Pinellas County Floridaās Sheriff Bob Gualtieriās complicity in creating a racial divide leading to constant strife, stress and physical fights among the prisoners at the county jail facility under his charge actually costs the taxpayers untold thousands of dollars....
Shake down Go ahead and take it from me Shake down In the middle of the night Shake down Iām sleeping here canāt you see Shake down itās not alriiiiiightā¦ With me Although this sounds like a parody from weird Al Yankovic of a famous Tom Petty song, it really...
"How am I racist? Iām Black!ā Racism is something I never gave much thought to for most of my life, I just didnāt ascribe to the unconscious practice even before I began waking up. My opening quandary is an actual, honest-to-God exchange between an inmate and a...
The most remarkable part of being locked up is not the lack of remorse and compassion from these prisoners, but the level of humanness of these so called hardened criminals. A man came to me the other day because, he said, I was a father and he didnāt know what to do...
Human beings are sexual creatures by nature. It's literally written into our DNA. Sexual expression is a remarkably healthy activity, both physically and psychologically, as long as it is not forced, exploitative, or directed toward children. Forced, exploitative, or...
Tenth Birthday Reminder Like the shadow stitched to your foot Like the breath filling your lungs Like a tail to its dog Like the waves to the sea Like starlight dancing on night skies Like life's cosmic energy tossed by the sun Sometimes obvious, sometimes bold...
My name is Eric Burnham, but these days I'm better known as inmate #12729124. I grew up in a low-income, single-mother home. Nobody in my family had ever graduated high school, so any thoughts of college were "what if" dreams. As a young teenager, I arrived at the...
When you finally acknowledge and really accept that you can do and be more than the limitations others have set before you, there are more worlds open to you, with understanding and growth that has no limits than you have imagined, right in front of you. My Reluctant...
Hate medicine.... We watched him dying. Everyone on our wing had their own diagnosis. āCirrhosis.ā āItās jaundice. Look at how yellow he is.ā āHow can you tell? Heās hispanic.ā āNext time you get close to him, look at his eyes. They are yellow.ā āI bet he has liver...
Weāre pleased to introduceĀ a new contributor to our blog, Eric Burnham. My name is Eric Shawn Burnham. I was born April 21, 1979 in Las Vegas, Nevada, but I grew up in Oregon and California mostly. I came to prison in 2001, and Iāve been at EOCIĀ ever since.Ā When I...