by Taj Mahon-Haft | Mar 9, 2016 | Poetry From Prison, Taj Alexander Mahon-Haft
Taj from Virginia, pictured below, with the inspiration for his beautifully touching ode.
Unconditional Love
(Godmother)
She rises before dawn on Sunday
just to catch an early Southbound train.
She makes 800-mile round-trip
just a single day
for a mere three hours together
then says, after the initial squeeze,
‘It’s already worth it.’
She hires a driver from the station
just to avoid getting lost, getting late
pays him to idle the visitation hours
watching Southern asphalt bake in August swamp simmer.
She shirks off thanks
looks deep in my eyes
dusts the backs of my hands
(that she won’t let go)
with tender kisses that seed tomorrows
into my pores.
She comes
simply shows
to visit at Greensville
(mid-70’s-Soviet-chic, turreted hell)
just to co-mingle our talk with presence and affection.
She cares little about frisks,
even less about growling coyotes
posturing in uniforms and scowls
flashing teeth and gnashing bad ‘tudes,
and not one bit about the sharp summer glare
reflecting off surround-sound razor-wire, cuffs, and chains.
She enthusiastically proclaims
over the thrill of posing
just for a standard prison photo op
despite the full senior-prom-phony grins
and my state-issued, elastic-waisted attire.
by Martin Lockett | Mar 7, 2016 | Book Review, Inmate Contributors
This book was enjoyable from multiple standpoints. It was engaging and personable. It was compelling and sad. In short, it evoked a range of emotions that made it a memorable read.
The author, Wes Moore, keeps his readers engrossed by juxtaposing his story–beginning in childhood and culminating in his success as a serviceman and politician–alongside his not-so-fortunate counterpart (also named Wes Moore), who ends up in prison for life.
What I found most interesting was how two young men’s lives, who, coincidentally were given the same name at birth, could live mere blocks away from each other and yet end up in polar opposite circumstances in their adult lives. Wes Moore also noted this throughout his book, using it to underscore the importance of community resources, adult intervention, and positive steps that can be taken to change one’s outcome in life.
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by Melissa Bee | Mar 5, 2016 | From the Inside
Our friend Timber Hawkeye authored Buddhist Boot Camp, which is popular both in the free world and behind the walls, where 2+ million people are locked up. He has sent over 6,000 copies to prisons across the globe, and has recently launched his second book, Faithfully Religionless, for which he is now touring.Â
You can’t stop the storm … so stop trying. You can only calm yourself. The storm will pass. –Â Timber Hawkeye
I invited Timber to contribute something to our blog (and by invited I mean begged), and despite his current schedule and obligations, he graciously shared the following letter from an inmate. As we have noted before, and will continue to, inmates are some of the most grateful people you will ever meet.
Â
by Melissa Bee | Mar 3, 2016 | From the Staff
Prison populations began creeping up in the late 1970’s, exploding in the mid 1980’s. The graphics below represent a 500% increase over the past thirty years.
The Sentencing Project publishes “groundbreaking research, aggressive media campaigns and strategic advocacy for policy reform.”
Their interactive map shows prison statistics for each state:
Just below the map, choose any U.S. state and see its prison population growth from 1980 to 2011.
See here the effect the drug war has had on our “incarceration-mania,” as Piper Kerman calls it.
Also check out these fact sheets. Here’s a shocking statistic – as many as 100 million US citizens have a criminal record (that’s nearly one in three), which allows the state to legally discriminate against them – often barring them from voting. 126 million people voted in the 2012 presidential election. Imagine how felony disenfranchisement changes election outcomes, and why those in power might want to see that continue.
by Melissa Bee | Mar 2, 2016 | From the Staff
We received this angelic donation of beautiful handmade cards to be sent to inmates. The care that went in to these cards will not be lost on the recipients – thank you, Heather, you’re an angel.
by Martin Lockett | Mar 1, 2016 | Book Review, Inmate Contributors
Perhaps the number one goal humans pursue is love, but coming in at a very close second has to be the pursuit to find meaning; to devote oneself to a purpose that validates their existence in some way. This 150-page book depicts in great detail, page after page, how this lofty goal can be attained for all humans; from the person who enjoys a six-figure salary to the homeless transient living to survive the winter.
Frankl, an acclaimed psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor, does nothing less than inspire hope and optimism as he exemplifies living a purpose-filled life while giving his readers vivid details of what it looked and felt like to be confined in one of the worst possible conditions man has been exposed to. His account of what horrid conditions he and his cohorts endured is jarring and riveting, as you can imagine, and you wonder – how on earth can someone find meaning in that? How can suffering in the worst way both mentally and physically serve a greater purpose for one’s life? Frankl makes it plainly comprehensible how such a miraculous feat can be achieved.
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by Inmate Contributor | Feb 29, 2016 | Additional Contributors, Inmate Contributors
Ainsworth, Michael. Retrieved February 27, 2016
No mother or father would ever expect their child to go to prison. Mine didn’t. First off, people need to know exactly how easy it is for people to go to prison these days.
In Oregon, Theft-1 (stealing something from $50 – $100) is punishable by up to 24 months in prison. Depending on your record and Oregon’s Measure 11 fiasco, it could ruin the rest of your life.
I was 19 years old and had never been in trouble before, and made a terrible mistake. Robbery-1. In dealing with our justice system, I was extorted, shamed, humiliated; and received a 15-year prison sentence as a first-time offender.
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by Rick Fisk | Feb 28, 2016 | Book Review, Inmate Contributors
Empires leave indelible marks on their conquests. Decades after they leave, voluntarily or not, their influence is still felt. Take Jamaica, for instance.Its natural resources and people had been plundered by the British for centuries. Even after slavery was finally abolished throughout the U.K., Jamaica and other British colonies remained in states of apartheid. While much of the world was pre-occupied with news of the Vietnam war, the streets of Kingstonâs ghettos ran with raw sewage and blood. in any unstable location the same players seem to show up in order to gain influence: England, the U.S., Russia. The only beneficiaries are the international corporations supplying the arms or stealing the resources. The people being âgovernedâ rarely see their conditions improve.
In A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James describes the chaos of Jamaica as it struggled to govern itself in a post-colonial world. Revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries, their arms supplied through D.C. and Havana (presumably via Moscow) warred with each other from the late sixties to the nineties. One man, reggae legend Bob Marley, had a vision to bring the warring factions together for peace. For his efforts, he was rewarded with a commando-style assassination attempt in 1976. The book focuses on events leading to that attempt and its aftermath.
Marlonâs narrative, told through the eyes of ghosts, political refugees, intelligence personnel, and various posse members is as authentic and real as could be wanted. Born in Kingston himself, James gives us the unfiltered patois of the Jamaican characters, those who âchat badâ and otherwise, without creating caricatures, something I canât imagine a non-Jamaican author accomplishing.
This is a gritty story that never holds back yet never once preaches or lays down heavy judgements. The reader is left to ponder political questions on his own. James doesnât give any hints as to which side is to blame, other than to point out that the conflicts themselves are how those in important positions can offer so little in the way of solutions and still retain power.
The concept of divide-and-conquer is illustrated with sublime skill by Jamesâs eclectic cast of characters, highlighting all the more Bob Marleyâs importance as a political figure in Jamaicaâs history, even though he never held any political office.
The book is superbly crafted. Read it. Wind down and pick up Jamesâs other masterpiece: The Book of Night Women. Five stars.
Rick in Texas
by Melissa Bee | Feb 26, 2016 | From the Staff
Connie Bergstrom
Itâs not until you live this life on the outside looking in,
that you find out how messed up it is.
I have heard “our people” called the throw away people.
It has always stuck in my head…
We were not created to be trash!
We are human. We come with flaws. Society scars us.
Mistakes give us character.
We are gypsies, dreamers and vagabonds.
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by Melissa Bee | Feb 25, 2016 | From the Inside
How great is this?
