within the swamp. Most of my adult life I’ve been an advocate for the incarcerated but was prohibited from going too far while working within the prison system. I was able to help many people during my career, simply because it was my job. Helping people within ones capacity is almost non-existent within the system today due to the leadership void at the agency. People who work within the current dysfunctional culture are under subtle pressure to avoid being labeled [...]
Covid-19 Mini-prison rant
With the decision in the Northern District of Ohio yesterday, it appears the BOP is in freefall. I’ve written about the root causes of inferior BOP leadership for many years as well as the agency’s lack of transparency and accountability. While the BOP needs to own their “shoot, ready, aim” shenanigans, let us not forget it’s politicians and the “tough on crime” era which should take most of the blame for the crisis we find ourselves in. Let’s face it, the BOP doesn’t determine the amount of people, yes people, who are packed into the prisons. I can write a book about how we got into this mess but let’s hope this crisis is finally going to wake up our country and realize there are no boogiemen. This narrative of “violent/non-violent” is simply false and does nothing to change the collective conscious of the nation. People violate laws for a [...]
If I were King! (Covid-19)
With the CARES act being implemented on Friday, I want to make a few observations which I am not hearing about in the advocacy world. I’m also going to re-circulate several recommendations I made over a week ago which can simultaneously be done to alleviate crowding and allow for better social distancing in our federal prisons. First, I want to make an observation about the BOP statistics on their website. https://www.bop.gov/coronavirus/ You know what they say about stats! While underreporting the amount of actual exposures to Covid-19 for the inmate population, the BOP is over inflating the amount of people who have transferred to the community during the past few weeks. Both stats are more of a misrepresentation of the data than outright inaccurate numbers. If the BOP gets positive test results of several people in a dormitory setting, they stop testing that unit even though others exhibit symptoms. [...]