Adopt an Inmate

Coming Soon!

adoptaninmate — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 02:21:25 +0000

Thanks for peeking in - we have not officially launched our website, but expect to have everything up and running within a week to ten days.

Our site will be a comprehensive source for organizations, media, news, volunteers, facilities and resources, designed to ease the burden of those who are supporting an inmate. Our blog page is where you will (soon) find:

Inside stories (from inmates and adoptees)
Outside stories (from family members and adopters)
Official news and posts from Adopt an Inmate staff and contributors

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter (see links on sidebar), where we will announce the official launch. Many thanks, Melissa Bee She-EO, Adopt an Inmate

Welcome!

adoptaninmate — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 07:00:20 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1485" align="aligncenter" width="492"] Art by California inmate M. Garcia[/caption] Enter your email to subscribe to our quarterly e-newsletter, full of resources for advocates of inmates, and occasional news updates (a few times a year): [contact-form][contact-field label="Name" type="name" required="1" /][contact-field label="Email" type="email" required="1" /][contact-field label="Comment" type="textarea" /][/contact-form] Two years in the making, Adopt an Inmate is officially launched! Please visit often, and help us spread the word by sharing our site with others. This blog page will be updated regularly (scroll down) with news, events, and contributions from both staff and YOU. &

Aw

adoptaninmate — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 17:15:18 +0000

From an inmate in Texas:

It really does mean a lot that someone who I have never met is doing what you are doing. If all of us in here had one of you out there this would be a little better.

Thanks!!

Calling All Angels

adoptaninmate — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 19:28:41 +0000

We have a very small staff of volunteers, and as Adopt an Inmate builds momentum, we will need lots of support from YOU.

---♦---

Opportunities for outside volunteers:

Adopters: If you are interested in adopting, please contact us at volunteer@adoptaninmate.org. Follow our blog (button on sidebar), to see stories from indigent inmates who want to be adopted.
Data gathering: As a family we found it unnecessarily difficult to get answers, and it is our goal to relieve that burden from adopters, so they can get right to the business of adopting. If you have knowledge of a system/facility, or are willing to do some research in your state, we need at least one volunteer on the inside (an inmate or detainee) and one on the outside, for each state, to provide information about that state's prison system and facilities such as: phone system, mail and book rules, visiting rules, hospitality houses, probation packages, etc.
Rides to facilities for visiting family members and adopters: When family members travel to visit incarcerated loved ones, facilities are often located a far distance from airports, bus stations, and hotels. Let's make it easier for them to visit.

---♦---

Opportunities for inside volunteers (inmates):

Adoptees: If you have a loved one on the inside that you are already supporting, you can invite him or her to submit names of indigent and/or forgotten inmates who need to know that someone cares for them.
Stories, artwork, poetry, lyrics: We welcome submissions from inmates - anything they are willing to share about themselves, about life behind bars, about inmates supporting each other - anything they'd like the world to hear.

Let this be a place they can be heard.

--♦--

Adopt an Inmate Launches Website!

adoptaninmate — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 16:22:15 +0000

It's official :)

Facades

adoptaninmate — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 18:39:00 +0000

It was a beautiful, warm, spring day in 1973. A few puffy white clouds dotted the otherwise blue sky over Tucson as my Dad guided our car to Old Tucson, the site of many a Hollywood-produced western. It was here that I had learned about facades. The false-fronted buildings which served to disguise the lack of substance behind most of the town's establishments. Forty-one years later, handcuffed to a fellow inmate, I traveled from the downtown Austin, Texas courthouse to the Del Valle jail facility in a Sheriff's bus. I had just signed a plea agreement sentencing me to an eight year prison term. The otherwise overcast Autumn sky was broken up occasionally with beams of sunlight. After waiting sixteen months for my day in court, I finally saw the inside of a criminal courtroom. I made my way into that courtroom (the first I had ever seen personally) by a route known only to inmates and court officials. To juries and spectators, the labyrinths, holding cells, visitation rooms and lobbies which exist behind the veneer of the courtrooms are unknown. As I struggled not to slip out of a bench seat unadorned with seat belts, I thought of my recent journey and transformation from naive and ignorant idealist, to shocked, dismayed, and convicted felon. I my wildest dreams I would never have imagined such an outcome. I tried to convince myself that I had done the best thing, even though I had pleaded for others in similar circumstances never to give into prosecutors' bullying tactics. I struggled against the centrifugal force which threatened to push me against my partner as the bus turned right onto Bill Price Road. A similar struggle against an inner voice was taking place at the same time. "Hypocrite!" it accused. My body won its battle and my partner was saved from discomfort. My psyche wasn't so fortunate. I had done that which I had counseled against. Twenty-plus felony counts - potentially multiple life terms - traded for a plea. Innocence traded for guilt. Not even my own paid attorney had any confidence in the system. My newfound acquaintances, some far less naive than I, tried to warn me, but I had, until this day, opted for idealism instead. As the bus pulled into the facility and the massive gate slid away, my head hung low and I thought of the stark contrast between the dark wood hues of the courtroom and the dirty cinder block and steel rooms behind its walls. The similarity of the facades built for Ford or Huston's cinema works and the burnt orange carpet and mahogany veneers of the courtroom hit me. Each facade hides a certain lack of substance, a fantasy that is important to preserve in the mind of the casual observer. Perhaps the fantasy that our cities, counties and federal court systems mete out justice, is just as important for its participants as it is for those who only indirectly participate in its activities. Consider the fantasy created around the plea bargain, which represents over 90% of all federal convictions and a similarly high percentage of state convictions. Those convicted are directed to state under oath that the "sole reason" they are accepting a plea agreement is that they are guilty - not that they are avoiding the threat of much more dire sentences should they fight their cases through to trial. Whether or not the defendant is truly guilty, everyone in the courtroom is internally aware that a preposterous lie is being told. What would be the purpose of threatening someone with an extreme sentence and then drafting a much lower alternative if the lesser sentence was not an incentive itself? By forcing the defendant to deny the obvious (lie under oath), those in charge - judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys alike, are condoning a fundamental corruption of the truth. If they are willing to look past lies like these on a daily basis, what else are they willing to tolerate? I stepped off the bus and into the chilly, drab afternoon, dragging my partner toward the jail. Six months into his stay here, he was reset for a fifth time. I wondered how long he would have to wait for some semblance of justice. A day earlier I might have encouraged him to fight to the bitter end. Today I wouldn't be so bold. Today I am unconvinced there is anything like justice; that justice is merely a facade. Tomorrow I may change my mind again. Tomorrow, maybe the mass-incarcerated who know what's behind the facade will work together and draw back the curtains. Who else but us and our families really know? R. Fisk - Huntsville, TX

Lady Lifers Chorus

adoptaninmate — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 20:06:52 +0000

Pennsylvania leads the country in the number of lifers that were sentenced as juveniles - nearly 500 - who will never see the outside of a prison. The nine women in this chorus have each served 27 to 40 years, for a combined total of 293 years. http://www.ted.com/talks/the_lady_lifers_a_moving_song_from_women_in_prison_for_life Beginning at 05:46, the ladies state their inmate number, time served to date, name, and place of birth, ending with the words, "this is not my home."

Be an angel, send a letter.

To address the envelope: write the inmate’s name and number on the top line, followed by the name and address of the facility. Clearly write your name and address in the upper left hand corner of the envelope. Inmate Name & Number SCI Muncy P.O. Box 180 Muncy, PA 17756 Brenda Watkins #OO8106 (29 years) Thelma Nichols #OB2472 (27 years) Danielle Hadley #OO8494 (27 years) Theresa Battles #OO8309 (27 years) Debra Brown #OO7080 (30 years) Joanne Butler #OO5961 (37 years) Diane Metzger #OO5634 (39 years) Lena Brown #OO4867 (40 years) Trina Garnett #OO5545 (37 years)

Yvette M Louisell: How to Survive in Prison

adoptaninmate — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:59:30 +0000

One of our adoptees, Yvette Louisell, was awarded Third Place in memoir in the 2011 Prison Writing Contest for this piece. Yvette has now been incarcerated for 28 years, since she was 17. See her story here. How to Survive in Prison: A Brief History of My First Twenty-Three Years at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women

1988:		Pretend you’re not really in prison.
1989:		Pretend you’re not really in prison for life. Sleep as much as possible.
1990:		Lose your grandma Lucy to cancer. Try to find a better lawyer. Watch T.V. when you’re not sleeping or writing attorneys.
1991:		Celebrate turning twenty-one. Write ten-page letters to everyone you know. Write five-page letters to people who know people you know. Fall in love with a Marine stationed in Iraq.
1992:		Wait for a court date for your first appeal. Spend a lot of time thinking about what you’ll do if you win your appeal. Wait for the fence to be built around the prison so you can get out of the locked unit. Read anything you can find. Try to get your family to visit you.
1993:		Lose your appeal. Learn to “circumvent” (break the rules) from other inmates. Let someone else’s girlfriend turn you out. Get beaten up by the girl’s girlfriend. Get out of the locked unit. Live for visits from your Marine boyfriend.
1994:		Find out your boyfriend got married. Spend as much time in the yard as possible. Learn to fit in. Become someone’s girlfriend. Stop thinking about the outside world. Join a lawsuit against the prison. Stop thinking that being good is going to get you anywhere.
1995:		Start taking college classes. Study whenever you’re not with your girlfriend. Write letters when you have time. See your mother for the first time in thirteen years when she shows up unexpectedly. Live for visits and mail. Wonder why the food is suddenly getting so bad. Wonder why the officers are getting so strict. Wonder why the prison is changing so much.
1996:		Find out your boyfriend got divorced. Live for visits from your boyfriend (again). Write ten-page letters to everyone you know (again). File another appeal. Exercise a lot. Make a lot of phone calls. Study a lot. Spend as much time on the yard as possible. Hang out with your friends.
1997:		Say goodbye (again) when your boyfriend moves to California. Decide you’re tired of being in prison. Get a new girlfriend. Start taking a lot of crazy risks. Have a lot of fun. Get in a lot of trouble. Go to the hole with your girlfriend. Figure out that she’s bulimic. Figure out that she’s cheating on you with half the prison. Figure out how to survive a broken heart in prison.
1998:		Get another new girlfriend who occasionally beats you up. Be happy when she calls you her wife. Go to the hole together. Leave her for someone else who doesn’t beat you up. Get out of the hole. Get back with your wife. Go to the hole again. Get out of the hole again. Graduate from a community college with honors. Wonder why the prison is suddenly issuing everyone a pair of recycled, stained panties each morning instead of giving you your own to keep. Get transferred to a prison in Virginia with ninety-nine other Iowa inmates.
1999:		Get issued all new clothes, including six pair of brand-new, white panties. Be the only Iowa inmate to move into an all-Virginia unit of two hundred women. Get out of the rut you were stuck in before you left Iowa. Make all new friends. Get a job as a tutor. Get to see your grandma Ethel, who lives in Ohio. Get to help interview and select the Vice-Principal of Education for all three women’s prisons in Virginia. Get a girlfriend who goes by the name “Football.” Take some college classes. Find out that your boyfriend is getting transferred to Virginia. Live for visits from your boyfriend (again). Start working on your legal case (again).
2000:		Try to stay in Virginia. Get sent back to Iowa anyway. Say goodbye to your girlfriend and your boyfriend (again). Reunite with your friends who didn’t go to Virginia. Get used to all the new inmates, officers, and buildings. Get moved around the prison several times, along with all the other inmates. Get a girlfriend who happens to have AIDS. Still do everything that being a girlfriend in prison means. File another appeal. Turn thirty. Get a high-paying prison industries job. Start working out a lot. Get in a writing class.
2001:		Get another girlfriend who is known for beating the hell out of her girlfriends. Convince yourself that she’ll never beat you up. End up being choked on your cell room floor when you’ve just gotten out of the shower. Worry about your grandma’s health. Wonder what your grandma will think if you end up a naked, dead lesbian in prison. Hope that doesn’t happen. Work hard to take your mind off everything else. Get promoted to a warehouse position. Spend almost all of your time with your girlfriend. Try to avoid making her mad. Read whenever you’re not at work or with your girlfriend. Try to put the outside world out of your mind. Wait for something to happen with your appeal. Try to convince people that you didn’t catch AIDS from your ex-girlfriend.
2002:		Get a lawyer who went to college with you. Realize he’s taken your case because he always wanted to ask you out. Wonder if that will make him work harder to get you out. Start feeling more hopeful since he is actually working for you. Wonder what kind of obligation you’ll be under if he wins your appeal. Get split up from your girlfriend when the prison moves her to a new unit. Lose her when she finds someone in her new unit. Hear that your ex is beating up her new girlfriend. Start doing more things on your own. Become a hospice worker. Start doing a lot of volunteer work. Start writing poems compulsively. Start trying to be more positive. Start socializing with more people. Feel pretty good.
2003:		Lose your grandma Ethel just before Thanksgiving. Try to keep it together until after the holiday. Shut everyone out. Wonder how long it will take you to get a court date. Find out that your high-school boyfriend is finally coming forward to testify that he lied at your trial. Convince yourself that you’re going to get your conviction overturned. Spend a lot of time looking up court decisions that relate to your case. Win an award for a short story about your mom, whom you’ve seen once since age twelve. Write your boyfriend during his second tour in Iraq. Get a “Dear Jane” letter from him. Wonder why he’s giving up when you know you’re on your way out of prison. Get really mad and stop writing him. Keep up on what’s happening with him through friends. Keep writing his mom and aunt. Still don’t write him. Spend a lot of time in bed, not sleeping.
2004:		Realize that you’ve been in prison as long as you were free. Start forgetting what happened when. Lose your closest male friend to a seventeen-year-old murderer who reminds you of what you did seventeen years ago at age seventeen. Spend a lot of time doing nothing. Spend a lot of time not caring about anything. Go through the motions. Do only what you need to do to get by. Isolate yourself. Stop writing letters. Stop getting mail. Stop making phone calls. Stop getting visits. Get three court dates that all get cancelled. Find out that your attorney is being deployed to Kosovo. Get a new attorney hired by your friends. Actually go without a girlfriend for more than a year. Find yourself feeling lonely.
2005:		Move units again. Get a court date (again). Find out your father sexually abused your aunt, too. Find out your family is trying to intimidate your aunt out of testifying for you. Find out your boyfriend got married (again). Find out your high school boyfriend has changed his mind about testifying at your hearing because he’s afraid of perjury charges. Finally go to court. Watch your aunt testify about your father raping your mother in front of you before you could speak. Get really, really sick right before court. Stay sick for months after. Wait for a decision on your appeal. Get another girlfriend. Go to the hole. Lose your job. Lose your two-person room. Get out of the hole. Get your two-person room back with your same roommate two weeks later. Win an award for a poem.
2006:		Wait for a decision on your appeal. Write the judge once a week. Write your attorney once a week. Get more pissed off every time they don’t write back (which is every time). Argue with your friends about what the outcome of your appeal will be. Try to stop thinking about getting out. Hear that your boyfriend and his new wife had a baby. Get admitted back into the college where you committed your crime. Realize your mind isn’t as quick as it used to be. Realize your vocabulary isn’t as expansive as it used to be. Study late every night. Still go to work five days a week. Learn to live without sleep. Gain ten pounds from eating ramen noodles while studying. Get A’s in your classes no matter how much effort it takes. Get two stories published in an anthology of prisoners’ writings. Go the entire year without a girlfriend. Go the entire year without getting in any trouble. Wonder if there may be a connection between these two phenomena.
2007:		Lose your appeal. Become more depressed than you can ever recall being. Hear that your boyfriend made Lieutenant Colonel. Throw yourself into your college classes. Exercise way too much. Walk laps outside for hours a day. Get a job in the chapel. Obsess over re-organizing the chapel library. Attend almost every church service, regardless of denomination. Meditate a lot. Become calmer. Become nicer. Learn to quilt. Start writing more. Sleep until at least nine o’clock every day. Lie in bed and read a lot. Watch a lot of movies. Bide your time until you can get your higher-paying job back. Win $200 for a poem about all the women who have died while you’ve been in prison. Start saving money for when you get out.
2008:		Get your prison industries job back (56 cents an hour!). Get promoted to a lead position in twenty days. Move units when your roommate of three years moves outside the fence. Work hard. Study hard. Get inducted into Phi Kappa Phi. Study harder. Get bored. Get lonely. Get another girlfriend. Be happy. Laugh a lot. Do everything you can to make your girlfriend happy. Stop putting so much effort into everything else. Stop spending time with your prison friends. Stop writing your friends on the outside. Stop worrying so much about getting visits. Study when you have time. Sleep when you have time. Write a little. Get some poems published in a literary journal.
2009:		Do everything with your girlfriend, who also happens to be your roommate. Throw yourself into being in love for what you tell yourself is the very last time. Play hard. Spend pretty much every waking minute with your girlfriend. Wonder why it doesn’t seem to be working. Try harder. Work at everything else just enough to get by. Write a little. Get published again. Lose your girlfriend. Get her back. Lose your last grandfather. Move in the room with your best friend. Spend all day, every day with your girlfriend. Spend absolutely no time with your best friend. Stay up all night, every night to get your homework done. Start drinking coffee. Finally graduate from college, with high honors. Find out the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing the constitutionality of giving juveniles life without parole. Find out you inherited some money. Find out you’re being charged $10,000 for the appeal you lost in 1993. Spend all your money on really useful stuff, such as new underwear, ice cream, and CDs. Get kicked out of the Special Privilege Unit for arguing with your best friend.
2010:		Stay up late at night when everyone else is asleep. Get up early because you can’t sleep anyway. Hope that the juvenile life without parole law changes. Hope that you can make it through each day. Try to stay out of the hole. Try to stay as busy as possible. Write, when you can stand reading your own thoughts. Think about getting out of prison every day. Think about your mom, wherever she is. Think about your brothers, wherever they are. Lose another girlfriend. Get beaten up one more time. Get another girlfriend. Wait for a visit. Wait for a letter. Wonder why the prison has started giving out used panties again. Try to think only about the next thing, whatever that may be. Try to stay out of trouble. Try to hope. Try to breathe. Remember to breathe. Remind yourself to breathe. Pretend that you’re really still alive.

Voices From Within Project

adoptaninmate — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 18:03:12 +0000

Adopt an Inmate seeks to remind the world that inmates are human. It is not our contention that all, or even most, inmates are innocent. But that, in the words of Bryan Stevenson, “Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done.” The Voices From Within project gives inmates the chance to use their own stories, to change someone else's story. Human beings who have made terrible mistakes, can better serve their communities when their voices can be heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjFzsrmvw7w

You can be the good that happens, you see what I'm saying? You can be the good - if I could - oh, Jesus, Lord, please, if this could be, if I could right now be, if the question is maybe if something good happens, and that's me, for you, right now, come, listen ... I'm asking you, a favor, I'm asking you for a little help, here. I'm asking you for a little bit of redemption - here, alright? I'm saying, if this could be the good, then maybe you can help me. Can you save me a bit? I'm trying to save you. And in respect for that, maybe we can make a deal, 'cause if I can do something, if this could help you, then I could be the good for you, right? And you could be the good for me. Because if I do that, if, then maybe, the bad could kinda be offset, if I'm the good for you, right? Work with me, work with me here, that's all I'm saying.

Letter from Jason in Texas

adoptaninmate — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Jason writes that he prefers a cell to a dorm. In a dorm, it's just you and your celly doing time; but in a dorm you are doing everyone's time.

If you are interested in writing to Jason, please send us an email: info@adoptaninmate.org to get his mailing address.

No Mail - by Andre Washington

adoptaninmate — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

[Chorus] Lost in a battle that I can’t win I don’t know when I’ll see my family again No mail, oh well I’ll just sit in my cell And think about how close I am to going to Hell They’ll lock a youngster in a cell Cuz he want more Than what he got But a child-molester Let him go and let him live life If you come from the hood You know the law is like a knife It’s either a suicide attempt Or homicide where I reside But we love our cities Homies rip yo block or hood with pride Everybody got a dream But everybody don’t pursue I can give you the game But I ain’t no guru I got to strive to succeed Eat with no greed The ambitions of a hustler Get my family what they need From the bottom to the sky The projects to a condo My bloodline strong I’m a gorilla from the congo Too much money Will feed a rich man’s greed Give it to a poor man He’ll get the streets what they need My ancestors struggled Hung, bled and died And their children are ungrateful In the streets we hide [Repeat chorus] Andre Washington, TDCJ, Age 24

Goethe Quote

adoptaninmate — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Treat people as if they were who they ought to be, and you may contribute to their becoming all they are capable of being. - German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Letters From Ron in Texas

adoptaninmate — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 16:47:21 +0000

Most of the adoptee names we receive come from inmates. Ron, an inmate in TDCJ, is one of our own adoptees who we first told about the idea for our organization.

"Adopt An Inmate," that sounds cool. Thank God that my mom is putting money on my books for me, but there are a lot of good guys in here that have been left behind by their families that would love to be adopted.

A few weeks later, this was Ron's reply, after receiving a modest deposit to his commissary account:

I have you two, my mom, and God. All I need. God is providing for me just fine. It still blows my mind all He is doing for me. I mean look at you and Missy. Never met me and we are writing and you are sending me things and ... please, Barbara, my mom puts money on my books every month. You don't have to do that. When I read that I just sat there. My cell mate wanted to know what was wrong. I am going to use some of that to buy for others. Barb, you and Missy are my angels.

Inmates look out for each other; we have seen this time and time again. They know firsthand the needs of people in their units, and employ much thought and care when submitting names for adoption. Ron has submitted the names of a few of his good friends who would like to be adopted - watch the blog to read about them. Be an angel, adopt an inmate.

When The State Kills - by Rick Fisk

rickfisk2015 — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 15:30:00 +0000

Why the Death Penalty is Already Illegal

Due to recent scrutiny of American jurisprudence, specifically, an astonishing number of death row exonerations, there has been renewed debate regarding use of the death penalty. Some argue that the death penalty should be abolished because too many innocent people have been convicted, some seek to end its practice because it is biased against the poor and people of color, some are against it because it is “cruel and unusual,” and some adamantly argue that it should be continued even if the state must illegally obtain the drugs which make executions “legal” under the eighth amendment. None on either side of the debate satisfactorily explains where governments obtain the authority to administer death. Through courts, media, and academia, we settle on some facts about the death penalty:

About 60% of Americans have favored the death penalty for the past 40 years, in spite of the growing number of exonerations -154 as of 6/8/2015. [Death Penalty Information Center].
The death penalty has virtually no effect as a deterrent to crime. Death penalty proponents argue this doesn’t matter.
Carrying out the death penalty costs more than housing a convict for life.
You are 22 times more likely to receive the death penalty for murder if you are black and the victim is white, than if you are white and the victim is black
For every nine people executed in the U.S., one has been exonerated. Contrary to many death penalty proponents, innocence is far from “rare.”

In fact, it may be the epitome of understatement to say that governments have a collective, sordid history of murdering innocent people with varied levels of “due process” employed to create illusions of legitimacy. For instance, imagine a country that routinely conducts no-knock raids on private homes, rounding up those it deems its enemies. In many instances, entire families are simply taken to a field, shot, and pushed into a mass grave. Others are taken to prisons and made to work as slave laborers. By the time the practice ends, twenty-million men, women, and children die at the hands of the state. Sadly, it really happened. There are many accounts by historians and survivors, documenting the U.S.S.R.’s imprisonment and murder of its own people. We can look back on the Soviet pogroms today and make the standard clucking noises of contempt, but until we acknowledge the root causes of states run amok, we may eventually come face to face with a regime completely unfriendly to critics. Under Stalin, critics were imprisoned or killed, or both, with a little bit of torture thrown in for special cases. It is estimated that between six and eight million people were killed in German-occupied territory between 1939 and 1945. Many were gassed, many died of typhus due to harsh prison camp conditions, and many were shot or worked to death. Estimates vary, but China is believed to have murdered about eighty million of its own citizens. One could list dozens more governments that brutally turned on its citizens and note different reasons and chronologies describing how these governments devolved into nightmares, but they would have limited use in explaining how such tragedy could come to pass, however fascinating any individual history might be. At the root of all are governments which believed they had legal authority to administer death to its so-called outlaws. One might argue that the cases mentioned cannot be used as cautionary tales for a free people because they are examples of totalitarian regimes which had no checks against indiscriminate use of murder. Here in the U.S., we have courts which act as a barrier to prevent miscarriages of justice and a constitution limiting government’s power to only use murder (deliberate, premeditated homicide) after certain strict conditions are met. We only kill those who really deserve it. Granted, it may be a “slippery slope” argument to say that the U.S. will devolve into something akin to Stalin’s paranoid killing regime, but it also isn’t far-fetched. The U.S. government has killed millions itself, even if it hasn’t always targeted its own citizens. However, just like all of these regimes mentioned, it is assured that federal and state authorities have the power to administer death. The assumption is erroneous. Both proponents and detractors of the death penalty skip the question of authority. Due to history and practice, it is assumed that governments must possess the power to murder. Yet, no explicit power to murder is listed in our state or federal constitutions, a prerequisite to its legitimate use. Nor could it be, no matter how hard potential despots might wish it so. On its face, the idea that a state or the federal government could murder people legitimately seems wrong. Even more so when you try to imagine where the legitimacy could be derived. It would have to come from somewhere. Some place, some thing, some person. Where does the Governor of Texas, or the President of the United States, get the authority to sign anyone’s death warrant? When the federal constitution was written, it echoed sentiments found in the Declaration of Independence, noting that all of its authority was derived from “We the People.” All powers listed were ones the individuals who drafted it and those it claimed to represent, possessed as individuals. Powers and authorities they would and might use with or without a government in effect. Eventually, a list of exclusions was proposed in case future officials forgot that their authority was strictly limited to just the powers listed. It is important to note that Madison, often credited as the 'Constitution’s architect,' argued against the Bill of Rights. “Crazy,” you might think to yourself! But, his argument was quite sensible. He believed that by attaching a list of exclusions, it would give the impression that the constitution contained the authority to commit the transgressions being excluded. No power to restrict religious expression, ban weapons, arrest without probable cause, punish cruelly, or quarter soldiers, existed in the Constitution’s enumerated powers, so these exclusions were legally unnecessary. Nevertheless, the Bill of Rights was included, because some state legislatures were threatening not to ratify without assurances like the ones included in the Bill of Rights. Those who drafted the Constitution of the United States, and those who wrote the state constitutions, did so with the concept of individual sovereignty in mind. It’s why so many state constitutions echo these words, or something similar: “All political power is vested in the people.” Unlike the monarchy from which they were breaking, no single, God-ordained Sovereign ruled over men. All men were sovereign, each endowed by his creator to rule himself or to join with others to consent to governance by law, their selected representatives subject to that same law. No man could be above the law. Thus, consider the absurdity of man agreeing that murder is outside the purview of normal individuals and explicitly defining it as the premeditated, systematic killing of another human being, and then prescribing murder as its own punishment. How can two men agree that murder is illegal and legal at the same time? Even more importantly, how can a man give another man the authority to do something he himself is not authorized to do? If government authority comes from the individual, can it possess the power to murder, given that all moral, religious, and legal authorities deny an individual's authority to kill? Is government omnipotent? Above its own laws? Most importantly, there is no language that gives government the power to murder. You might argue that the power to murder is implied in your right to life. Government’s power to wage war is derived from an individual’s right to defend himself. But, self-defense and war have limitations. Common law decisions over centuries and statutes clarifying those decisions are pretty clear about when self-defense applies. Self defense is only valid at the time of an attack, and only to thwart the attack. Retaliation is considered murder under the law. In spite of the facts, states and the Federal Government assumed authority to murder, a.k.a., the death penalty, shortly after ratifying the U.S. Constitution. State legislatures prescribed murder as a punishment for more crimes than just murder, and the Federal Congress threatened those found guilty of “debasing the currency” with death. None were legal, though it is understandable that legislatures acted as they did, since the death penalty at the time, no matter how barbaric a practice, was quite “usual” for crimes such as petty theft. Unfortunately, transgressions against the Constitution can take a great deal of time to remedy, if relying on the courts. Consider, for instance, marriage. Black’s Law defines a license as “permission to do a thing which would otherwise be illegal.” A license is therefore a legal exception. Why would anyone need a license to marry? Because states had outlawed miscegeny - interracial marriage (interracial being a nonsense term, given there is only one race in scientific taxonomy of our species). State legislatures took no notice that they were totally barred from regulating religious practices and from “impairing the obligation of contracts.” The marriage license was a tool created by the states to discriminate against black people. It took over 100 years (until 1966) before the Supreme Court ruled that laws against mixed marriage were unconstitutional. Back to the death penalty. Though it is totally illegal, outside all human authority, we are still trying to use the courts to strike it down, using arguments that are illogical and self-defeating. Lawyers try to persuade the courts that it is cruel as administered, but the argument is subjective and wasted on men and women rarely moved to empathy, even when shown evidence of burning flesh and exploding eyeballs. Such an approach is fatally flawed because it fails to challenge government’s fundamental authority to commit criminal acts in order to administer ‘justice.’ Should a future technology be discovered which could render death painlessly, officials could merrily continue their serial killing. The death penalty is not wrong because it is cruel, unequally applied against the poor and/or minority defendants, and too many times finds innocent men and women in its grasp. It’s all those things, yes. But it is wrong, legally and morally, because it is, in its best scenario, premeditated murder, revenge which would be vigorously prosecuted were any individual to take it upon themselves. Allowing government to operate under such double standards has terrible consequences. Our justice system is in shambles. Not only can states murder, but the courts agree that police can “legally” lie to extract confessions, while witnesses and suspects are imprisoned for lying to investigators. If you pay attention to the actions of police, prosecutors and judges in many death penalty exonerations, you find patterns of misconduct and hubris testifying to the utter contempt with which officials treat the accused and the oaths they swore to uphold. The use of murder as a tool is so corrupting that we now have a federal “assassination list” that has already been successfully used to murder at least four American citizens (one of whom was a 16 year-old boy), without even the slightest patina of due process applied. So much for that slippery slope. The good news about the death penalty is that we don’t have to wait another 250 years before we correct the error. We can render pain-free death technologies that may be invented or discovered in the future forever barred from falling into the hands of “corrections” officials; by moving the legislatures now, to abolish government’s access to murder as a tool, ending all possibility that further innocents will be murdered in our name. Rick Fisk, TDCJ

Inside Angels Spotlight - Jason

adoptaninmate — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 18:18:04 +0000

Jason in Texas writes often, has a big heart, and has connected us with others on the inside who need adopting. Jason is one of the fortunate ones in that he has access to his own funds for commissary, and wants to reimburse us for the cost of sending him e-mail and books. (Jpay charges 49¢ per page for an e-mail.) TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice), where Jason is, offers a service called "e-comm," that allows friends and family from the outside to purchase commissary-like items that do not count against the inmates' spend limit for commissary ($85 every two weeks). There is also a spend limit for e-comm, which is $50 per calendar quarter, per inmate. Because e-comm is through a different provider than commissary, they carry different items, so inmates can have a little variety. We are sending Jason some books that he can read and pass on to others. See our sidebar for a long list of prison book programs. Please comment or send us an email if you know other angels on the inside that we can spotlight. We love you Jason!

Inmate Art

adoptaninmate — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

From an inmate in Texas

Review of Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy, by Inmate Rick Fisk

rickfisk2015 — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 20:42:54 +0000

What's Mercy, Anyway?

Reading a book about the work of someone who has dedicated his life to freeing the innocent is inspiring. When you’re reading that book behind bars, it also evokes melancholy and wishful thinking. No matter where you are when you crack the cover on Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, be prepared to stay put until you’re finished reading it. Be prepared also to have your eyes opened - maybe even welling with tears.

Stevenson, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, takes readers inside prison walls and courtrooms, introducing us to the human beings sentenced to die by the hands of justice system officials and a public who’ve forgotten to, or refuse to, view them as humans.

Stevenson’s superbly written tome focuses on the exoneration of Walter McMilllian, sentenced to death for a murder he didn’t commit, in spite of the fact that more than a dozen witnesses could testify he was miles away when the murder occurred. Chapter by chapter, we learn Walter’s story, and in between we learn Bryan’s story. His own broken past drives his heroic efforts to bring real justice to his clients and the stories of several others, guilty and innocent, who have been victimized by a justice system which appears to have forgotten its mission to deliver justice, if that ever was its mission. Similar to Michelle Alexander’s revelations in The New Jim Crow, Stevenson reveals how blacks are disproportionately targeted by the justice system from police shootings (blacks are 21 times more likely to be shot by police than their white counterparts), to the death penalty (in the states of the Old South, you're 11 times more likely to get the death penalty if the victim is white than if the victim is black, and 22 times more likely to get it if the defendant is black and the victim is white), yet doesn’t bog itself down in statistics. What makes Stevenson’s work so powerful is the deft way he weaves the human stories of those who are the real life recipients of the system’s unfairness. These are not just some shocking percentages or esoteric cultural stereotypes. They are people with faces, feelings, and hopes. Some led promising, productive lives prior to being incarcerated. I don’t mean to detract from Alexander’s seminal work at all. Her book is vastly important. But what Stevenson has done is extremely important in a personal way. He’s shared intimate stories of those he’s helped to save and those he’s failed to save, in over twenty-five years of his life’s work, defending the innocent and disadvantaged. These are individuals - not collectives. Human beings, not just a labeled group. Throughout the book, Stevenson seriously questions the entire system from bail to prison to exoneration, showing an extraordinary compassion for clients and opponents alike. In spite of what any reasonable person would consider blatant criminal behavior by police and prosecutors, Stevenson gives those who are clearly oppressing people benefit of doubt that borders on saintly. How he doesn’t explode in rage is a testament to his wisdom and commitment. One reviewer of his book compares him to Mandela. I think Stevenson’s name stands on its own. His accomplishments don’t stop at tireless work for death row inmates. Arguing before the US Supreme Court, he has managed to ban both death penalty and mandatory life sentences for juveniles. He has also been instrumental in getting states to commemorate lynchings that occurred across the south. That work continues. The book makes it clear how truly belligerent justice system officials are against all challengers. They literally get away with murder, so why wouldn’t they be? The main story of McMillian’s exoneration is a powerful one which poses more important questions than it answers. Some might point to it and say, “See! It’s proof that our system works!” I wonder how long such people would be willing to sit on death row in support of their own rhetoric? That an innocent person, obviously and demonstrably so, would have to spend even one month behind bars is proof that our justice system is horribly broken, not “working as it should.” [caption id="attachment_637" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Walter McMillian at his family’s home the day of his release.[/caption] Thanks to Stevenson, dozens have been freed from the broken system’s grasp. Thanks to his superb book, readers have an opportunity to see up close how the justice system looks through the eyes of advocates, prosecutors, and convicted. It looks nothing at all like CSI in its myriad of incarcerations. Just Mercy is a must-read for anyone interested to know how the innocent can be so easily victimized. It’s shockingly easy to convict an innocent person and sentence him to die. So easy that we have currently identified one in every nine sentenced to death were demonstrably innocent. And that’s just the cases involving capital murder charges. How many convicted of lesser crimes are innocent and still behind bars? One of the very profound ideas that Stevenson proffers toward the end of the book is that mercy is not something we should reserve for the innocent. It is most powerful when supplied to those who don’t “deserve” it. Mercy is bestowed upon the guilty to legitimize and humanize the dispensers of justice. For if the ones sitting in judgement are incapable of mercy, then they are, ipso facto, incapable of moral judgement. When our justice system can routinely dispense mercy, it might start dispensing justice. Thanks to people like Bryan Stevenson, the innocent have a chance, however slim. Rick Fisk, TDCJ

Click here to listen in on Rick's phone call from prison, after reading Just Mercy.

Click here to buy the book, see the stories, and download the discussion guide.

Click here to see Stevenson's TEDTalk, which inspired one of the longest and loudest standing ovations in TED's history, and raised over a million dollars in donations for his organization, EJI.

Cards from Inmates

adoptaninmate — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 17:23:29 +0000

If you've written to an inmate for any length of time, chances are you've received a card, similar to the ones above. Cartoon characters are a popular subject for artists on the inside. Because no cash is allowed in prison, inmates will trade goods from commissary or other services for cards. This is technically against the rules, but not strictly enforced. The most commonly traded commissary items are stamps, coffee, and soups.

Yvette Louisell - Parole Hearing

adoptaninmate — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 14:00:24 +0000

[caption id="attachment_677" align="aligncenter" width="259"] Yvette Louisell[/caption] Yvette Louisell is one of our adoptees. She was a 17-year old University of Iowa student when she was sentenced to life without parole. She turned 44 in the Iowa Correctional Institute for Woman (ICIW) last July 5th. Because of the work of Brian Stevenson and his organization, the Equal Justice Initiative, juvenile life without parole sentences (JLWOP) were banned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2012. This decision affected several of the women in ICIW, including Yvette.

I believe that to say to any child that you’re only fit to die in prison is “cruel.” It’s true that some of these crimes are very disturbing, but it’s also true that the lives that many of these children have lived are also disturbing. They’re in many ways some of the most vulnerable kids in society, and we owe them more than to simply throw them away. -Brian Stevenson

In light of the Supreme Court decision, in February 2014 a district court re-sentenced Louisell to 25 years. She had already served 26 years, which would have made her eligible for immediate release. That ruling was appealed, however, and a stay was granted, meaning she would remain behind bars pending a new hearing. Skip ahead to June 2015. The district judge set aside the 25-year sentence and instead re-sentenced Louisell to 25 years to life, with immediate eligibility for parole. The judge stated in his order that she has been fully rehabilitated to the extent that is possible within prison, and that further rehabilitation can only be achieved through work release. He recommended she be sent to work release as soon as a bed is open. Louisell is "believed to be only the second woman in Iowa history to earn a bachelor’s degree while imprisoned, and, very likely, the Iowa prison system’s first and only magna cum laude graduate." [Dick Haws, The Des Moines Register, June 29, 2015] Most impressively, she did this while believing she would never be released. Her fate now lies in the hands of the parole board. Yvette's attorney is a former Iowa Assistant Attorney General and currently teaches at Drake University. He has done all of this work because he believes in it, and has not taken any compensation for it. If Louisell is approved for work release by the Parole Board, she will be the first in the JLWOP category in ICIW to do so. (One female in Iowa was released to hospice as she had stage 4 cancer, and died shortly afterwards.) Keep in mind that work release in Iowa is very expensive. Upon release, she will be expected to pay $480 a month rent, a $250 one-time supervision fee, and a $30 one-time linen fee. She will not be allowed to have a job for the first three weeks. Once approved for "daily reporting," which will take about six months, she will have to find an apartment or residence and pay for that, but will still be obligated to pay $240 a month for rent at work release, even though she will only be going in once a day to report and be tested for substances. She may be allowed to go to Hephzibah House, a private Christian transitional program, which charges $250 a month. Yvette is the epitome of a model inmate, having taken advantage of every opportunity available to her during her lengthy incarceration. She has been featured in at least two documentaries, The Grey Area, and A Saturday In Prison. She is currently participating in the STAR Therapeutic Community program, or STAR TC, which is a 9-month, full-time, intensive in-patient treatment program. The program participants are busy from at least 7 a.m. until at least 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Before Yvette participated in the STAR TC program, she worked three jobs, which earned her enough to survive. Under the STAR TC program, she is paid about $7.50 a week, which is the lowest pay rate within ICIW. STAR participants are not allowed to have jobs since they are supposed to be focusing on their treatment programming. If inmates have any money at all (even just the $7.50 a week), they are expected to purchase their hygiene products from the State canteen (commissary). They also pay 12% tax on everything -- 6% Iowa state tax and 6% DOC surcharge (a.k.a. "Pay for Stay"). STAR participants eat dinner at 3:30 p.m., so those who don't have outside help with Canteen don't eat from 3:30 p.m. until they get their breakfast sack at 6 a.m. The Parole Board will meet for Louisell's review on August 25th. Anyone can send the Board a message in support of her release to Hephzibah House. The email address for the Board's Chairman is:

John.Hodges@iowa.gov.

Watch the blog for updates on the board's decision.

AI on 'Women Behind the Wall' Podcast with Gloria Killian 8/20/2015

adoptaninmate — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 14:00:50 +0000

Please tune in for this Thursday's episode of Women Behind the Wall Podcast, hosted by Gloria Killian. I am thrilled and honored to be her guest for the hour (5:00 PM - 6:00 PM PDT). Gloria is the Executive Director of ACWIP (Action Committee for Women in Prison), and spent nearly 17 years in a California prison before being released and exonerated in 2002, with the help of volunteer Joyce Ride (mother of the late Sally Ride - the first American female astronaut in space). You might say that Joyce Ride is one of the first inmate adopters :). Gloria has been featured on The Story, and CNN's Death Row Stories (Season One, available for streaming on Netflix), and is listed in the National Registry of Exonerations. Her book Full Circle: A True Story of Murder, Lies, and Vindication, is available on Amazon.com. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates about how to tune in.

What is Commissary, Anyway?

adoptaninmate — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Commissary is a store system provided to workers (or inmates) and their families in various institutions, such as military bases, jails and prisons, logging and mining camps, and even film studios. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zE1-48AAYc In jails and prisons it is also known as "canteen," or sometimes just "store." Inmates with money on their "books" (either from deposits made by friends and family on the outside, or by money earned from a prison job), can purchase items from a list on a designated day (typically once every 2-3 weeks), usually dependent on their security classification. Indigent inmates (with no money on their books for a certain period of time) are meted out meager amounts of generic (low quality) bare essentials - this usually includes toothpaste, soap, paper, a limited number of postage-paid envelopes, and a pencil (usually a golf pencil). With commissary privileges, inmates can purchase larger sizes and varieties, and better quality of hygiene products (shampoo, soap, deodorant, etc.), and food items. Chow times in jail and prison are typically 3-5 AM for breakfast, 10-11 AM for lunch, and 3-4 PM for dinner. Inmates who are able to purchase food items can have a snack or a meal before lights out to get them through the ~12 hours between dinner and breakfast. Some facilities serve chow only twice a day on the weekends, so for those inmates, "making store" can be a considerable benefit. Also, there is no coffee provided with chow, so the only way to get it is from commissary, or to trade an item or service with someone who can purchase it. The providers and particulars of commissary/canteen vary from facility to facility, as with mail, visitation, etc. See the handbook for families provided by each state's DOC, usually available online. (We are here to help you navigate those systems and rules, please do reach out if you need assistance.) See below the current commissary order form from TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which is the state prison system in Texas). When you look at these prices remember that Texas requires all prisoners to have a job, but does not provide any pay. A typical wage for prisons that do pay is 5¢ to 60¢ per hour. In some states, a percentage of wages or deposits to an inmate's personal fund is deducted for other uses, such as restitution owed, fees for medical care, "stay for pay," etc. Commissary Price List 01-21-2015 From a female in mate in TDCJ's Mountain View Unit:

"A lot of us who are indigent owe medical, so if someone were to put $35.00 on our books the regular way, we are lucky if we get $9.00. However, if we are indigent and show proof, there is an organization called "Sisters of Jesus" which allows us to make an order of $31.25 every six months, and they do e-comm*. But the only thing is it doesn't really last for six months. You can't get stamps on it. We need more programs for the indigent offenders."

*E-comm Direct is the approved supplier for TDCJ that friends and family can use to order commissary items for their loved ones. This is a different vendor, and separate from the system inmates themselves use (with the form above). Anyone can place an order and have it shipped to an eligible inmate this way, up to the maximum quarterly spend of $60.00 - except Holiday quarter [October-December] which has a maximum spend of $85.00. Many facilities have one or more vendors of this type - some have speciality items like typewriters, electronics, art supplies, or musical instruments, that have a separate spend limit. Ordering in this way assures that the entire purchase goes directly to the inmate, as it is not connected to medical, pay-for-stay, or restitution owed. Much like prison phone companies, commissary suppliers vie for the chance to be the sole provider for a facility. (Can you say "monopoly?") The main commissary suppliers are: Keefe (Laura Bush is said to be part owner), Company stores have had a reputation as monopolistic institutions, funnelling workers' incomes back to the wealthy owners of the company. Company stores often faced little or no competition and prices were therefore not competitive.Company stores have had a reputation as monopolistic institutions, funnelling workers' incomes back to the wealthy owners of the company. Company stores often faced little or no competition and prices were therefore not competitive. economic historian Price V. Fishback wrote that:

The company store is one of the most reviled and misunderstood of economic institutions. In song, folktale, and union rhetoric the company store was often cast as a villain, a collector of souls through perpetual debt peonage. Nicknames, like the "pluck me" and more obscene versions that cannot appear in a family newspaper, seem to point to exploitation. The attitudes carry over into the scholarly literature, which emphasizes that the company store was a monopoly.^[1]

Texas Inmates and the Heat

adoptaninmate — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

We have been asking our adoptees in TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) how they are holding up under the Texas heat with no air conditioning. (Fortunately, this has not been a record-setting year for summer heat in Texas.) Here are some of their replies: Stiles:

"No, I do not have a fan of my own, I have a cellmate who shares his fan with me. I have asked the property department to give me a loaner fan on an I-60 (standard request form in TDCJ). I have not gotten a response yet. We get cold water in an 8-gallon Igloo. There are 48 men to a pod so you can understand it does not last long. We are able to take showers at will but the water is very hot. Before I close this letter I would just like to say thank you and God bless you so much."

"The fan thing is really to keep the state from lawsuits. That is why they allow it, because there is no a/c in any of the housing areas. And yes, I have a fan. It is one of the first things that I bought. This is Texas!!"

Estelle:

"Texas is the worst of all prison systems. And this is the most active death chamber on earth for the amount of people per-capita; it's a more deadly state than even Iran or North Korea! As I write to you it is 115 degrees in my cage! I've already seen about ten guys being carted off this summer from heat exhaustion. Where I am is one of the roughest prisons in America. It's hard to say because a man gets killed on all of them at least once a month. One week I watched three men get killed. [...] Yes, I have broken the law, but I am human. Twenty years is a little much for a non-violent crime. Twenty years is a death sentence in these prisons."

Holliday:

"The summer heat is exhausting. We have dorm fans but we still sweat all day long and they bring us five to ten gallons of cold water but with fifty of us in a dorm it's gone in five minutes and we have to wait six to nine hours to get another one."

Eastham:

"One of the guys smuggled back an empty chip bag full of ice from the chow hall, and I took it off his hands for a single stamp, so I have a couple of juices chilling in my big bowl. I love mangoes and all manner of fruit, so when I get out, I am going to fill up an entire shopping cart with fruit."

Pack (from a former inmate):

"I suspect there will be more deaths before summer is over, and TDCJ will try to portray that as NOT heat related. And they will continue deliberately putting down misleading temperatures in the meaningless temperature logs by deliberately pointing the laser pointer at the draftiest points in the dorm and not at the tables or the floors or the area with direct light which are the hottest. They use a laser thermometer that is only accurate for a spot reading of a small area.

"I would get up bright and early in the morning so I could catch the ice water while it was still cold. Our boss in Laundry was good about sending us down to the kitchen to get our water jug refilled and so we always had water there at least. Wasn't a very good setup but I had a friend who was an SSI (Staff Support Inmate, or dorm janitor) who would sometimes slip me a big chunk of ice that I would put in my mug."

Regarding showers:

"Sometimes they would have super hot water only because some idiot rank wouldn't turn the gas off (however we laundry folks knew where the lever for the hot water was and would just pull it to off).

"The only good cold showers I'd get were birdbath at the sink (pour water over yourself with your bowl) or when I got off work in the laundry.

Occasionally one of the intelligent CO's (Correctional Officer) would think to turn the water heater for the showers off."

'To Sleep, Perchance to Dream' by Philip Brasfield

adoptaninmate — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 14:00:48 +0000

If you want a good night's sleep in Texas, don't look for it in prison. Finding respite from the constant noise and bright lights in cell blocks and dormitories is increasingly difficult in general population. In special housing areas (Administrative Segregation), it may be impossible. Despite conservative, tough-on-crime mythology perpetuating the misconception that prisons are like gated country clubs, life behind bars is synonymous to a fenced and caged dystopia. Nearly one-third of every day in prison is spent being counted. Ideally, all counts are supposed to clear in an hour. At the Hughes Unit, near Gatesville, Texas, corrections officers work 12 hour shifts, four days on, four days off. The day shift, called "One Card," begins at 6:00 AM. The "bosses," as they are still called, immediately begin their first count. All the lights in living quarters and day rooms are turned on and remain so until count clears, by 7:00 AM (if everything goes right). Various job assignments, lay-ins, recreation, and other functions are called out and then two hours later, the second count starts at 9:00 AM, and is supposed to clear by 10:00 AM. Once cleared, security begins calling each building for lunch. It's "chow time!" The next count is scheduled from 2:00 PM until 3:00 PM, followed by dinner. By the time another meal has been served, the second shift relieves the first. "Two Card" holds its first count from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM, it's second from 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM, immediately followed by a special Bed Book Count, which begins at 11:00 PM and lasts as long as it takes COs in every living area to wake up every prisoner who might be asleep. It's the TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) protocol designed to ensure that everyone is in the right bunk, in the right cell or cubicle, and that no one, in fact, has absconded or expired. Following that count, yet another occurs between 1:00 AM and 2:00 AM, and once clear, Two Card bosses begin braying "Chow Time," "Insulin," and "Pill Window," for those so inclined to seek sustenance or succor. All things considered, the ideal clockwork precision for counts in Texas Prisons falls far and away from realization. More often than not, do-overs are required. One hears the lamentable cry: "Recount! Catch your bunk!" frequently, each and every day. Scheduled one-hour periods of accountability deviate into longer, more stressful epochs which tend to undermine the whole notion of a Master Plan, and one wonders if our keepers can't do simple arithmetic with reliability or accuracy, then just how effective are the rest of their efforts? It's enough to make you sick. Not having enough sleep is called sleep deprivation, and we've all experienced that at one time or another. It can be either acute (short-lived) or chronic (long-lived). Long-term sleep restriction causes fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness, and either weight gain or weight loss. Lack of sleep adversely affects the brain and its cognitive functions^[3]. Long term total sleep deprivations in lab animals will kill them. Other physiological affects include aching muscles^[7], memory lapses or loss^[3], confusion^[3], depression^[3], hallucinations^[1], headaches, hand tremors^[6], malaise^[7], stye, hypertension^[3], increased levels of stress hormones^[3], increased risk of type II diabetes^[8], increased risk of fibromyalgia^[7], increased irritability, increased risk of obesity^[10][11], nystagmus (rapid involuntary eye movement), seizures^[3], severe yawning^[2], mania^[1], symptoms similar to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)^[2], psychosis^[2], impaired immune system^[3], increased risk of heart disease^[12], increased heart rate variability^[3], decreased temperature^[3], impaired moral judgement^[4], and decreased reaction time and accuracy^[6]. These are symptoms familiar to those who experience them and to health care providers who treat the symptoms but are powerless to confront the cause of such complaints in prison. Administrators in the institutional division of TDCJ routinely ignore and belittle prisoner complaints regarding sleep deprivation driven by both traditional and current policy which results in the disruption and deprivation of prisoners' sleep. In a recent good faith attempt to address the issue, Hughes Unit prisoners sought resolution through the grievance system. Step I (I-127) forms requested relief in the form of the administration (unit wardens) honoring and enforcing existing policy that regulates lighting during the count times in a manner that minimizes sleep-pattern interruption. This policy states:

"Dayroom lights in 18 and 19 dorm will not be utilized during daylight hours. For count purposes, the only lighting needed is fluorescent lighting. The dayroom light switches are clearly marked on the picket control panel as "Dayroom Lights." The fluorescent lighting is marked on the control panel as switches 'L' and 'H.' The 'L' switch controls intermittent lighting on one and two rows above the cubicles. These are the only lights used for count purposes. The 'H' switch controls all fluorescent lighting over the cubicle area. This switch should only be utilized for situations in which more lighting is needed for cell searches or disruptive situations. These lights will immediately be turned off when no longer needed. The Shift Sergeants will ensure that the lighting procedures are being strictly adhered to."

This mandate was signed by Bruce Armstrong, who was then the Hughes Unit Building Major. It has not been revised in 13 years. Mr. Armstrong is now Assistant Director of Region VI. In his reply to the numerous grievances filed about this policy being ignored, Asst. Warden Brian Blanchard replied:

"Staff may use all necessary lighting during count procedures to ensure an accurate count. Lights are turned off upon the completion of count. No action warranted."⁽¹³⁾

It's as if he has never read unit policy, or if he has, he simply doesn't care. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average adult needs about seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Without that much, researchers say we begin to undergo genetic changes which can impact overall health in very negative ways. Dr. Charles Czeisler, M.D., is a tenured professor at Harvard Medical School. He's the go-to expert for professional sports in every major league, as well as for NASA and the U.S. Secret Service. Czeisler offers the same generally accepted advice to everyone. Get seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Is it unreasonable to expect justice from inside prison? With as much sleep deprivation research data available today, a state agency responsible for the care and custody of over one hundred thousand men and women behind bars should do everything it can to ensure that its policies and practices align with a goal of preventing or avoiding harm. It's a given that society demands punishment of and recompense from those who have acted irresponsibly, broken the law or victimized others through violence. Those in prison get it. Basic human needs like sufficient sleep cannot be purposely denied or deprived by policy. When that occurs the result is, according to the European Court of Human Rights, "... a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment," in breach of the European convention on Human Rights. According to Nicole Bieske, speaking for Amnesty International (Australia) "...sleep deprivation is cruel, inhumane and degrading. If used for prolonged periods of time, it is torture." A significant percentage of Texas prisoners have serious psychological and psychiatric disabilities. Prisons have become dumping grounds and human warehouses for these unfortunate humans. The American Psychiatric Association states that causal relationships between sleep loss and effects of psychiatric disorders have been most extensively studied in patients with mood disorders. Shifts into mania in bipolar patients are often preceded by episodes of insomnia, and sleep deprivation has been shown to induce a manic state in susceptible individuals. Sleep deprivation may represent a final common pathway in the genesis of mania, and sleep loss as both a precipitating and reinforcing factor for the manic state. Sometimes when I'm on my way to work before dawn, the bosses in the control picket lay sprawled on the floor or bent over the desk, their heads cradled in their arms. Like the rest of us here, they're exhausted. When their shift changes, they'll rouse themselves and, unlike me, drive home where they can get their rest. I'm always tempted to beat on the glass, to shout insults and invectives imbued with rancorous profanity. If I can't get my rest, why should they? But I just can't. I let them make it. They look so peaceful there.

Post script: Since writing "To Sleep, Perchance to Dream" in 2014, Asst. Warden Brian Blanchard has taken early retirement. He was replaced by Bruce Armstrong. Both TDCJ-ID policy and unit practice, however, remains unchanged.

Philip Brasfield - 9 August 2015

Author's Note

Philip Brasfield writes about the prison system in Texas from the inside out. 2015 marks his 38th year behind the wire.

References:

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm
Sleep Deprivation http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/sleep_deprivation
Normal Sleep, Sleep Physiology & Deprivation by M. Susan Stevens, MD http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1188226-overview
The Effects of 53 Hours of Sleep Deprivation on Moral Judgement, Journal SLEEP, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, March 2007 http://www.journalsleep.org/Articles/300314.pdf
Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication. Occup Environ Med 2000;57:649-655 doi:10.1136/oem.57.10.649
Handbook of Human Performance pp.p. 240 by Andrew P. Smith https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Effects_of_sleep_deprivation.png
Insomnia: A clinical guide to assessment and treatment pp.p. 28 by Charles M. Morin
Association of Sleep Time with Diabetes Millitus and Impaired Glucose Tolerance. Archives Internal Medicine Vol. 165, No. 6, 2005; 165.
The association between short sleep duration & obesity. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=association+between+short+sleep+duration+and+obesity
Inadequate Sleep as a risk factor for obesity. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Inadequate+Sleep+as+a+risk+factor+for+obesity
Sleep, Less and More, Linked to Heart Disease by Jeanie Lerche Davis. http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20030127/sleep-less-more-linked-to-heart-disease
TDCJ-ID Grievance No. 2014131437 (042) Step 1 (I-127).

Forgive

adoptaninmate — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 14:00:00 +0000

How can I forgive you and not myself? I can’t forgive myself, yet I can forgive everybody else. I forgive you for never being there. I forgive you for never acting like you cared, when you would leave for days on end. I was all alone with no friends. The drugs took over your life. You couldn’t even walk or think right. I would brush your hair and it would come out in chunks. I always stayed quiet never cried much. Although when I was alone I would cry my eyes out. Cursing at God, in Him I had so many doubts. When you opened the door I would dry my tears, trying to show you that you could talk to me and that I was mature. You would brush me off and say you’re too tired to talk. Yell at me, and tell me to go outside and play with my chalk. Not understanding I was twelve and I didn’t play with chalk anymore. I would go outside and try to hide what happened behind closed doors. People would ask me why I looked so sad or what was wrong with me. I would lie and say I just watched a sad movie. I know my excuses they did not believe. As I grew older I started to rebel. Going out all night, drugs I would sell. I thought you would notice but you never did, never even cared that you had a kid. Things only got worse with the thugs I would hang and a little after that I started to bang. I thought I was cool and that I was the shhh. I was robbing houses, cars, and hitting licks. When I would get arrested you would come and pick me up. I was yearning for your attention but you never gave a *uck. Then you disappeared left me to rot in jail. I spent eleven months sitting in that cell. It had been almost two years since I had seen or heard from you. In August 2014 all hell broke loose. They came to my room and unlocked the door and told me I was going to the hospital, I didn’t have to stay anymore. As we were driving to the hospital I was asking why, but nobody would look me in the eyes. The doctor came in and asked questions about you. I told him I hadn’t seen or heard from you for one and a half almost two. He told me had some very bad news. I heard his words but I didn’t believe they were true. They asked me to go inside the room and identify the body. He just kept saying how he was so sorry. When I walked in the room I thought it was a joke. He told me this was the long-term effect of heroin, meth, and coke. You didn’t look anything like you used to. They told me you only weighed 102. At 5”11 that’s as small as a stick, you looked like a starving African kid. At that point I fell to my knees, screaming and crying how I was sorry. I was sorry for everything I said to you, Mom. I was sorry for all the things I did wrong, maybe if I just behaved you wouldn’t have left. You might have stayed. I wanted to tell you, Mom, I forgive you. But forgiving myself is something I could never do. -Markayla, 17, Los Angeles Thank you to The Beat Within for sharing this piece.

Audio - Prison Count and Schedule

adoptaninmate — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 14:00:00 +0000

To follow up on Philip Brasfield's piece posted yesterday, "To Sleep, Perchance to Dream," about sleep deprivation in prison, this is audio of Rick (via phone), also currently in TDCJ, describing the daily schedule and count procedure. Keep in mind that they go to breakfast at 3:00 AM. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/220047782" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]

Adopt an Inmate on 'Women Behind the Wall' Podcast with Gloria Killian

adoptaninmate — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 23:31:49 +0000

I was thrilled to be Gloria Killian's guest on her podcast "Women Behind the Wall," Thursday, August 20th. Gloria is the Executive Director of ACWIP (Action Committee for Women in Prison), and spent almost 18 years in a California prison before being exonerated. See her story on season one of CNN's Death Row Stories (available on Netflix), or read it in her book "Full Circle: a True Story of Murder, Lies, and Vindication." [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/220448956" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]

Inmate Art

adoptaninmate — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 15:00:00 +0000

[caption id="attachment_823" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Artwork by Donicio Gonzalez, Huntsville, TX[/caption] From Donicio's letter to us:

You're right, there are a lot of GOOD people in here with sad stories. I want to say thank you for taking the time to help me out. I would pass along your website to the outside, but have no contacts out there. I have drawn a welcome picture for the page. Thank you for the invite to do so. I had a good time doing it. I am also enclosing a letter from a friend of mine that is here with me. My readiing and writing isn't as good as i'd like for it to be, so he helps me with my mail and takes time to be patient. he read your response letter and asked if i would mind if he sent a letter too, as we only get five indigent letters a month and he spends his between his mother and his daughter. Again, thank you for writing me back and trying to help me out.

Donicio is looking for penpals. You can write to him here:

Donicio Gonzales #2007016 21 FM 247 Huntsville, TX 77320

Hard Work-Work: Legalized Prison Slave Labor

adoptaninmate — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Today's blog post comes from Shawn Ali Bahrami, who is serving his 20th year in a Texas state prison (since he was 17 years old). Shawn has always proclaimed his innocence, and you can read his story here.)

Shawn agreed to write a post for us about the harsh working conditions of Texas inmates. You will see more from Shawn in the coming weeks.

Group singing: Hard work-work, Hard work-work ... Lead man counting/singing: and you - four-step Group singing: Hard work-work ... I used to work at Mickey D’s, Now I have to chop the weeds — four step

On time and in a straight line!” shouts the armed, gray-uniformed prison guard, who supervises his Field Squad of roughly thirty inmates from atop his snorting beast. “And if you can’t talk and work at the same time, then shut the fuck up, or I’ll write you a case!" “Fuck-you, Bitch, and that case!” shouts back an anonymous inmate from the work-line. “Alright, just for that, I want them aggies head-high, and anyone who isn’t flat weeding head-high gets a case.” The guard looks at his work roster and puts a mark next to two names. The bunched-together, rhythmic, straight line of white-uniformed inmates swing their aggies/hoes in unison, doing work in the scorching Texas sun, yet moving with the precision of a school band. "One-two-three," the squad hits the grassy ground three times, “and you — four step.” On the lead man’s command, the squad steps forward on the fourth count. The Field Squad’s blade-tipped sticks lift head-high, then bang the drum of the ground, repeatedly and manually, they mow down all the waist-high grass in their path. Clods of disturbed, dry dirt billow into a cumulus dust cloud around them. Snakes shoot scared through the grass. Huge ant piles are sidestepped. Critters are pocketed and later taken back to cells as pets. The chorus of singing continues over the drumbeat of the aggies. “Hit it high, hit it low, hit it, and you — four-step.” The work-line of human locomotion reaches the end of their “cut" (section of grass/weeds). The aggies become still and the work music stops. Pelts of mucky sweat drip from disgruntled faces, knowing the end of one cut is not the end of the day. “Deuce it up,” orders the guard. In order to maintain an accurate and constant count, from the time we leave our living area in the morning, until the time we return at mid-day, paired up side-by-side is the only way a Field Squad travels. The heavily-breathing inmates move into quick formation, shoulder their aggies, and, deuced-up, march military-like to the next cut.

Hello again, my virtual celly. I went to work today in what we call 'the fields,' so I thought I would provide you with a graphic but true snapshot depiction of the chain-gang, slavery-style work that is still practiced with southern pride in the 21st century in both Texas and Louisiana. We also pick various crops, but “flat weeding” (also called four-stepping) is the predominant work detail. Now, don’t get me wrong, a part of me enjoys venturing beyond this “gated” community out into the open Texas prairies, where we work amongst the cows, creeks, trees, and beauty of nature. However, when we work in the slavery-style manner I just described, and for free at that, then yes, I am diametrically opposed to forced field labor, and the manner in which they make us do it.

To be clear, there are no physical chains attached to our limbs, but there are invisible, psychological chains pulling on our minds, and conditioning our thinking, each time we’re expected to line up to do pointless work (flat-weeding), that a riding lawn-mower or tractor could do, and hit the ground at the same time, while inmates sing songs from a different time period, all while an armed, cowboy-hat-wearing guard curses profanities and threats at us for the entire work day. In our civil, post-slavery society, there is nothing even remotely civil about this. When it comes to civilians, the bold, blatant system of slavery officially ended with the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but the same amendment gave states, like Texas, justification for practicing legalized slavery on convicts, when it says “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except [here’s the key word] as a punishment for crime.” That's the loophole for the field labor we do without benefit of wages, for any job, in the Texas prison system. I’m going to jump out on a limb and say Texas is the only state that doesn’t pay its inmates for labor. I’m not talking about window dressing “pilot-projects” they’re experimenting with in Texas at some of the isolated factories on select units where they are paying their inmates for their industry labor (because they have contracts with companies in the private sector); I’m referring to us inmates who keep every unit functioning by working in the kitchen, laundry, necessities, education and library janitors, clerks, and various other departments. I don’t care what they tell you or what you might think, I’ve lived in these Texas prisons for 20 plus years now, and they are not paying us. It gets worse, are you ready for this? Check out this nugget of truth. If asked, TDCJ will tell the public they don’t pay us, because instead they give us “good time” and “work time” credits. Okay, but it gets worse, it sure does. Those of us doing time for aggravated sentences receive good/work time on the computer, but in reality, the time credits aren’t being applied to our sentences. You think I’m bullshitting you? Here, let me pull out my latest time sheet, give me a second. Alright, here it is, look:

T.D.C.J — Institutional Division

Inmate Time Slips

Years Month Days

FLAT TIME CREDITED: 20 04 18

GOOD TIME CREDITED: 17 04 06

BONUS TIME CREDITED: 0 00 00

WORK TIME CREDITED: 9 07 19

* TOTAL TIME CREDITED 47 04 13

My full sentence is 40 years. Now, I’m no math whiz, but when my FLAT + GOOD TIME + WORK TIME = 40 years, I feel like should be released because I earned my good time and work time. When I busted my ass working like I did in the fields today, I wasn’t paid, so the work time I receive on paper should count and be applied towards my sentence, don’t you think? Again, I’m no math whiz, but for my total time credited, my time sheet says I have 47 years, 4 months, and 13 days completed, when my good work times are combined with my flat tine. That means I have over 100% of my sentence completed. But Texas says no, if you have an aggravated charge, we give it to you on paper, but our good/work time will not help you go home any earlier, so we don’t give it to you in reality. (There have been some cases pending in the courts for years, so thank God for jailhouse lawyers.) Here’s the funny part for those of you who don’t believe the ’system’ is just a little bit crooked. When those of us with aggravated offenses are granted parole, before we’re allowed to leave the Walls Unit in Huntsville Texas to be released, they, the authorities that be, make us sign over our good/work time that we earned, but didn’t earn (because we don’t get it). It’s either sign over the good/work time, or stay in prison - not a hard choice. Parole is a privilege based program, so no person in their right mind is going to stay in prison to do their full sentence when they have freedom staring them in the eyes just a few feet away. Where do I sign? I have a strong work ethic; it’s ingrained in me and tightly interwoven in the fabric of my character. Whether or not I get paid in prison, I know no other way to work hard and to give my best effort (and then some.) I believe one of the ways to reversing or changing the criminal cycle is for us inmates to develop good habits while we’re in prison. Being a relentlessly hard worker is one of the good habits I have embraced and execute every time I’m called in to work a shift at the many different prison jobs I’ve held in prison. The fact that I have 9 years and 7 months work-time credited, shows that I have worked nearly half of my flat time in prison. There are guys who “beat” the system by faking ailments/illnesses, and are given work restrictions by doctors, so they don’t have to work. Then there are guys who flat-out refuse to work. So it’s a shame that those of us — doing aggravated time — who do work, are not having our work time applied to our release dates. So we’re not paid, we’re not given work time that influences our release dates in any way, and if I didn’t have some pivotal people in my life who love and support me, I would be forced to, as we say in here, to 'live off the land,' by engaging in illegal activities to get what I need and want. Not everyone in prison has a strong work ethic, not everyone cares about becoming a better man, and not everyone has family and friends who love and support them by making sure that when their incarcerated loved one puts their ID card in the commissary window, they will have money on their account to buy the items they need and want. But it shouldn’t matter if a man is a millionaire who committed a crime and now he is working in a Texas prison for free. It’s the moral principle that is involved here because if the state of Texas is going to bamboozle us out of our good and work time credits, then they should start paying us something for our labor so that men can wake up in this hopeless place with some measure of dignity and responsibility. The only incentive to get an inmate to work in prison shouldn’t be “go to work or you’re getting a disciplinary case.” This punishment paradigm isn’t teaching a grown man anything about rehabilitation - if anything, it’s dehumanizing and demoralizing him, thus making him worse off than when he came into the system. As a footnote — and this is extra — the guards aren’t faring much better when it comes to the salaries they are paid. The last time I checked, a couple of years ago (it may have changed since then), Texas prison guards were ranked number 48 in the nation in salaries. And this is coming from a state, Texas, that was the only state to experience significant economic growth during the Great Recession a few years back. Now I could see paying the guards at the bottom percentile if Texas ran a small, low-budget prison system, but in terms of inmate population, Texas runs the #2 prison system in the nation, behind California. Once again, the numbers aren’t adding up, and you know something, I may be good at math after all (wink). No wonder both inmates and guards pursue illegal, black market “hustles” to make up for the pay they aren’t getting. The rate of men in prison with either long sentences or life sentences is only growing. I talk, sit, and walk among men who are never going home. Granted, they did their crime and now they’re doing their time, so be it. The last time I checked, we lived in a civilized, progressive society and an inmate is still a human being. When a man wakes up in a prison and he doesn’t know where his next tube of toothpaste, lotion, hair grease, t-shirt, shot of coffee, or whatever commissary item he needs is going to come from, his time becomes even harder, he stops caring, he snaps, he hustles/steals, maybe he assaults another inmate or a guard. You see where I’m going with this? And yes, Texas gives inmates a generic, motel-sized toothpaste every 60 days. C’mon, really? Most men with long sentences have been given up on by family and friends, and they have no one to support them. Hell, they can’t support themselves legally because Texas doesn’t pay us. Men in prison are still human and have modest needs and wants that are only available in the monopolized commissary windows that the state - who will work our asses for free - doesn’t provide, but will penalize us with a write-up if we try to acquire the same items through illegal hustling and bartering. You know the irony of all this — and I’m about to take you deep — there are Texas Correctional Industries (TCI) factories located on almost every unit. Each factory is responsible for making a different product/good to keep this mass machine of prison life running. From mattresses, sheets, and t-shirts, to paper, pens, and greeting cards, and from soap, and rubber shower shoes, to furniture, signs, and digitized maps. These low-overhead, free inmate labor factories make it all. Do you know many of these items and others are sold in the monopolized unit commissaries? No, I’m not joking. For example, the rubber shower shoes that TCI inmates make out of recycled tires and rubber sell for an outrageous price — are you ready for this? — $7 in the commissary. Recycled material and free labor, mind you, and they’re $7 a pop for inmates who are not paid for their required slave-labor. I bought the shower-shoe flip-flops I’m wearing in 2001, when a private vendor had a contract with the unit commissaries, for a total cost of $2.25. The TCI inmate-made t-shirts they sell us are $6.95 (just a regular white t-shirt) but when a private vendor provided them, they were $3 - $4. Let’s personalize this discussion and bring the entire subject full circle. Say a man has a life sentence and he works hard, for free, five days a week in a TCI factory making rubber shower shoes, but after his 8-hour work day when he goes to the dirty-floor shower, he is forced to shower barefooted because he doesn’t have any family sending him money and the state doesn’t pay him for his labor, so the same rubber shower shoes he makes for free, he can’t buy for 7 ridiculous dollars out of the commissary window. And you tell me the system isn’t just a little crooked.

A Love Note to Adopt an Inmate

adoptaninmate — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 15:00:00 +0000

We received this yesterday from our friend Cassandra, a prisoner in Texas.

Love is what you show each and every one of us ladies. I want to thank you so much for all that you do for us. You are my special angel. Thank you for coming into my life. May God bless you and keep you.

Cassandra is looking for an adopter. Please email volunteer@adoptaninmate.org if you would like to write to her.

Calling all Angels - Stamp Donations Needed!

adoptaninmate — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 00:06:33 +0000

An easy and inexpensive way to help!

Postage is our biggest expense, along with ink, paper, and envelopes.

Please consider donating a book of stamps by mailing them in*, or by clicking on the donation button at the top of the sidebar on the right. A book of 20 stamps costs $9.80 - or some of the specialty stamps shown below come in sheets of 16 for $7.84 - either way, 49¢ per stamp.

He poured his soul into stories, articles, and poems, and entrusted them to the machine. He folded them just so, put the proper stamps inside the long envelope along with the manuscript, sealed the envelope, put more stamps outside, and dropped it into the mail-box. It traveled across the continent, and after a certain lapse of time the postman returned him the manuscript in another long envelope, on the outside of which were the stamps he had enclosed. -- Martin Eden by Jack London I love the rebelliousness of snail mail, and I love anything that can arrive with a postage stamp. There's something about that person's breath and hands on the letter. -- Diane Lane

Stamps are a critical commodity for prisoners. They are often the main form of tender, and are traded for everything from laundry service, to soups, from handmade artwork, to books. My brother recently traded three stamps for a $12 book. That's how valuable a stamp is in prison. There are few facilities that actually allow prisoners to receive stamps in the mail - most must purchase them from commissary or canteen (at a cost increase); and indigent inmates who qualify are generally only allowed a limited number of postage-paid outgoing envelopes per week. We burn through a LOT of stamps every week, by both responding to letters from prisoners, and also sending stamps to those who are allowed to receive them. These letters serve many purposes, including encouraging literacy, stimulating creativity, and providing comfort. Nothing is more desired from a prisoner than to hear his or her name at mail call. A piece of mail carries with it validation from the outside, tangible confirmation that he or she has not been forgotten. That letter becomes even more welcome when the stamp is visually eye-catching, and reminiscent of something pleasurable - like music.

Be an Angel, Donate Some Stamps!

*Mail stamps to:

Stamp Campaign Adopt an Inmate PO Box 1543 Veneta, OR 97487

Be Courageous

adoptaninmate — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 16:00:58 +0000

This is from Randy in Texas, who is looking for a Christian family to adopt him.

A description of myself is thus: I am 31 years old, 6'2", 200 lbs., dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, with several tattoos. I regret every tattoo that I ever got. I've nothing against tattoos, God has just changed my way of thinking. I would really love to have a family to talk to and a family that cared. Just the thought of having an adopted family gives me a sense of hope that brightens my future. I am not one to take advantage of people's kindness. I pray that a family would be willing to adopt this lost sheep. I never thought I'd ever have a family again. I've tried and tried to get my family to be a family to me. I pray that this is God's answer to my prayers.

Inmate Art

adoptaninmate — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 16:00:37 +0000

This beautiful work is by our friend Allen Fong, a California inmate. Allen is also the contributor of our Welcome banner featured at the top of the blog page.

Thank you Allen!

Book Review - The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

adoptaninmate — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 16:00:06 +0000

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg should be on every prisoner's books-to-read wish list.
Forming good habits, changing old habits, reducing bad habits - are all much easier when you understand how habits are formed in our brain stem's ancient 'lizard brain' area beyond conscious awareness. Habits are not formed or changed the way most people believe. You will be fascinated by this useful book.

-- Prisoner in Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Ossining, NY

Note: When sending books to prisoners, it is usually required that books be sent directly from the publisher or bookseller. Please check the rules for the specific facility, which can usually be found on the website. (If you don't see mail rules on the site, look in the family handbook, also usually available to view and/or download on the facility website.)

Handmade Card

adoptaninmate — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:00:00 +0000

This card was handmade by a prisoner. It takes up to six hours to create one of these intricately folded pop-up cards. You might wonder what the cost is. The prison artist charges one soup, which costs about a quarter.

Quarterly Newsletter - Fall 2015

adoptaninmate — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 16:00:24 +0000

We're thrilled to announce the first issue of our online quarterly newsletter, created especially for family members, friends, and advocates of prisoners. To be added to the mailing list, send an email to melissabee@adoptaninmate.org. Thank you, Connie Bergstrom, for your soothing contribution, I'm looking forward to an Epsom soak now that this issue is out :). AI Newsletter Fall 2015

Letters From Prison: Please Adopt Me, Someone

adoptaninmate — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

This is the first post in an ongoing series, "Letters From Prison." These are real letters, from real human beings. Please read and share widely, so the outside world will know the truth about what really happens inside of a prison. Brace yourself for this first one.

Please Adopt Me, Someone

Who I Am

I am a 26 year old white male and I'm serving the remaining 19 years of a 25 year sentence. I am doing everything in my power to become a better person. I still have a good chance at re-entering society and being a productive part of a community. I want to be someone who has the wisdom, patience, and understanding that it takes to be a positive influence in lives of people around me. I want to donate the rest of my life to making the world a better and safer place.

These are the things that I want most, but my facility (Louisiana State Prison) is making this very hard. For the last five years I have been confined to a cell for 23 hours a day. The physical, emotional, and mental toll that solitary confinement takes on an inmate, after being subjected to it for any prolonged period of time is very damaging.

A majority of the correction officers come to work with nothing better to do than mentally abuse inmates. (Example: Just five minutes ago a C.O. slammed the shower door right next to my cell, the sole purpose being to damage my hearing.) For what reason, I will never understand. It's so hard to stay positive with the everyday struggles brought on by the C.O.'s and also by my fellow inmates.

I am a kind person who is subject to tears. My heart is full of love and compassion. I want to keep it like that. This is supposed to be a safe and positive environment where inmates can learn from their mistakes, but everywhere that I look I see negativity and hate. This place promotes and and makes people more capable of violence.

My sentence only started out as a three year stint. There was a C.O. in the parish jail where I was serving the three years who used to abuse me and two other inmates. We couldn't get any help from the warden to solve the problem even after five attempts, so we took matters into our own hands. We held the C.O. hostage in a cell for five hours and demanded to see someone, anyone who could help stop the cruel punishment that we were being subjected to at the hands of the correction officer.

That's what cost me 25 years of my life. The C.O. didn't get hurt in any way at all. That still doesn't make what I did ok. I am very ashamed to have been a part of something like that.

I am trying to make as many positive resources that I can. My family is no longer a part of my life. Being a support system for an inmate is difficult and not for the faint of heart. I need guidance in my life. I am not being offered any kind of rehabilitation and this is a point in a young adult's life when they (we) are most receptive to teaching.

I grew up in [deleted], Louisiana, but at the age of 12 I moved to a small town in Indiana. It is a truly beautiful place. The people are kind and understanding. The experience softened by heart. I miss that little town dearly. I love uplifting, positive music. I would enjoy having a few people to write and receive mail from.

Respectfully,

[Name withheld]

Letters From Prison: Art and Short Stories

adoptaninmate — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Sketch and letter from a Florida inmate

I was wrongfully incarcerated and am waiting for the documentation that proves my innocence.

I had a brain aneurysm from stress, resulting in spastic paralysis, and have had 40% recovery.

I've self-educated myself. I do not do drugs or smoke.

My interests are art, writing short stories, recipes, and I would like to learn about penny stocks. I'm caring, considerate and understanding.

I would like to find someone in my life, like a mother-, father-, brother- or sister-figure, to cry with, laugh with, and support each other.

Letters From Prison: Love Cures People

adoptaninmate — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Written by a recently-adopted prisoner in Texas

Love cures people - both the ones who receive it, and the ones who give it - Karl Menninger
If I know what love is, it's because of you - Herman Hesse

I came into this place (prison) broken, bruised, feeling alone, with no sense of belonging. I've had people hate on me, make fun of me ... but I dust myself off and keep going. You have a feeling of loneliness, of being forgotten. Many nights of crying yourself to sleep. Then, when you least expect it, that angel comes into your life. And shows you love, and compassion. They give you a sense of hope, a sense of belonging. They show you what family means, even if it's not family by blood. And family is what I have found with Adopt an Inmate. Thanks for everything that you do for each and every one of us. Thanks for showing we are loved, cared for, and that we are not forgotten.

Letters From Prison: A Hard Life

adoptaninmate — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

I am 33 years old. I have no family but a brother who is also in prison. I have really had a hard life. I was kidnapped from my grandma by my mom, physically and sexually abused, forced to live and stay in closets, from hotel to hotel, for four months. I was tied down to a car seat with an extension cord and left on a doorstep of a group home, all at the age of four years old. I was in many different placements as a child. At the age of 18 I was kicked out of state custody with no after-care, and was found to be SMI (seriously mentally ill). At 18 1/2 years old, I was sent to prison for $500 of forgery and given four and a half years, plus two years in county jail. I did not get out of prison until age 25. I had no family, and no place to go. Seven months later I was attacked by a man and defended myself, and ended up going to prison for four more years. I got out at 29 years old, was found to be mentally disabled and put on disability. At the age of 32, I was stopped by the Gang Unit because I have a lot of tattoos. I was walking down Broadway Road and they wanted me to strip down to my boxers on the main road to take pictures of my tattoos. I said no. They got mad - four of them jumped me, and then took me to jail. I mentally broke down, slipped out of my handcuffs and hit one of the four officers two times with my hand, and for that I got 28 years flat. I don't have anyone. I am a good person. I do my best to help people that are doing time but still have a chance to make something of their life. I would like to have someone on my side to talk to and share my life stories and views, ideals, and poetry with. AZ DOC has a hands-on policy here at SMU-1. I have a chronic heart condition and have been getting dizzy and passing out. I told medical that they need to put in a medical order to have me moved downstairs, since I'm passing out, but they did not do it. Because they did not do it, plus the officer did not do his job by policy and have hands on when I was pulled out of my cell, I got dizzy and blacked out and fell down the metal stairs and I got hurt very badly. This just happened and I have no one on the outside to help me. I'm grateful for any help or info you may send. Thank you for all that you do.

Postage Campaign - Please Donate and Share

adoptaninmate — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

We're needing some help with postage! Since our recent listing in the PARC (Prison Activist Resource Center) Directory, the mail has just exploded and we have well over 300 on our waiting list. We are getting prisoners adopted every day, but the backlog is significant, and our unpaid volunteer staff adopts every one of them while we are finding them the right adopter(s). A donation towards postage is an angelic gift, and an easy way to help. We've just started a YouCaring campaign (Compassionate Crowdfunding), and hope to raise enough to see us through til we can find adopters for these forgotten inmates. Thank you for donating, sharing, and caring.

Letters From Prison: Not Right at All

adoptaninmate — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 16:00:29 +0000

The letter below is from a Texas prisoner. TDCJ does not pay any of their prisoners for work, so the only way they can purchase items from commissary is if someone on the outside is able to put money on their books. TDCJ provides minimal hygiene items to indigent inmates (who have no money on their books): soap, toilet paper, and toothpaste, and for women, 1 box of pads and 6 tampons per month. No shampoo, no lotion, no deodorant (and remember Texas does not provide any air conditioning for the inmates). It is commonly against the rules in jails and prisons for inmates to help each other by sharing commissary items or food. Each item of their property must be labeled with their name and ID number (like in elementary school). Any item found in possession of an inmate that is not labeled with that inmate's name and number is considered contraband, and will be confiscated. This includes every piece of paper, stamp, envelope, book, hygiene, and food item. Even "special" items such as radios and typewriters (in facilities that have those items available for purchase), cannot be given to another prisoner upon his or her release, they must take it with them. The irony of this practice is that it encourages theft and hostility.

I have a concern about the required work we inmates do in TDCJ that goes without pay or incentives of any kind (no "work time" or "good time" is applied to our sentence, as in most other states). I feel that the Texas prison system should adopt the same plan as other states, and start paying their inmates by the hour, or by the day, which would allow their inmates to become independant, to some degree, reducing the number of inmates who are indigent. This would teach the inmates the value of a dollar earned doing hard labor, and allow them to purchase needed items from commissary for the work they do.

Texas does not believe in rehabilitation, because if they did, they would have adopted this idea for their prisons. The Texas prison system believes in capital punishment only. And they do not want to help their inmates. They believe in allowing their inmates to suffer, they do not want to help us and they do not want anybody else to help us, inside or outside. For example: If an inmate who is indigent who never makes commissary nor gets visits, and he is not able to buy or purchase himself a Speed Stick deodorant, and some other inmate sees this man's suffering condition and buys this man a deodorant, the inmate that helps out the poor, suffering inmate will get in trouble for helping the poor, suffering out. Now I don't think that is right at all.

Letters From Angels: A Mother's Tears

adoptaninmate — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 16:00:56 +0000

First in our new series, ,"Letters From Angels," which is a companion to our "Letters From Prison" series. This was written by a mother whose son was wrongfully convicted.

AJ, I picked myself a flower today, and said they were from you. Because if you were here with me, I know its what you would do. As you walk alone to your dorm, I walk alone to my car. I leave a piece of my heart there with you and take a piece of yours. I cry my silent tears that only God can see, until the day that I can bring your whole heart home with me.

Letters From Angels: I Had One Person

adoptaninmate — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 16:00:15 +0000

This is from our new friend of the blog, Frank, who has recently adopted an inmate. Watch for more from Frank in this series.

I find myself with extra time on my hands these days due to my health and I try to think of ways to make a difference. I remember my time being incarcerated and it was my rock bottom. I believed everyone forgot I was even alive, believed my children hated me and never wanted to see me again. But I had one person who, even if she didn't feel like it, wrote me anyway. Sometimes her letters were just her daily routine written down and addressed to me, but it was meant for ME; I did still exist. This woman was my mother. I had eight months with her after I was released before she died.

As I write this, fighting off tears from the thought of my mother, I want to do for someone what she did for me day in and day out - help a fellow human being feel like they are worth being alive, and assure them many people do love them.

Thank you

Inmate Art: "Universal Guardian"

adoptaninmate — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

This artwork was created by an inmate in Indiana who is in his cell 23 hours a day, using only a "flex pen" (the inner plastic ink tube of a disposable ink pen).

This piece is "the beginning conception of a trilogy presently at work called "Lord of the Dragon and the Princess Nasas."

Prisoner Poetry: My Momma

adoptaninmate — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Poetry submitted by C.F. Guyton, pictured here with his wife.

My Momma, puts the "El" in "El Shabazz,"

The love in laughter and the joy in these lonely days of future's past.

My Momma; the Hiroshima of Hell's Kitchen.

Succulent entrees of deliciousness are served.

Incredible are her choice vegetables, and did I mention,

Exquisite is her cooking?

My Momma; sheer, pure goddess of glam,

Bountifully, beautiful, through nature's span.

Water lilies, and yellow to golden daffodils perk.

Her grand stand.

My Momma; the Earth births, Fresh mountain air.

Cool breeze and crystal blue streams.

White sparkles everywhere.

My Momma; with her courage and devotion,

Holds the mighty strength of a thousand seas.

Smooth as cotton and a smile like silk.

Creative is her mind as well as sharp is her wit.

My Momma; a star to be remembered; A torch to keep lit.

A force to be reckoned with. The Soul that has ignited the heavens untold.

My Momma; because of you I've found it all the more,

Yet to simply be me.

Poetry From Prison: I Loved You From... the Start

adoptaninmate — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 17:00:51 +0000

Submitted by C.F. Guyton, pictured below with his wife.

I loved you from Day One

And on Day Two I made it my mission

To be wed to you.

As far as Day Three goes

It was signed, sealed and delivered

By angels in the Heavens.

And at Day Four, we'd love from

Ceiling to floor.

On Day Five, with you

I found what I'd been waiting for.

And on Day Six, we rested.

Just to wake up on Day Seven

To Eternity.

Letters From Prison: Frequent Unexplained Deaths

adoptaninmate — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

From a prisoner in Sing Sing facility in New York.

Q: Please indicate issues you would like to see addressed in your facility.

A: Actually, everything, because management could not run a hot dog cart for a week without going out of business. Clearly they want recidivism. Keep the cells full - just like a hotel needs its rooms full. Sing Sing may be best prison in NYS, but very badly run.

Main problems are health care with ZERO education, prevention, healthy diet, age appropriate care or exercise for older men. We have frequent unexplained deaths of fairly young men. Our pharmacy is very prone to errors. After our Nurse Administrator was "fired" and arrested, they gave her another job in mental health which is technically a different agency. She kept her parking spot! Does it sound like a certain church? Educational opportunities are here only for those who fit profile of 20-25 years, above average IQ, interested in college, and no mental illness. That is about 150 out of 1600. My GED classroom has 20 seats. About 1000+ men need a GED. Obviously, this "does not compute."

Roughly half the population has substantial mental health problems (on psych meds, zero impulse control, talking to themselves, self-medication / drug abuse, very low intelligence, illiterate in any language). Treatment of mentally ill is overmedication, zero exercise, poor diet and isolation.

For those of us who came to prison with skills and education, the problem is no opportunity to use or maintain skills. Our library is okay for fiction, otherwise zilch. Very old, e.g., vacuum tube electronics and a book on Fortran IV (might be valuable to a collector?). Car books have carburetors and crank windows.

Drug problems are major. Head in the sand about problem because "they" don't want to explain how drugs can get through a forty-foot-high concrete wall. (Staff, of course.) Only control point is poverty of most prisoners.

Letters From Prison: The Price of Stupidity

adoptaninmate — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 16:00:00 +0000

by Frank E. Page Sr.

[caption id="attachment_1036" align="aligncenter" width="479"] Kilby Correctional Center, Montgomery, Alabama[/caption]

The first officer that any male who goes to prison in the state of Alabama will meet is known as "Michael Jordan.” This is not his real name, but the nickname given him many years ago as he looks like a shrunken version of the more famous basketball player. if he had had a stroke. Inmates in Alabama county jails know and warn first-timers about this officer. I have had personal encounters with him and I would like everyone to be aware of this 30-year "decorated" officer.

Kilby Correctional Facility has a no smoking policy in the chapel for any type of religious service, or when going to see the captain (whose office is located in the chapel). Each dorm would execute church call a little differently, but all inmates had to go through a checkpoint office to get to the chapel. Kilby keeps different types of inmates separated, so there are fences inside of fences, with checkpoints along the way.

This night in particular, Michael Jordan was working J dorm. This is the largest of the dorms, which the inmates have given the name of "Thunder Dome.” During my two stays at Kilby, I was not classified to go to J dorm. After I left quarantine, I was sent to K dorm on both occasions. K dorm is mostly made up of parole and probation violations. Honestly, I lucked out both times.

There was a long, fenced-in walkway that led from the exit of J dorm to the checkpoint to leave J dorm’s recreation yard. Jordan made the inmates that resided in J dorm walk single file and line up. Now in Jordan's defense, he did warn the inmates before they left the dorm NO TOBACCO PRODUCTS. This includes matches, rolling papers, etc. Before letting the inmates proceed to the chapel, he approached three young caucasians and began to search them. Two out of three were clean, but one young man had an empty Tops package. This is what an inmate can purchase from commissary as their tobacco, but his package was actually empty.

Jordan pulled the empty package out of the young man's pocket and began screaming at him. "Why would you be so stupid to bring that, BOY?" He spit at full volume. Jordan continued to bombard the young inmate with insults like, "I could've been yo' daddy if I'd have had change for a five.” Myself and a few friends stopped in our tracks to watch Michael Jordan live up to his ugly reputation.

At some point in the verbal assault, Jordan must have spit in the young man’s face. The young man attempted to wipe off the saliva, using his right hand. As soon as his hand began to rise, Jordan saw his window of opportunity. Before the young man could wipe his face, Jordan had struck the boy. He slapped the inmate with an open fist.

Within what seemed like only seconds, the officer’s backup had arrived. While Jordan was still spitting out insults, the backup officers grabbed the inmate and shuffled him off towards the direction of lockup.

When they have religious services in the chapel, it's the only opportunity inmates have to mingle with inmates from other dorms, and I had spoken to the young inmate a few days prior to his run in with Michael Jordan. The only dorm not allowed to go to church service is M dorm, as they are quarantined until medical test results are reviewed by medical staff (if you want to call it medical staff, but that's another story).

When I spoke to him, he came off as a nice enough young man, though maybe a little scared, as most men are their first time in the joint. He had what I like to call "little man's disease," which is a lot of energy and the belief that no man was too big to tangle with. He was also very loud and outspoken. Not good traits to possess upon entering the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Three or four days after the incident, I saw the inmate walking to chow. "Hey Bro, what did Jordan do with you?" I asked. His eye was purple, his bottom lip swollen. "Did he whoop you good or what?”

He quietly replied, "He and two goons (riot officers) stomped on me in front of the hole and threw me in afterwards." Getting a beating like that is something I could never imagine going through. I cringed at the thought of an officer feeling the need to be my judge, jury, and punisher as well. But what he told me next sent chills up my spine.

"I just got served a disciplinary for assault on a officer," he whispered, while staring at a piece of paper.

When you meet another inmate for the first time, there are things you don't ask about. I personally do not like asking about one's children, being that you do not know that man's personal situation, and my own children were a very sore spot for me.

Another question not to ask another inmate is, "What are you in for?" Older inmates will be upset and feel disrespected. Nowadays, younger inmates actually like to brag about their crime and sentence length. This young inmate fell into the bragging category. Because his was a first, and non-violent offense, he was classified as a level one security risk.

The security levels range from a minimum one to a maximum level six - which is death row in the state of Alabama. At a level one, the inmate would have been transferred to a community-based work center. At these work centers, everyday life is much more comfortable for an inmate than residing at a level four, medium security camp. At the work centers, inmates are allowed to wear "free world" clothes, and are also able to work a normal paying job in a nearby city or town. Once every other week, they take a trip to Walmart to buy food and personal items. Now the only food he would be eating would come out of the prison cafeteria or weekly commissary. He would not have a choice of blue jeans or khaki, print or flannel.

Not long after the inmate told me about his discipline he was transferred to another camp. I couldn't help but think about the young man and what he might have to go through at his level four camp, without benefit of having a family visit during which you can actually hug your mother, or kiss your wife.

I think back on this story often, and have shared it with my teenage daughter. Her question to me was, “Did the officer handle the situation in the correct manner?” The answer depends on whether she's asking about the manner of a ADOC employee, or the manner of a human being. They are not the same thing.

The inmate was on his way to church that evening. Maybe he wasn't paying attention to the warning that was given by the officer before leaving the dorm. Maybe he believed an empty package would not be considered to be breaking the rules. I do not believe such physical punishment was necessary, nor should it ever be, for a minor infraction. The officer could have easily written him a disciplinary for not following a direct order, instead of a slap to the face and a disciplinary for assault. Whatever Michael Jordan's real motivation was - there was absolutely no need to inflict his own hostility on that, or any inmate.

Inmate Art: Happy Halloween

adoptaninmate — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 16:00:05 +0000

Happy Halloween, from Andrew in Texas and Adopt an Inmate.

Come back tomorrow to read "Late One Night," a story Andrew shared with us about something that really happened in his cell.

Letters From Prison: Late One Night

adoptaninmate — Sun, 01 Nov 2015 16:00:17 +0000

Andrew (see his Halloween card on yesterday's blog) recently sent us a letter:

Melissa, Greetings, Sister! First let me tell you my mom and grandmother were all I had. My Grandmother passed away October 22nd, 2010, and my mom passed away December 2, 2010, so I've been indigent ever since (you know Texas doesn't pay inmates to work). I wrote a few of the book places you told me about, thank you for that! I was sitting here thinking about how I could help your organization out. But the reason I wrote is to tell you a story I wrote that really happened to me ...

Late One Night

I was lying in bed with the light off, but you can still see! I saw a little rat, so I got up and got a bag, and tied a line on the bag and ran the line over my light, so when I pulled the line, the bag would pop up. I laid the bag down and turned the light off. I lay there forever waiting, until I fell asleep.

That little dude got all the chips and I opened my eyes to see him running out of the bag, with the last chip. I couldn't help but smile. I put part of a cookie in the bag, and a little later, here he came in the bag! I pulled the line and got him, grabbed the bag, and I was looking at the little dude, and I could see he was looking at me, so I wanted to pet him. I put my hand in the bag, and just as I was about to pet this cute little dude he want all psycho, mad-dog on me, he bit my hand and wouldn't let go, so I am jumping up and down, trying not to holler.

He let go, and blood ran down my hand. He was still in the bag and I verbally abused him for going all psycho on me ... but then got to thinking ... all he wanted was some food, and I got in his business. So I let him go.

And now I keep some chips and food by the door just for him. Every night when the light goes off, he'll go get the food. It brings joy to see him!

Andrew

If you'd like to write to Andrew, leave a comment or send us an email to get his contact info.

Inmate Art: Locked In

adoptaninmate — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 17:00:00 +0000

This beautiful work is by Jason in Pennsylvania.

Letters From Prison: My Rock Bottom

adoptaninmate — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Our friend Martin is serving the eleventh year of a 17 ½ year sentence in an Oregon prison. We anticipate additional contributions from Martin, both here on our site, and in the community after his release - whenever that comes. Redemption and rehabilitation come only with steady, grueling, dedicated work, and the courage to face your demons. Read more about Martin on his blog, and in his book, Palpable Irony.

My Rock Bottom by Martin Lockett

It was a frigid Tuesday morning in January when the van I rode in pulled up to the prison in eastern Oregon. From a distance it resembled more of an insane asylum than a prison, with its dingy-colored concrete exterior and brick-colored metal rooftop. Intimidating, imposing, and inhumane are all adjectives that readily come to mind as I recount that fateful day.

Myself and four or five other captives rode the two-and-a-half hour ride in white jumpsuits, no undergarments - aside from the briefs that felt two sizes too small - and a pair of orange rubber sandals on our sockless feet. I recall how excruciatingly uncomfortable it was to be handcuffed with one hand positioned atop the other, unable to scratch my forehead without contorting my entire upper body to make the reach feasible. It was during that long, agonizing ride that I felt utterly helpless, hopeless, and defeated for the first time in my 25 year-old life.

The next day, along with everyone else, I exited the packed dorm in a hurried frenzy when "yard line" blared over the unit's PA system. As I walked around the large track, I intently surveyed my new surroundings. Guys vigorously lifted weights in small groups that were apparently separated by race or gang, while others intensely (probably more so aggressively) played basketball on courts that, I later found out, were also designated by race and/or gang. Other inmates casually, yet purposefully, walked in pairs around the track discussing their thin hopes for an appeal or how their relationships with girlfriends or wives were fast deteriorating with each passing day. It was truly despairing scenery; one that would also be mine for the next decade-plus.

The thought of embracing a monotonous, day-in, day-out, year-after-year empty existence for the next seventeen and a half years depressed me. I could not fathom my young life wasting away in this fashion. With each successive lap I made on the track that cold winter day, I began to assess where my life had ended up, how my "small" decisions years ago ended up escalating into larger, more costly ones, and how this had been the culmination of a pattern of bad decisions I'd made over the years. But I also defiantly refused to let my train of thought end there. I determined I was going to begin to change my life's narrative - but how? What exactly was I going to do about it?

I decided the very first order of business in this long, arduous process was for me to pick apart my life - patterns of behavior, thought processes, insecurities, and other character flaws that were at the root of my addiction, and every known character defect I exhibited throughout my life. I would examine these issues and confront them - one by one - over the next seventeen and a half years. I, without question, understood the gravity of that pivotal moment in my life. I'd finally hit my lowest, most vulnerable point in life that day as I took in the grim totality of my circumstance.

I resolved during those two hours I spent walking around the track that I'd diligently commit myself to working on my flaws so I would leave prison a healthy, proud, intelligent, mature man that society and my family could respect. I knew it wouldn't be easy, not by any stretch, but I knew I had no other choice if I was going to salvage the rest of my life by bringing meaning and purpose to my future - regardless of where I physically was.

It's now been nearly twelve years since that cold winter day, and although I am not perfect in overcoming all the shortcomings I've identified within myself, I'm highly encouraged and proud to say I'm far from the young, selfish, insincere "kid" who entered prison almost twelve years ago. I'm also very proud to say I've earned a Certificate of Human Services from Louisiana State University, an AA from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology (Magna Cum Laude) from Colorado State University - Pueblo. Moreover, I'm currently five classes from receiving a Master of Science in Psychology from California Coast University. My goal is to use this tumultuous experience, my education, and background to counsel inner-city, impoverished adolescents who struggle with the many issues that are endemic in those communities.

I have asked friends in here and family outside to hold me accountable when they see me exhibiting some of the undesirable behaviors I've made a conscious effort to eradicate. I can readily admit that I couldn't have developed the more respectable character that I possess today had I not had their unrelenting support along the way. I could not have gotten beyond my own selfishness to pursue a career that is of service to others had it not been for their encouragement and commitment to me through this process. After all, they are an important part of my motivation for wanting to be the best version of Martin I can be.

I'm still not where I want to be in terms of how I respond to or perceive certain situations, but I'm not where I was many years ago either. I've learned that the key to my success is to not allow myself to get complacent in this effort; to not reach the conclusion that I've done "enough" because I've made substantial progress thus far. I've told myself this mentality would be a compromising one that would cripple me from reaching my fullest potential. And how sad it would be to have gone through this immense hardship just to settle for mediocrity and leave opportunity for growth on the table. This situation mandates all my effort to correct what brought me here and use what I've learned to help prevent others from following in my costly footsteps. My growth would need to be continuous ... lasting a lifetime.

For many people, it becomes true that life's most difficult circumstances ignite a period of grief followed by resolve and tenacity they never knew they had. But it took a remarkable challenge of profound consequence to bring about their ability to be resilient and productive in the face of adversity. Psychologists have coined numerous terms to refer to this mindset, but in laymen's terms we simply call it rock bottom.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

Poetry From Prison: One Final Chance

adoptaninmate — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 17:00:56 +0000

I Wish Someone Would Pray For Me by R. Tillman

Letters From Angels: Anyone Can Write a Letter

adoptaninmate — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Yesterday's blog post was a poem and drawing sent to us by Ron in Florida. I showed my 82-year old aunt Nancy the picture, because she loves to see the artwork that prisoners send in. Nancy has lost some of her ability to read and write, but makes a valiant effort when it is important. When I read the title of the Ron's poem to her, "I Wish Someone Would Pray For Me," she immediately handed me a pen and asked me to write his name down, so that she could keep it near her bedside and remember to pray for him. I wrote in large letters, RON. She would carry the paper with his name to me several times a day, sounding out the letters, making sure she was saying his name correctly, "RrrrrrrrAhhhhhNnnn." A few days later, Nancy came to me carrying a pad of paper, and said she would like to write a letter to Ron. I thought she wanted to dictate to me so I could write it for her, but instead she handed me a letter she had started and wanted to me to check it, to see if it made sense. I assured her that it did, and she shuffled off to finish the letter - which was mailed to Ron yesterday. She wrote about looking out her window and seeing the beautiful colors of the trees and flowers in her backyard (Nancy loves color), and of the children that came the night before in their Halloween costumes to get candy. "I once did that, did you?"

Won't Ron be surprised, and blessed, to receive Nancy's sweet letter, and to know that such an earnest soul is praying for him?

Letters From Prison: Be On Purpose

adoptaninmate — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Our friend Shawn is serving his 21st year in a Texas prison for a crime he did not commit. Shawn is one of my personal adoptees, and writes to me often. We also speak on the phone a few times a month. His letters, like the one below, always begin with several motivational quotes. Of all the people who write to us, Shawn is one of the most positive and inspiring. You can read more about Shawn on his website, FREEShawnAli.com.

September 30, 2015

“Nothing in life can take the place of knowing your purpose. If you don’t try to discover your purpose, you’re likely to spend your life doing the wrong things.” -John C. Maxwell “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life. Everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he/she cannot be replaced, nor can his/her life be repeated. Thus everyone’s task is as unique as his/her specific opportunity to implement it.” -Viktor Frankl Good morning. It’s early. I was dreaming again, woke up wide awake and couldn’t go back to sleep. From the moment I woke up, I felt so alive and determined, I could literally feel my mind and spirit inching closer to my destiny. I woke up this morning feeling peace and liberty inside because I know my purpose, and it excites and motivates me to know I’m one day closer to fulfilling the physical manifestations of my purpose. But for now, I have to live for today, Melissa, the little things I do today to prepare and train myself matter, and count towards fulfilling the full potential of my purpose. I couldn’t stop the tears this morning, they kept falling and flowing as if they were watering my positive mental visualizations and dreams that I reflected on as I thought about my purpose. It didn’t surprise me, when I opened up my Leadership Devotional, that today’s reading was titled “Be On Purpose,” and it’s where today’s quotes came from. More tears. Why? Because if I never got locked up on this case, if I was never wrongfully convicted, there is a good chance I could have traveled through this fast life without discovering my purpose. No God, please let me get locked up, use man’s wrongdoing and injustice to bring about greatness in my life. I can miss my physical freedom for 21 years, but I cannot miss my lifetime without discovering my purpose. Then I read my three pages of goals and visions for my life out loud, and I could feel the universe and God moving the chess pieces of my life to align me in the best position to realize my purpose. People. Events. Circumstances. Experiences. Connections. Contacts. I can feel the unseen chess pieces moving. Then I hit my concrete floor in the push-up position, but I only did one good push-up. Why? for the psychological effect (it makes my mind stronger). Yesterday, I did 1,200 push-ups for the physical effect (which made my body stronger). More tears. I’m stronger today than I was yesterday - physically and mentally - and though I’m caged in this tiny cell, I find and feel true freedom in knowing and pursuing my purpose. Give me a hug, Melissa, mmm-mmm! We know our purposes in life, Melissa. Yes, it took your brother getting wrongfully convicted to ‘accidentally’ discover your purpose, and it took my wrongful conviction to ‘accidentally’ discover my purpose, but bad things and tragedies happening in life are inevitable, so we are so blessed that our tragedies weren’t for nothing because our pain propelled us to discover our purposes. I also received a new blog idea this morning for your site - Why You Should Adopt an Inmate - because there are many people out there who will find purpose in life when they visit your site and adopt an inmate. Have a good day, Melissa, and keep pursuing your purpose. Feeling inspired, Shawn Ali

Inmate Art: Parole Denied

adoptaninmate — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 17:00:15 +0000

This artwork was sent in from Timothy in Ohio, who maintains his innocence.

I continue to fight my case on my own and will continue as long as it takes to be a free man again.

It's #GivingTuesday!

adoptaninmate — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 19:45:50 +0000

Adopt an Inmate wants to wish all of our followers, volunteers, and adopters a very happy and blessed holiday season. Our first volunteer day was very successful, and will be a regular event. We made new friends, we processed mail, we noshed, we listened to music, and we even got some people adopted. UPDATE: our waiting list is growing exponentially, with hundreds of forgotten people who are actively seeking friends and mentors to help them get through their time whole. Donations to our YouCaring campaign for postage are always welcome. Physical stamps can be mailed to: Adopt an Inmate PO Box 1543 Veneta, OR 97487 [gallery ids="1139,1140,1141,1135,1137,1136,1138" type="rectangular"]

Thank You!

Review of Martin Lockett's Palpable Irony by Inmate Rick Fisk

rickfisk2015 — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 17:00:00 +0000

We introduced you to our friend Martin Lockett in a previous blog post. We are thrilled to say that Martin will be a regular contributor both here and in our quarterly newsletter. Do yourself a favor and get this book!

—♦—

Good people make mistakes. Martin Lockett is a good person who made an error in judgement which resulted in the deaths of two people. But for one red light, Martin might have escaped fate. After reading his memoir it is apparent that Lockett truly regrets the loss of life he caused but embraces his fate and his punishment without regret. In Palpable Irony: Losing My Freedom to Find my Purpose, Lockett describes his journey from a shy, awkward young boy to a young man who falls in with some pretty rough characters just at that pivotal time when he’s coming into his own as an individual. The narrative - not only is it brutally honest, but also very well-written - makes one realize just how thin is that line between social failure and success. For instance, during his high school years, Martin engages in criminal behavior that isn’t out of necessity - he holds down a job - but about ‘thrills’ and peer pressure. Growing up, he lives in the ghetto but in an atypical setting from what we’re accustomed in many stories about young black males: his father is present and playing an active role in his life, he’s a good kid at heart but ambivalent about his own place and ethnic identity. “I wish I was white,” he thinks to himself. And yet, it is the black stereotype that he emulates because those who model it for him seem confident and successful. Martin’s own good nature ends up betraying him. He’s given a five year prison sentence for a robbery he planned but did not participate in. He incriminates himself while talking to police about some unrelated (to that robbery) incidents. Deep down, it could be argued, he wanted to get caught. In further testament to his innately good character, Lockett earns eligibility to complete Oregon’s Boot Camp program, and flies through with top honors. He leaves prison after 38 months, abstains from any criminal behavior, holds down a job and is offered opportunities for promotion based on his exceptional work ethic. Unfortunately he really isn’t aware at the time that he’s developed a drinking problem. The two people killed when he ran a red light on New Year’s 2004 were MADD members traveling home from an alcohol-free party. Irony indeed. Though his criminal past is completely behind him and is unrelated to the accident, it’s counted against him. His sincere horror at what he’s done leads him to cooperate with police. Adding to the palpable irony, it is this cooperation which torpedoes the only chance he might be treated with mercy. He’s ultimately given a 17 ½ year sentence. Even before he was sentenced, Martin had decided to dedicate his life to carrying the torch formerly carried by his victims. His inherent goodness, and some in this day and age would label it naivete, has reaped benefits and penalties. Some of us under similar circumstances might despair and give up good will all together. Not Martin Lockett. Since entering prison he’s earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Colorado State University, Pueblo, and is on his way to receive his Master’s degree. This, not on the state’s dime. Lockett shows us that good people struggle and learn from their mistakes. Though he doesn’t complain, it’s clear that he’s a victim himself of society’s current lack of mercy. We want to lock everyone up and throw away the key. Society has actually robbed itself of someone ready, willing, and educated sufficiently to make a positive difference in the lives of others. What benefit is incurred if he is kept in prison another seven years? This book is an excellent first step to educate young men of all ethnic backgrounds that it’s easy for good people to fall astray. More than that it is an inspiring example of courage, perseverance, and integrity. It should be on every high school reading list and on MADD’s recommended list as well, if they have one. For those who would want Martin forever shamed, and are offended at anyone who would hold him up as a good person, I would urge you to reconsider. Please read the book and consider that many formerly incarcerated persons have gone on to live productive lives. Some have even been adored - Merle Haggard, Wesley Snipes and Martha Stewart, to name a few.

We're in the Newspaper!

adoptaninmate — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Fern Ridge Review December 16, 2015

A new non-profit taking on a life of its own

Nice piece in the Fern Ridge Review, with possible follow-up article in the future. Click below for PDF with text. Minor corrections to article:

Rick is Executive Director, Melissa is She-EO
Negative comments have appeared only on the Facebook page, never here on the website - you guys are all angels :)

Fern Ridge Review Article-12-2015

AI Newsletter: Winter 2016

adoptaninmate — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 20:49:22 +0000

AI Newsletter Winter 2016

The Agony of a Visit by Martin Lockett

adoptaninmate — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 23:33:26 +0000

No doubt, perhaps the highlight of any inmate's day, week, or month is when his/her name is called for a visit. This is the time (in most prisons, I believe) when inmates are able to finally have the much needed physical contact with the people who mean the most to us. The brief hug and kiss we are allowed at the beginning and end can of the visit can be enough to sustain us for an entire month. It is a time of jubilant conversation and unbridled joy that, for moments throughout, can allow us to "forget" where we are. Ah, yes, the coveted visit. But what about when it comes time to say goodbye to friends and family? What is the impact of this part of the experience?

Please, allow me to explain what happened at a recent visit. I had a great time with my twin brother, older sister, twelve-year-old niece and eighteen-year-old nephew. We caught up on what many of my friends had been doing, what certain extended family members had been up to, and had fun discussing other trivial matters. We shared popcorn, drank soda, took pictures, and all-in-all enjoyed our three hours together on a Sunday afternoon. When the visit came to a close, I hugged and thanked them for traveling such a long distance to see me. I then sat down and waited for the remaining visitors to line up along the wall to be escorted out by the correctional officer working in the visiting room that day.

To my right (approximately five feet away) I noticed a small boy clutching his dad's leg. The inmate hugged his toddler son with deep affection and told him, "Daddy loves you, Son. Now you have to go to Grandma so you guys can leave, 'k?!" The small child reluctantly released his dad's leg and jogged to his caretaker standing in line. As the line of visitors began to file out, the little boy was looking over his shoulder while continuously and emphatically waving to his confined father. Then, in a sudden flash, the child broke away from his grandma's grasp and darted back to be with his daddy. He again clutched the man's leg, only this time his grip was much tighter than before. The father again bent down to comfort his child as best he could, and I could see the anguish was just as powerful for the adult as it was for his child. The officers witnessing this human event, surprisingly, did not intervene, presumably because they understood interrupting this few seconds of profound emotion and connection between a father and son would have been nothing short of cruel and inhumane. After several seconds, however, the boy again returned to his grandparent for good at his father's urging.

I returned to my cell that afternoon experiencing many emotions. On one hand I was filled with joy and peace for having just spent precious time with my family, but I also felt a sense of dejection as I was confronted with my own reality that while they freely walked out of the prison and returned to life as they know it--the same way of life I took for granted--I also had to return to mine. In conjunction with these emotions, I also contemplated the mental and emotional strain that that father and son were undoubtedly suffering in that very moment. Sure, having an opportunity to visit our loved ones is greatly appreciated and I'm thankful every time I receive one; but the agony that ensues when it's time to depart, well, that part I could live without.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

We're Baaaack!

adoptaninmate — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 21:25:47 +0000

Our blog has been in a quiet period for some time, while we focused on other tasks, but we're back, and you can expect a regular stream of interesting, poignant and informative posts. We'll be sharing news about exciting projects and events that are in the planning stages and we couldn't be more positive and excited about what is in store this year. Thank you to all of our adopters for stepping up to provide support for inmates who desperately need it, to the volunteers who have so graciously been assisting behind the scenes with the business side of things, and to all the angels who donate stamps - we *always* need stamps! [gallery ids="1262,1261,1259,1256,1258,1257" type="rectangular" style="border: 4px solid #CC0000;" ] Also a big thank you to all our followers for staying with us, for sharing our links and social media accounts, and for getting involved in the conversation. We are so grateful.

LFP: There is so much self-worth in me

adoptaninmate — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 17:00:20 +0000

This is exactly why we do this.

Kiwanis Club

adoptaninmate — Sun, 21 Feb 2016 17:00:00 +0000

I was honored to be invited to speak at our local Kiwanis Club about Adopt an Inmate earlier this month. Kiwanis club members stage nearly 150,000 service projects and raise nearly $100 million every year for communities, families and projects. Items brought to share with the members, as seen below, included inmate artwork, books written by current and former inmates that we correspond and/or work with, a week's worth of mail (in the green basket, 243 letters that week), and some handmade crocheted items by inmates in Oregon involved in the Crochet for Community program (more on that in a future blog post). We look forward to more opportunities to share our story, and thank the Fern Ridge Kiwanis Club for their invitation.

LFP: The most important person in the world

adoptaninmate — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 17:00:00 +0000

I received this email yesterday from an inmate in an Ohio prison. (See Tim's artwork in a post from last November.) It is simply not possible to exaggerate the importance of a letter in prison.

Melissa, I thank you for your time. I can't explain how elated I am to have any kind of mail in almost three years now. I don't count legal mail because it sucks to be blunt. I know that there are many more people other than me you write, but I'll pretend I'm the most important person in the world because that's how I feel right now. Generally I only check my email once a week, but that changes today. I am happy to send more art work if you wish. To be honest I haven't drawn in months, lack of motivation. I look forward to receiving actual written letters as it is easier to read and reread those. Kiosk time is hard to get with 125 other guys in the bloc, got a line behind me so I got to be short. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to check out the other email, but I once again thank you. BLESSED BE, TIM

The Power of A Letter by Martin Lockett

adoptaninmate — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 17:00:24 +0000

Adjusting to prison is no easy feat. I liken it to being put on an airplane, blindfolded, taken to a remote location somewhere on this vast earth, and dropped off in a foreign land with no resources. You are left with nothing but your own wits and inherent ability to adapt, overcome, and move forward. Although I make this mental transition sound fairly easy to accomplish, I assure you that for many of us it has been the most stressful, arduous task we have ever encountered. Furthermore, we all possess very different coping abilities and mechanisms to best adapt to and overcome these very tough times.

In light of this then, it is no wonder that we tend to fare much better than we otherwise would when we have support from those on the outside; people who love us and sacrifice much to help us find a semblance of contentment during this time. But there are many loved ones of the incarcerated who don't quite know how they can best aid their incarcerated loved one(s). Should they write often? Send money? Order magazine subscriptions/books? Visit? I don't pretend to know what every inmate needs to best cope with their time, but having been in for nearly twelve years now, I can say with absolute certainty that NO ONE has ever complained about receiving "too much" mail. In my personal opinion, this is perhaps the number one expression of support someone locked up desires. I fully understand that the rigors and demands of life outside these walls can make it difficult to make time to sit and write a letter (a lost art in today's highly technological world), but mail appears to have an intrinsic value that soothes the soul like nothing else.

A letter is invaluable for the incarcerated because at any time when we are especially feeling lonely--and this is often--we can pull it out of our drawer, read it over and over, and use it as source of much needed comfort in our lowest moments. I cannot count how many times I have gained strength and encouragement by simply reading old letters from loved ones after difficult days when I felt like this nightmare of a situation would never end. There's no greater feeling than knowing someone in the world cares about you enough to take time out of their day to write a letter, if for no other reason than to say they're thinking about you.

In speaking with other inmates here, many have expressed how ecstatic they'd be if they received a letter from friends or family members (or pen pals) that contained a "simple line or two." Literally, two lines written on a piece of paper from someone would make their day! Clearly, it is less about the content or length of the letter than it is the thought and effort that went into producing those "two lines." The time people set aside to write is not lost on us, and for this we are eternally grateful.

You need not overthink the best way to provide emotional support to your incarcerated loved one (or someone you're thinking about "adopting" through this organization). I assure you, showing your presence in any way that you can is more than enough to bring them comfort and peace in their heart and mind during this most difficult time. It just seems to me that a letter or card carries an unparalleled value in this situation, especially when we are locked down at night and left with nothing but our wandering thoughts and the stark reality of our situation. It's in those moments I instinctively reach in my drawer for a comforting letter.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

Throw Away People by Connie Bergstrom

adoptaninmate — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 17:00:26 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1478" align="aligncenter" width="178"] Connie Bergstrom[/caption]

It’s 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.

If we lived in a perfect world how boring and unfulfilling would that be? I personally would not want to be in a perfect world. If I did I would have never met my husband. Although incarcerated, he has given me undying love and devotion. He has opened a new world full of strength, unconditional love, hope, and promise for a great future. He has been my best friend; my heart will always ring true to him. He always shows me how far I’ve come.

As far as I’m concerned, the world needs more of him. He has great heart, is full of life, despite where he is; In a place full of darkness evil and violence, Where one can easily be consumed by the beast that lurks around each corner. All he needs is love. The creator does not make "throw away people." Nobody is trash.

Take the man standing on the corner holding the spare change sign. He fought for you and me in Vietnam. He saw his friends die. He has seen horrible, horrible things that you and I don’t even see in our nightmares. He came home only wanting love. He instead was spat on and called baby killer. Nobody would help him not even the country he almost died for. So now there he stands in handcuffs, awaiting his escort to prison, for stealing things to feed his family. Still needing love.

The young woman that everyone wants to be in high school? She’s now living on the street; Thrown out of her dysfunctional home by her alcoholic parents. She put on a show then, but now everyone sees the aftermath; her body in a full blown rage. Selling herself to make ends meet and to get her next fix. She needed positive guidance, now she’s in a DOC uniform. All she needs is love.

These people are still special, though they fall through the cracks. We are subject to the same thing; we can become addicts, we have mental disorders and get down on our luck just as they are. Do not judge them. Help them! Just as we would want help. We are not throw away people.

Letters From Angels: Where I Once Cast Judgement by Randi Case

adoptaninmate — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 17:00:20 +0000

In this companion series to Letters From Prison, we showcase people on the outside who advocate for inmates. This installment is by our friend Randi, who has tirelessly crusaded for Peter Wlasiuk. You can read about Peter's case on his website. His case is also featured by the National Center for Due Process, and in Wrongful Conviction News. Join the Facebook group here. Peter's latest appeal was recently denied, and he continues to serve a 25-to-life sentence in maximum-security Attica prison in New York.

My name is Randi J. Case and I am the lead advocate for Peter M. Wlasiuk who was wrongfully convicted in Chenango County in the State of New York. Many ask how I came to want to help prove the innocence of a convicted murderer that was tried three times in the same court with three verdicts of guilty. I am always very pleased and willing to share my story of how I became involved in this case. [caption id="attachment_1444" align="alignleft" width="198"] Peter Wlasiuk[/caption] My adventure with Peter Wlasiuk began with the belief that this man was actually guilty of murdering his wife, Patricia, in the year of 2002. How did I come to my opinion that Peter was guilty? I can honestly say that without even knowing the events that took place in this so-called crime, I came to the conclusion that he was guilty because the media and citizens of Chenango County said he was guilty. I didn’t even know the facts of this case. I just knew that everyone said Peter Wlasiuk was a monster, and so I went with it, just as many still do to this day. I also believed that if a jury said this man was guilty then it must be so. I believed that our justice system was fair and no one in our justice system would lie about such a thing. Wow, was I ever wrong! At the time Peter Wlasiuk’s first trial began, I was working at a daycare center called The Children’s Center in Norwich, NY in the county of Chenango. I was the lead preschool teacher for the three-year-old classroom. The director told me that I would be getting two new children in my class and they were being enrolled as an emergency. Little did I know that they were Peter and Patricia Wlasiuk’s children; they were living with Peter’s parents who wanted to enroll them in my program. They thought maybe being with other children would help them cope with the loss of both of their parents. The first day the Wlasiuk’s daughters were in my class was very tough for the children, my staff, and me. There were a lot of tears from the children and it really broke my heart. Nap time was especially hard for them. I always sat between the girls while they were on their cots for naptime; I rubbed their backs and tried to calm them down. At that time, thoughts raced through my mind as to how hard life was going to be for these two girls and what would become of them in the future. Little did I know that they would turn out just fine and excel in their education and life. Deep within me I was so ashamed of their father and asked over and over in my mind how these children could have a father that was so heartless to take away their mother. The verdict of the first trial was guilty. The second trial of Peter Wlasiuk was on appeal in 2008. I was so very upset, as many others were. Why is this case being re-tried when he was already found guilty? This time the new director at The Children’s Center where I worked was called as a juror. She was not allowed to speak of the trial at all while the case was being heard in court again. I let the director know that I felt Peter Wlasiuk was guilty and that I had had his children in my class at one point. All she could tell me was that I didn’t have all of the facts and that she was having a tough time believing he was guilty with the evidence being shown. The last day of the trial when the verdict was out, the director came to me and said the verdict was guilty and she cried. She said to me that she thought she had sent an innocent man to prison. A lot of what she told me when the trial was over made me start thinking that maybe I was wrong to not use my own juidgement to decide whether this man was guilty or not. I didn’t think much of it for long, although I did wonder how Peter and Patricia’s children were doing. I didn’t dwell on it. However, in some ways I still thought, “Well, our justice system said the man was guilty a second time, so he must be guilty.” I listened to the media and the break room gossip-mongers and let it go. The year was 2012, and yet again the Wlasiuk case was splattered all over the news by the media. Peter Wlasiuk would have yet another trial on appeal. Alright, no one gets three trials and no one keeps fighting to prove their innocence for this long. Do they? I had heard enough of the Wlasiuk trial and was sick of hearing about this case. I finally decided that I needed to take it upon myself to see what this case was all about and why it kept coming back if this man was truly guilty. Peter Wlasiuk was yet again here in Chenango County, housed at the Chenango County Correctional Facility. I took it upon myself to write to him and inquire about his case. I told him I originally thought him to be guilty and now I was not sure what I thought because it was apparent that I had let the media and other individuals sway me into believing he was guilty. I wanted to find out for myself whether he was guilty or innocent. Peter wrote back to me, agreed to my invitation to meet with him and hear what he had to say. I did not go alone; I attended with his father. Upon meeting with Peter for the first time, he was somewhat leery and uneasy with me. I wasn't sure how to interpret this, so I questioned him on it. He responded, “I am not used to the people of Chenango County viewing me as anything other than a monster and I am suspicious of your true reasons for being here. I can only hope that your intent is genuine. In all candor, I could sit here all day and tell you and explain it to you that I am innocent, but that would be just me saying it.” Peter asked two things of me. One was not to take his word that he was innocent until I looked at evidence and asked questions. The second was to attend the third trial on a daily basis and listen to what was presented at that trial. I agreed to both. I figured if I were to agree to his terms, then he should have no problem to a couple of my own. I asked for and was granted full access to Peter's lawyer, private investigator and experts. Peter granted me access to speak to these people by way of a waiver; he signed it and provided copies to everyone involved, and they spoke with me and answered any questions I had. David M. Beers, Peter’s private investigator, drove from Binghamton to Chenango County to meet with me personally. I learned so much from the defense and also from prosecution. I learned that the evidence that was being presented was from the prosecution. The defense attorney Peter had in the in the first trial, Frederick Neroni, never did his job properly. He did not seek out expert witnesses and, in fact, made Peter look very guilty. He even took Peter’s house from him; an easy financial gain. Neroni laid the foundation for the Wlasiuk case to be, in the words of Peter, “rotten from the start.” The more pieces of tangible evidence that I saw and asked for showed me that Peter was, in fact, innocent. The irony is that the prosecution’s evidence is what proved this man innocent over and over. The final straw for me was knowing that there is evidence to this day that hasn't seen by any of the three juries. If it had, at the very least, it would have alleviated a lot of speculation on the prosecution's behalf and at most, would have exonerated Peter. One other big factor that bothered me, and still does, is the fact that the assistant district attorney at the time, Stephen Dunshee, was a relative of Patricia Wlasiuk’s; it's no wonder they convicted this innocent man. I had seen so much by now, and I told Peter that something was wrong, very wrong with this case. I also apologized and told him I was so sorry for listening to everyone else and not using my own brain to decide whether he was innocent or guilty. After several years of interacting with Peter I have come to learn several things about him. He is one of those rare people who puts the feelings of the people he cares about before and above his own. He is quick to be the protector, even when it is he that needs to be protected. I have watched the room light up as he spoke about "my Patty,” and the love and friendship they shared. It's amazing to listen to him some days, and even after 14 years, it feels as if she is still here. He is a loyal son, a proud father, and a great friend to those who have given their friendship to him. There is no doubt in my mind, as many are coming to learn, even if we didn't have the actual evidence of his innocence to rest our opinions upon, anyone that has gotten to know Peter on a personal level can only come to one conclusion: he holds the principles of honor, loyalty, love and family in the highest regard, and he could have never done what they have accused him of doing! Where I once cast judgment based on no facts, truth, or proof - a time in my life that I have come to be ashamed of - I have hopefully righted my own wrong, and will continue to do so, in trying to bring to light the wrong that has been, and continues to be done to this man.

Inmate Art: M. Garcia in California

adoptaninmate — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:00:17 +0000

How great is this?

Crochet 4 Community

adoptaninmate — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

[gallery ids="1409,1407" type="rectangular"]

Letters From Prison: Prison & Kids by Tod Bailey

adoptaninmate — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 17:00:36 +0000

Ainsworth, Michael. Retrieved February 27, 2016

from The Steep Cost of Keeping Juveniles in Adult Prisons [Online image].

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. This story isn't only about me; I'm just an example of many other similar cases. I'm using my voice to reach anyone who is willing to listen. The notion of justice in this country is a joke. The prosecutors are more interested in another conviction, another notch in their "Win" column, than they are in justice. Instead of spending resources to develop and provide programs to youth that would keep them out of the system, we send them to prison and spend tax dollars to warehouse them. The things that I've seen are horrible. Young kids pressured into joining prison gangs for fear of the unknown, extorted for seeming weak, or even killed for something as trivial as a watch. Being raised by the state forever changes a young person's thought process and outlook on life - which is evidenced by his or her return - two, three, and four times - to prison. The worst crime is what we are doing to our youth. Prison changes a person, especially a young person. Think of a young man or woman charged with driving with a suspended licence, or petty assault, and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Who does that help? What often happens is after release that young person ends up back in prison for something else - because that's all they know. Unbelievable! It happens.

Review of Marlon James's A Brief History of Seven Killings by Inmate Rick Fisk

rickfisk2015 — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 17:00:27 +0000

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 Kingston’s 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 ‘governed’ 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. Marlon’s 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 ‘chat bad’ and otherwise, without creating caricatures, something I can’t 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 doesn’t 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 James’s eclectic cast of characters, highlighting all the more Bob Marley’s importance as a political figure in Jamaica’s history, even though he never held any political office. The book is superbly crafted. Read it. Wind down and pick up James’s other masterpiece: The Book of Night Women. Five stars. Rick Fisk, TDCJ

Martin Lockett's Review of Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

adoptaninmate — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 17:00:21 +0000

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.

I found myself comparing his experience to my own. Granted, I live in the Ritz Hotel (in prison) compared to Auschwitz, but I could empathize with him when he spoke about how he would drift into deep, using comforting thoughts of his wife to mentally escape his suffering; or how he'd sneak away to be by himself, if only for half an hour, to create a moment of solitude; and especially how even the smallest things could bring a smile to his face.

Although a renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Frankl speaks as a common man who is more comfortable helping the poor than receiving prestigious awards for this world popular book. He writes in very clear language as he introduces his method of therapy (logotherapy) whereby the emphasis is on how to help clients find meaning and purpose in ANY circumstance—especially the most difficult ones. I'd always heard so much about this book and knew I wanted to read it someday to see what all the hype was about . . . now I know.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

Handmade Cards

adoptaninmate — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 17:00:03 +0000

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.

Mass Incarceration Statistics: The Sentencing Project

adoptaninmate — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 17:00:00 +0000

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.

Letters From Prison: The Timber Hawkeye Edition

adoptaninmate — Sat, 05 Mar 2016 17:00:38 +0000

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.

You can't stop the storm ... so stop trying. You can only calm yourself. The storm will pass. - 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.

Martin Lockett's Review of The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

adoptaninmate — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 17:00:55 +0000

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.

Perhaps what was most gripping about this book was the many visits the author took to the state prison to meet and learn about the man who shared his name, childhood, experiences, and yet found himself on the other side of the glass across from his condemned counterpart. How was it that these men could be on opposite sides of the class, opposite sides of society, and yet find more commonalities in their respective stories, than differences?

The Other Wes Moore was one of Oprah's recommended readings, and with good reason. It speaks to the power of circumstances and, more importantly, calls into question our own individual responsibility to our neighbors, communities, and society at large. I couldn't help but view my own life from a different perspective after reading this book because it made me recount times where influential people helped prevent certain things from happening. It causes you to be grateful for such people (as Wes Moore was), yet saddened by the fact that not everyone among us is as fortunate to have those same influences. This is a must read for anyone who can appreciate a story of tragedy, triumph, and irony that serves as nothing short of a need to reassess your own life and a call to action.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

Poetry From Prison: Unconditional Love

adoptaninmate — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 17:00:25 +0000

Submitted by Alexander from Virginia, pictured below, with the inspiration for his poem.

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.

Letters From Prison: Mercy Precedes Healing

adoptaninmate — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 17:00:57 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1855" align="aligncenter" width="304"] Photo by Richard Polk. Michael F., escorted by two guards from Patuxent Institute, arrives at the courthouse in Talbot County, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005[/caption]

Submission to: The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth

Pride precedes destruction, and so every teenager dwells on the doorstep of disaster. I lived it; I was 16, an honor-roll student with loving parents and no criminal record. But i had serious emotional problems - maybe even PTSD - from abuse I suffered as a boy, and I refused to face it. I told myself i was fine, indestructible. I was wrong. In February of 1996, I killed my mom, step-dad, and younger brother. I didn't know I was going to hurt anyone. I didn't want to, but I did - because I denied my problems. Because I thought I was infallible, I wrecked my community, devastated my family, and killed the three best people I have ever known. I was saved by acceptance into a prison that offered both college and therapy. Through five years of therapy sessions, I learned about how stunted my emotions were and how to open up to people in healthy ways. In college I not only got an education, I was also exposed to new ideas and to our society's many needs for community service. From that, I gained direction in my life. Now, I have committed myself to two missions - starting the Susan Rae Foundation, a charity I'll name in honor of my mom, and working to develop better community systems for recognizing and assisting at-risk youth. I want other kids in danger to get help before it's too late. I mean "too late" for everyone; not only the victims, but the kids themselves. Right now, a kid who commits a crime like mine is done in life. I have 90 years. Many similar kids get life without parole or huge numbers like mine. I'm an author, I serve as a facilitator in the Alternatives to Violence Project here at the prison, and I'm always seeking opportunities to reach out to and aid the community. I do it because it feels good to help, and for my mom. I don't do it because I hope it will pay dividends; when it looks like you'll never leave prison, you need hope, but not too much of it. That is my wish for all the children who are entering prison - hope. Coming here at 13-17 years old and knowing you'll never see the world again is crushing. Young people who might be saved by a realistic sentence and education are lost to drugs, gangs, and despair because they see nothing in front of them. Pride precedes destruction, but mercy precedes healing. If we save our children, even when they err, we save ourselves as well. I personally know two men who received life sentences as teens, but they both got an education and therapy, and received sentence relief in court. One now owns to software firms and the other appeared in Forbes magazine. How many more stories like this could there be? We will only know if we show our children mercy.

adoptaninmate — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The tyrant denies the radio owner his property rights (you can’t give your own property away), thus, failing to realize desired profits. He just doesn’t understand that polite enticements (honey) work better than force (vinegar). He also underestimates the resourcefulness of his captive. An AA battery fits perfectly inside the hotel-sized toothpaste container included in the STEPP pack once the container has been emptied. Neatest thing you ever saw. Guards shaking down a cell have no idea. 13.4 Why hide a battery this way? Because, to get the new battery you ordered on “store day,” you have to turn in your old one. If you’re buying as proxy, the person who requested the battery has to supply you with his expired battery. If you get shaken down before store arrives and the guard finds the extra, you and your customer are out of luck. Honor dictates that you forfeit your own battery. The one now in your own radio. The rule makers, attempting to assert control have created an artificial condition of scarcity, thus driving up demand for batteries. Not only does this then create our black market, but it also increases the likelihood of theft. Thank you rule-maker guys. You are making everyone’s life amazing. The best way to steal a battery is to borrow a radio. More than one inmate I know has lost a good battery this way. The borrower will return the radio with a barely charged battery, relying on the victim's delayed discovery, or his reluctance to retaliate and risk another criminal charge. Another clever way to get a battery is to ask the post officer to use the remote. Change the channel, switch a weak battery for the one in the remote, and voila. Ironic that the remotes do not operate on AAA batteries. Divine intervention? Adam Smith’s invisible hand getting revenge? Now, one must assume that radios can, will be, and have been stolen. So our next trick may have been developed by thieves covering their tracks. But it also is used to avoid confiscation of the radio. Inmates can, usually for a fee, remove and replace the etched inmate number from the

Letters From Prison: I Just Live Here Now

adoptaninmate — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 17:00:07 +0000

Q: Age A: 42 years Q: How long have you been in prison? A: Since April 30th, 1997. (19 years) Q: What is your sentence? A: Life without parole. Q: Do you feel your time in prison has benefited you? A: Sure, I was out of control, I was unable to function as a part of society. I came to prison and lost my freedom, but found myself. I am free on the inside, the fact that I am in prison means relatively little. I enjoy life, I just live in here now. Q: Have you made friends on the inside that you will keep after you or they have been released? A: I am not getting released, and although I've had many friends who have gotten out, none have kept in touch more than a letter or two. Q: Do you have a job? If so, what is it? Wage? A: Yes. Houseman. Wage = $0. Inmates in Florida do not get paid for working like in most other states. I make these friendship bracelets. They tie on and unite easily. The nice, even uniform side goes up. Let me know if you would like more. Thank you so very much. I am interested to see what happens now.

Letters From Prison: God's Own Angels

adoptaninmate — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I feel as though I am the most well-taken-care-of inmate in Del Valle. Having friends and family who have professed faith in my innocence and pledged support through cards, letters and books is a blessing more valuable than can be conveyed or repaid. It has allowed me to maintain my sanity. Without these blessings I believe I would have fallen into a bottomless pit of despair. This belief and the eye-opening real-life stories revealed to me by fellow inmates drives me to make some difference here. Now and in the future. For a good while I have been contemplating a non-profit I have tentatively dubbed “Adopt-an-inmate.” The organization would seek to provide the blessings I have received as well as other services possibly required for those caught up in the system without local resources to help them. While I suspect it is by design, there is no solid proof of a conspiracy to deprive an inmate the means to defend himself. Conspiracy or not, a confluence of jail conditions can prevent the incarcerated from effectively participating in his own defense. It is this predicament that I’d most like to eradicate. Hope is a scarce commodity in jail. Those who provide it to us are God’s own angels.

Video Visitation in Travis County Jail

adoptaninmate — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

OK … escorting people to visits. I don’t have any personal info about escorting prior to video visits. I assume that if a maximum-classified inmate was allowed visits, he would have to be escorted. The PR guy though implied that the ENTIRE population had to be escorted which is terribly misleading. The video visits would only have relieved a minority of the escorting required since not everyone in jail is maximum security. He said something like 2400 people had to be moved each week. Is it really his contention that there are 2400 max inmates that have to be moved “each week?” Think about that. That would be 580 20-minute visitations per DAY, JUST IN MAXIMUM ALONE since only max inmates have to be escorted. To satisfy 580 visits a day … a single window/video could theoretically handle 36 visits per day if one could manage 3 visits per hour for 12 hours. That is max capacity with perfect timing. Ten booths = 360 visits, 20 booths = 720 visits. But you’ve been there. Maybe there are 20 booths but there is nowhere near perfect management of schedule. No way there were ever 580 inmates per day escorted to the visitation area. Plus there’s a lag between the time family shows up and inmate is “delivered,” escorted or not. Numbers aside, arguing about the convenience to public employees of providing the constitutional/human rights their charges are ENTITLED TO is a bit humorous. Maybe, for the convenience of the assholes employed by Travis County residents, we can hire Securus or somebody to provide video meals to the inmates. Think of the money we’ll save!

Letters From Prison: Integrate Now!

adoptaninmate — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 16:00:00 +0000

We're working to match up veterans (or active duty) on the outside, with veterans on the inside. This comes from Zion, a veteran serving time in a California prison.

I am a US Navy veteran and would like to see a program specifically geared towards ex-servicemen that would place us in a separate environment from mainline incorrigibles that would focus on rehabilitation, avoiding prison mentalities and re-entry preparation. Service people have a life-long fraternity, an unbreakable bond that aids in encouragement to change. Many county jail programs are now offered for vets. I think it would really go a very long way in helping those of us in the state penitentiary. Most of the programs in my prison are inmate-run, thus the quality is generally nil. Programs facilitated by free-staff and experts from the outside provide much better curriculum and offer greater hope. College programs at the Bachelor's or Graduate level would be of greatest help in making this time productive. Not every inmate fits into a "vocational training" category. Higher education would increase my chance of staying out of prison, guaranteed! Lastly, but of incredible importance would be the ending of forced segregation in state prisons. Housing white inmates only with other whites, blacks only with blacks, etc., is a terrible holdover from bygone days that only serves to make divisions deeper, prison more dangerous, and re-adjustment to the real world that much more difficult. It effectively stifles the social development of every inmate subjected to it. INTEGRATE NOW!

What Keeps Me Going: by Martin Lockett

adoptaninmate — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 21:30:00 +0000

What keeps me going is knowing that I'll be able to talk to my fiancee by phone everyday. Prior to coming to prison, I didn't value the simple pleasure of communicating with someone about daily routine activities, our thoughts, concerns, and everything in between--until now. I feel complete, appreciated, and important after our conversations because this woman has deemed it important enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer my call and share her life with me.

What keeps me going is knowing I have a strong support system in my family and friends who love me and assist me in things I need. As many of you know, we in prison don't have access to the Internet or many other technological luxuries, so to know I can count on people in the world to research things, post blogs for me, and navigate cyber space on my behalf is immeasurable. Furthermore, after spending over seventeen years in prison, the technology I will be faced with upon my release will undoubtedly be my biggest obstacle, so knowing I have people who will help me acclimate to this ever-changing world is invaluable.

What keeps me going is receiving letters. Humans have a basic need of connecting with other people and this, I believe, becomes even more intensified--or made obvious--when we come to prison and are isolated from society. A letter--a simple letter--can and does have an enormous impact on one's psyche, self esteem, and motivation. I cannot explain how much it means to me to know there are people out there who think I am important enough to take time out of their day to write me a letter and show me I matter. Their letters take me from this dreaded place and put me in a whole other world--even if only for a few moments. Among other things, these are what keep me going.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

Poetry From Prison: The Woman

adoptaninmate — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 16:00:00 +0000

This is our first post from Larry, an inmate on Death Row in Pennsylvania fighting for his exoneration. Watch for more of his work here on our blog.

The Woman

Her mysterious strength within carries an aura of sea water whispers not dreams.

Upon her face are two glowing candies illuminating a romantic vision and her hands harness a shower of twinkling stars.

She smiles like the crescent and her thoughts travel like the scent of botanical gardens.

First a princess then a queen but always an angel.

Her beauty is the nest of our eggs.

The counter part of life ...

The Woman.

Prison Artwork: Missy (Melissa) and Rick by Robert Davis

adoptaninmate — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 17:34:20 +0000

Pencil sketch from a photo (~1973), by inmate Robert Davis in TDCJ

Poetry From Prison: The Walls of Jericho

adoptaninmate — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:00:14 +0000

Submitted by Larry, an inmate on Death Row in Pennsylvania fighting for his exoneration.

Sheriff Arpaio's Postcards

adoptaninmate — Sat, 26 Mar 2016 16:00:00 +0000

These are the postcards inmates in Arizona are forced to use.

Donations From Angels

adoptaninmate — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 16:00:00 +0000

We are moved beyond words to open our PO Box and see these gifts of cards and stamps. A very heartfelt thank-you to the angels that send them.

Send donations to:

Adopt an Inmate PO Box 1543 Veneta, OR 97487

Review of David McCullough's 1776 by Rick Fisk

rickfisk2015 — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 16:00:00 +0000

**The Imperfect Hero: 1776 - A Review**

All men are flawed and make mistakes. Character is that quality in a man that transcends his flaws and propels him to success. In reading David McCullough's 1776, one will become intimate with George Washington's flaws and mistakes, flaws which might have been glossed over by historians more inclined to fuel legend than deeper understanding. Yet, because McCullough reveals so much of Washington's error, the accomplishments and character of America's first Commander in Chief are all the more astonishing than any legend.

Through priceless, archived correspondence of English and American soldiers, historians, reporters, and civilians (Washington, John Hancock, Abigail Adams and others too numerous to list here), McCullough weaves a complex tale, rich in detail, reading like a novel too good to lay aside.

Washington was prone to indecision. Probably this was partly due to a lack of experience. His lack of education - Washington hadn't the Ivy League education peers like Jefferson had (William and Mary's), nor the Eton schooling of his English counterparts - was also a likely factor which stifled confidence and led him to doubt himself. His indecision led him to make serious errors which cost many hundreds of lives. If one wanted to sit in judgement, one could condemn him on his defeat at Brooklyn alone, but it would be a grave disservice to the man. That's because all men are more than their mistakes. Judging any man by his mistakes only, isn't just a disservice to the man, but to oneself.

Washington's strengths included perseverance and a determination never to overestimate the true state of his affairs. He didn't sugarcoat the nature of what he faced or the condition of his army at any time. Because of his honesty, the Continental Congress granted him a dictatorship December 27th of 1776. The letter bringing him the news stated that he could "safely be entrusted with the most unlimited power, and neither personal security, liberty, nor property be in the least degree endangered thereby."

The book closes its tale after the new year, 1777, so we don't get the story told in another history book that the Congress was correct to place its trust in Washington. In a barn outside Philadelphia, shortly after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Washington met with his top officers and announced his intention relinquish his dictatorship, thereby derailing their plans to militarily seize control of the government and hold it hostage for their unpaid wages.

Before Washington's embarrassing defeats in Brooklyn and at Fort Washington, Nathaniel Greene wrote to his wife, "He will be the deliverer of his own country."

George Washington, a flawed, (formally) uneducated man, persevered and overcame his mistakes and was indeed the deliverer of his own country. Had he been judged harshly, the course of history would likely have been much different.

History has been kind to Washington. In bringing Washington's flaws to light, McCullough does us a tremendous favor, and in beautiful prose no less, showing the complete person. I came to the end of the book convinced that history had been kind, but rightly so.

Five stars.

Rick Fisk, TDCJ

Simply Human by Martin Lockett

adoptaninmate — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 19:00:26 +0000

This past Friday (also known as Good Friday) I volunteered to work in the visiting room. I'd been asked--along with several others--to man the table set up with freshly brewed coffee, assorted flavors of creamer, sugar, tea, instant cocoa, and all the utensils needed to prepare the drinks. Visitors--along with their inmate loved ones--were able to stop by the table and help themselves to what we had to offer. Kids giggled as they walked up to the table because sitting behind it they witnessed two muscle-bound inmates ironically wearing harmless yellow bunny ears atop their heads. Yes, I wore the silly ears! But I reasoned that this was the lesser of two evils since another one of us had to dress up in a full white bunny suit--head and all! But he did it and the kids loved it! The big bunny made his way around the visiting room (led by me because apparently the suit didn't have eye openings), handing out Easter baskets full of goodies--ranging from chocolate bunnies to marshmallow bunnies to Nestle Crunch eggs--to the many children that were there to visit their father, uncles, and brothers. One little girl, who couldn't have been more than a year old, clung to her daddy (an inmate) as she couldn't decide whether to be terrified of the bunny or ecstatic that he was so close to her. She shrilled one second and laughed uncontrollably the next as the bunny entertained her. Indeed, this was the highlight of my time in the visiting room that day. This little girl was simply enjoying her interaction with a giant bunny with human qualities, completely oblivious to the environment she was in or the people it housed. All that mattered to her for those few precious minutes was my friend in his bunny costume. It was refreshing, innocent, and human--things I don't get the privilege to encounter everyday. Oh, did I fail to mention how this Easter celebration was made possible? Forgive me. It's worth mentioning that ALL funds used to purchase the items for the visitors to enjoy--all week--came from inmate donations! All monies used to purchase the items inside the baskets and the baskets themselves came from inmate fundraisers conducted over the past several months. Furthermore, each visitor who had a small child was able to take a free picture--again, paid for through the funds generated from inmate contributions. The actual facilitating, planning, purchasing, and orchestration of this event was done by The La Raza Club--one of several inmate cultural clubs here that are composed of and run by inmates. Each ethnic group (even Lifers) has a club that raises money and sponsors events for all of us to enjoy throughout the year. This Easter celebration for inmates and their families/loved ones is but one of several that is made possible through the efforts of these clubs and their fundraisers. Fundraisers are also planned and executed entirely by board members from the respective clubs. Items for purchase generally consists of various food items that otherwise would not be available to us (i.e., Papa Murphy's pizza, chicken strips, barbecue ribs, etc.). As you can imagine, inmates are all too eager to contribute to these fundraisers as they offer a two-fold reward. I volunteered both morning and afternoon visiting sessions on Friday, and I barely realized I'd spent six hours in there. The atmosphere was a stark contrast to what I'm used to--I think small children have a way of softening their environment. Parents and grandparents approached our table throughout their visiting sessions just to pour a cup of hot coffee and tell us how much they appreciated what we were doing. Did you hear that? THEY appreciated US! I cannot express how much that meant to me, to hear from someone wearing civilian clothes tell me they appreciated me. That's not been an exchange I've had in many years now. Again, it was a simple, yet profound, human moment. In fact, everything that happened on Friday was simply human--there's no other way to describe it.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

Donation: Handmade Afghan for AI

adoptaninmate — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 16:00:49 +0000

We received this handmade afghan from our friend Charles Farrar, an innocent man serving a 145-to-life sentence, based on lies told by the alleged victim (his step-daughter), who has since recanted her story (over thirteen years ago). See the full story here. Charles has been in the Sterling Correctional Facility in Colorado since April 1st, 2002. Tomorrow marks the beginning of his fourteenth year in prison. You can sign a petition to grant Charles a new trial here.

Justice For Charles Farrar Website

Write to Charles:

Charles Farrar 113856 S-C-F Unit 1-C PO Box 6000 Sterling, CO 80751

Martin Lockett's Review of Lucy's Legacy by Donald C. Johanson

adoptaninmate — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 16:00:03 +0000

Fascinating. Riveting. Provocative. The list of superlatives to describe this book could go on for pages. Johanson - the famed archeologist who discovered the 3.2 million-year-old hominid (human ancestry) fossil - has written a book for the ages with this one. This book chronicles his expeditions into the ancient sites of Eastern Africa for the discovery of hominid bones in a vivid and relatable way. He speaks candidly about his discouragement and discontentment with findings (and the lack thereof) and allows his readers to feel as though they are right alongside him as he traverses these historic sites where he luckily "stumbles" across the most important fossils to mankind to date.

As brilliantly and scientifically as this book is written, it still manages to depict the importance of these findings in a relatable way for non-experts who are interested in this subject. Lucy's Legacy keeps the attention of the layman who is interested in the possible fossil record of human lineage by illustrating anecdotes we all can identify with, yet it maintains its scientific credibility by not deviating from measuring all findings against rigorous scientific scrutiny. Johanson writes honestly and not presumptuously by asserting that the ancient finds to date are definitively the complete (or accurate) puzzle to human ancestry. He cautiously asserts some possible links (which he describes the characteristics that have led to such postulations) between these ancient fossils and modern-day man, but does not mislead curious readers into believing this all-important puzzle has been solved--it has not.

I came away satisfied that many questions I had had been answered, yet many more had emerged as a result of having read this book. And perhaps this is exactly what was supposed to happen. Aren't we supposed to satisfy curiosities through a rigorous process of scientific scrutiny, while also embracing any other questions that will inevitably arise through the process? I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in understanding the latest scientific record of millions-of-year-old fossils to read this book. If you are curious to know how some of the bold conclusions have been reached in formulating the human ancestry tree, this is the book to read. Regardless of one's religious affiliation or philosophy on life, this book will keep your attention and elicit your most critical thinking mechanisms. In short, it will not disappoint.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

Spread the Word! AI Flyer & Submission Guidelines

adoptaninmate — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 22:37:41 +0000

Two announcements!

Our heartfelt gratitude and thanks go to Dr. Nancee Bloom, Managing Director of the Bloom Business Center in New York City, who has generously volunteered her time and efforts to bring attention to our work in her part of the world. To that end, she and her team have developed this flyer which will be used to reach out to volunteer adopters. We encourage our readers to post the flyer on public bulletin boards at churches, schools, and offices, and to distribute to community and charity organizations. For inmates and their advocates who are interesting in submitting art or writing for our website and/or a possible art exhibit showcasing the work of inmates, please see our Submission Guidelines (or print and mail to interested inmates).

AI Quarterly E-Newsletter: Spring 2016

adoptaninmate — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 16:00:42 +0000

AI Newsletter Spring 2016 Page one is shown below, click the link above for the PDF file with clickable links.

Letters From Prison: Our loved one, their ward

adoptaninmate — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 16:00:00 +0000

Please share this story widely, this family needs answers.

[caption id="attachment_2313" align="aligncenter" width="426"] Donna and her son Chuck Coma[/caption] On February 27, 2016, I received a devastating phone call from my mom. My mom is almost 74 and was diagnosed with metastatic bone cancer about a year ago. It has been a tough road for her. I could hear my mom's voice crack when she informed me that my brother, Charles Coma, was involved in a incident at the Lewisburg Federal Prison in Pennsylvania. My brother, also known as Chuck, is a Desert Storm veteran who was diagnosed with 100% disability due to post traumatic stress disorder. Because he never received the proper treatment, he made poor decisions and one of them was robbing a bank which landed him in a federal prison. Mom told me that they did not expect my brother to survive. My heart dropped. Was this a nightmare? If so, I desperately needed to wake up. She said a chaplain from the prison called and told her. The chaplain refused to tell her anything else and said on Monday we would be told more. The devastation in my mom's voice was painful to hear. To be told that your child may not make it is any mother's worst fear. Over the weekend, my family called to tried to get answers but no answers came. So we waited... our fears were overwhelming. To inform a family that someone they love may die and then make them wait without any updated information was immoral, uncompassionate, and apathetic. That act alone let me know what type of facility we were dealing with. When Monday finally arrived, I was so angry. No phone call came. We finally called them. We talked to my brother's counselor. He told us that Friday night Chuck was found with no heart beat so he was moved to an off campus medical facility. He refused to tell us what happened. I said my mother is my brother's power of attorney; therefore, under the law if my brother is incapacitated, she would make all of his decisions and you have to tell her what happened. He said that he did not. He claimed that Chuck is their ward and they will make all of his decisions. Out of the blue, the counselor stated that he had great news. He said it's a miracle. Chuck is up. He is trying to walk and talk. Really? Two days earlier, his heart stopped! This information made me very suspicious. I then knew that we would have to try other avenues in order to get information. Mom demanded to see my brother and was denied. From that point on, it's been a very long road. I've contacted several groups in order to get help. Here are some of them: Federal Bureau of Prisons, Veterans, Senator Cantwell, Congressman Kilmer, get Jessie, and the American Civil liberties Union (ACLU). Out of all of these groups only one of them responded; the ACLU stated that they could not help. My mother got a hold of the Lewisburg project who is an advocate for families of inmates. Dave who represents that organization has been very helpful and supportive. He is the person who told my mom that there was an FBI investigation going on. Why didn't the prison tell us that? Dave also told us to get a hold of Marcia Moore. She is a reporter for a newspaper in Pennsylvania called the Daily Item (here and here). She wrote a couple of articles which gave us some exposure. We believe the articles pressured the prison into acting a tad bit more civilized. My mom talked to the counselor weekly in order to get updated information about my brother's condition. We know that at one time he had pneumonia and a tracheostomy tube removed. My mom was allowed to talk to my brother one time on March 18. She said that he did not recognize her voice and some of the things he said did not make sense. Part of that will be due to medication but what percentage, we do not know. He needs to have a physical and mental evaluation in order to indicate how much brain damage there is. The counselor promised my mom that he would keep her informed of any changes. He didn't. On April 1st, Dave informed my mother and I that Chuck was moved to Butner FMC. This is a federal medical center. We have not been able to get a hold of them yet but hopefully this facility will be more helpful and compassionate, and allow my mom to visit my brother. I created a Facebook page called Rights for Federal Inmates and their families. If you need emotional support or would like to join, please visit. My goal is to change some laws so no other family has to go through this. Sincerely, Tracey Coma

Leah’s List: Do All Things With Love

leahmpatterson — Sun, 10 Apr 2016 16:00:00 +0000

You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. Literally, the world would not spin in exactly the same way without your presence on it. That is how important you are! ~Eckhart Tolle

I would love to tell you the story of how I came up with this idea, but there isn’t space, especially with my tendency to ramble on (don’t tell me you didn’t notice that in my Newsletter article!). It was always meant to be kept a secret anyway, so I’ll forgo the explanation. Suffice it to say, I was inspired. After a few conversations with Missy about how many and fast the letters were rolling in, I mentioned to her that I’d be thrilled to send cards with inspirational messages to those who were in need of contact. We made an agreement that she would get me a list of names periodically. She sent me the first list on January 20. I handwrote a note and included the above quote as an enclosure. Let me digress here – I LOVE quotes, I have them pasted on my computer monitor, bathroom mirror, at my office and all throughout the house. The Eckhart Tolle quote is special to me, it has brought me a great deal of solace in rough times and I love to share it as much as possible. While I’m writing the notes addressing the envelopes and placing the stamps, I have "Do all things with love" propped up in front of me and I’m praying and pouring love into each and every act. I like to believe that so much love goes into these cards that the receiver can’t help but feel it pouring out when they open it and read it.

What a joy this has been. To know that I’m brightening someone’s possibly dark day, to be an encourager, a healer, to show caring and kindness. Is there really any greater thing on this earth than to lift others? I personally think not!

When Missy shared a response she received to one of these cards. It made my heart sing! I received the second list of names on February 29. I did the same as the above but included the two additional inspirational quotes above. I love to imagine a world where we are all told every day that we are loving, amazing, beautiful, strong and capable; what would be the point of imagining it if I didn’t practice it? I challenge each and every one of you to Do All Things With Love and to do your very best to lift somebody’s spirits Every Single Day. I believe by doing this we are, literally, changing the world. Join me, won’t you?! Find a beautiful quote and send it to someone you love today. I also welcome any amazing quotes you have that you feel fit the intent here; email them to me, I may use them in my notes and you may see them in a future blog post! Love & Peace, Leah

Letters From Prison: Our Humanity is Broken

adoptaninmate — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 16:00:00 +0000

Some mornings when I wake for breakfast chow at 3:00 or 3:30 here in the County Jail, I can’t help pondering the question of where they are able to find so many people with the same disposition; just dripping with contempt. Even though it’s the same caliber people, and sometimes worse, in prison, there’s a little more … something ... I don’t know, maybe stability or at least knowing. I know all the nattering nabobs look at people who are held as prisoners and feel no compassion whatsoever. There is a story behind every prisoner and there’s also a connectivity of sorts that links everyone who has experienced the absolute and incredible pangs of loneliness. You almost couldn’t get an emotion to be so complete as that of being alone in a room full of people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive enough to think that we could let people be completely without accountability. That’s just your basic universal law of cause and effect. But to propagate the dissent and frustration that some of these people have felt all their lives does nothing to better anyone involved. Not the victims, not the people who have broken the commands society puts on them, not the families who are convinced that they’ll feel better when justice is served, and certainly not the people who are led to believe they are carrying out a good and noble deed. Countless families’ lives are destroyed not by the act of one individual, but by their collective consciousness. A set of ideals so heavy with expectations that they are, for the most part, unobtainable. The worst part of it is that those who have at their disposal, the ability to effect change, seem to be content with the status quo. ‘How do we turn this around?’ That question has plagued us for all time. What can we do to light the fire of personal accountability? Do we accept that paradigm that not everyone has the same station in this life? Are we so far into it that we can’t turn it around? What kind of cataclysmic event will be our eye opener? Is having the amount of people in prison that is unprecedented in the history of man not enough? Apparently we’re missing something. There are more advanced societies on this planet making incredible strides for the human condition. Norway has recognized that the penal system, as it was, was not working. Germany, same thing. So what makes them different from America other than they’ve taken steps to change? There seems to be a will to not continue to self-destruct. Can anyone not see where we are headed? I won’t get all patriotic on you, but being part of the strongest society in history, we should be leading the charge to not only survive, but allow everyone the chance to flourish. What kind of cataclysmic event will it take? Looking back through history - slavery, women's suffrage, Jim Crow, genocide and world wars haven’t done it. I won’t claim to have all the answers, but I will ask the questions, and hopefully, that’s a starting point. As for my part, I pledge to have personal accountability and invite anyone to join me, whether you are in a prison or a palace, change starts with you. Michael Henderson, Florida

If you love me ... by Martin Lockett

adoptaninmate — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 16:00:08 +0000

I cannot tell you how many times I've been on the phone while regrettably being forced to listen to another inmate on the phone next to me scold his girlfriend or mother for not doing something he had asked them to do. "Why haven't you sent the money? . . . you said you'd send it a week ago! You're worthless!" Or the classic, "If you love me . . . " only to manipulate the poor soul on the other end of the phone into feeling guilty for not doing something in a "timely" fashion. Sadly, this mentality is prevalent in prison. It appears that when people come to prison they automatically expect the world to stop, wait for them, and make themselves available on a moment's notice for whatever they need. They expect people they claim to love to stop what they're doing anytime they call to do something they ask — right then and there. There's no consideration or allowance for what their loved one is doing — it's all about them. I have been in prison for over twelve years, and I have managed to keep myself extremely busy and productive throughout this time. I've earned certificates and degrees from major universities via correspondence, published a book, blogged regularly, and much more. I unequivocally could not have done any of this without help from those on the outside who love and support me and what I am doing to better my life. But I do not operate from the fallacious, arrogant notion that they OWE me their time and assistance. And the reason why this is never my assumption is because I accept the reality that they didn't put me here — I DID! It was me and me alone who decided to break the law and come to prison! How does that translate to others now owing it to me alter their lives in any way to come to my aid? Sure, I ask for their help and certainly appreciate it when they give it, but I don't take it for granted; in no way do I take advantage of their love and commitment to me by beginning a request with the cunning words, "If you love me . . . " This is nothing but a manipulative tactic to get people to do what you want them to do. In its extreme form it is pathological and sociopathic. Quite frankly, it infuriates me to hear inmates say these things to their families and loved ones, or to great people like those who operate organizations such as Adopt an Inmate. It is the selflessness and compassion that these people freely offer out of the goodness of their hearts to those of us who messed up and put ourselves in prison that bring a rare quality to our lives while here. And to hear people who are extremely ungrateful because something wasn't done "soon enough" or the way "it should have been done" is nothing short of despicable and ungrateful. I always feel the instinctive urge to shout in these people's ear, "THEY DIDN'T PUT YOU IN PRISON — YOU DID!" But this would be futile and I'll explain why. Those who take advantage of others do so from a position of self-centeredness. This is a classic symptom of immaturity that has its roots in insecurity. Furthermore, I venture to say that most of us who are in prison have operated from this standpoint for most of our lives, thus we engaged in behavior that was self-destructive while considering no one's feelings but our own. Because of this insatiable drive to meet our needs — often times at the expense of others — being in prison has only magnified it. Why? Glad you asked. The reason why prison brings out the worst in those who still suffer from this undeveloped mindset is because now we are entirely dependent on others! We cannot do for ourselves even the most basic things, so our legitimate dependency is now at the forefront of our existence. This causes the person who is already inclined to expect others to meet their every need to be even more sensitive to this. Their deceitful tactics become more pronounced and more deceitfully crafted to get their way. Trying to use the logic argument that they put themselves here and therefore no one is responsible to take care of them falls on deaf ears because this would require a level of accountability and responsibility that they do not possess. And that's why you get, "If you love me . . . " I am grateful for all those who have sacrificed a tremendous amount of their time and effort to make my life easier and more productive over the last 12 years. I could not have done half the things I have without their help. But make no mistake, they owe me nothing — I put myself here!

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

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Welcome 2

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WELCOME

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Print

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unreleased press release 7-6-2015

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Diagnostics

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Intake Isolation

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Release

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Shake Down

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TDC Strip Search

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TDCJ Patch

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Walls Release

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AFong AI copy

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RFloyd Be Courageous

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power of habit

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waiting to be adopted

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please adopt me

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AI Newsletter Fall 2015 Final

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letter from angola

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CStone Letter 9-24-15

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JRichard

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CStone-welcome

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CKirby 10-3-2015

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mail and rick

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lrichardson

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ELeary

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guard abuse

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AHood rat

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nancy to ron

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Fern Ridge Review Article-12-2015

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AI Newsletter Fall 2015 Final

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AI Newsletter Winter 2016

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OSCI Visiting Room

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THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

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Rick and Missy by Robert Davis

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AI Flyer

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Inmate Art: Muse of the Builder

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This piece is from our friend J.E. Forbes in Pennsylvania.

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MLockettgrad

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The Hardest Part of Prison by Martin Lockett

adoptaninmate — Mon, 02 May 2016 16:00:00 +0000

After a while, even the horrid conditions of prison become normal to its occupants. Waking up everyday in a concrete cell, being told when you can shower, use the phone, or even use the bathroom eventually fall into place as routine. No big deal — it just is. I suppose as humans, this is an essential feature and component of our survivability. We must and do adapt to even life's most trying and tumultuous circumstances. Of course this is usually always preceded by the five phases of grief/loss (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance) that we undergo; but we do inevitably reach that final phase of acceptance at some point. After which, things settle and become normal again. Yet, the most dreaded, sinking feeling that I experienced for the third time in my incarceration last Thursday is something that I will never adapt to. It counters the most fundamental needs of humanity and leaves a scar that, unlike those made of flesh, don't fade with time. When I called home last Thursday (April 21st), I was first greeted with "Happy Birthday," by none other than my twin brother. Yet, his lackluster tone gave me the sense that something was askew, so I inquired if everything was alright. He paused and then painstakingly told me, "Well, no, it's not alright, bro . . . [our sister] has passed away." I hadn't felt that overwhelming wave of numbness sweep over my body since 2008 when the news of my father's passing was delivered to me by a stoic Captain at the prison. And now here it was again. Shock, confusion, and devastation paralyzed my mind and body in that moment, and all I could physically muster was an agonizing cry into the phone: "Oh my God! No! No! Oh my God!" My brother echoed my anguished cries with his own and we "embraced" each other over the phone just as we had in 2006 when we lost Mom, and 2008 when we lost Dad. In the days since that fateful Thursday afternoon, all I can think of is how isolated I feel from my family. I am unable to be a source of comfort for them and they for me because I am locked in a cage many miles away. I cannot hug them nor they me, cry on each others' shoulders and whisper, "It's going to be okay; we'll get through this too," because I am confined to a six-by-nine concrete cell for the next five years. Our physical embraces will just have to wait. Not being able to grieve in the aftermath of such a devastating loss is something that I will never adapt to. It is by far the most difficult part of this experience. When a close death occurs, it is our innate human instinct and desire to surround ourselves with those who most intimately share our pain and turmoil. It is this profound comfort that soothes our wounds, at least enough to allow us to sleep that night and wake up the next day to do it all over again. But I have been deprived of this fundamental need in my time of immense loss. Instead, I get 30 minutes on the phone to convey how hurt I am and listen to my family's grief. Needless to say, I hang up feeling not as though a cathartic exchange has just taken place, but rather an inadequate one — one that leaves a greater void than the one I had when the phone call started. One that leaves me yearning for more. On one hand I am extremely crushed and heartbroken that I obviously cannot physically be with my family during this time of extraordinary grief; yet, I surprisingly feel a sense of solace in knowing that I am still human; that I still possess this basic human quality of desiring close intimacy and compassion with those I love the most in this world during a time of mental and emotional turmoil. It is comforting, in a sense, to know that the cold confines of an institution for the past twelve and half years has not stripped me of my fundamental human nature — the ability to feel. Perhaps this is also why being forbidden to grieve with my family during this time is something I will never adapt to. And this unfortunate reality will forever remain the hardest part of prison for me.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

Rick Fisk's Review of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mendel

adoptaninmate — Fri, 06 May 2016 16:00:03 +0000

Station Eleven is one of those books that is so well-conceived and executed that you are sad when there's no more to read. After reading so many post-apocalyptic novels, many which barely bother to explain what caused society's collapse, I expected another contrived and unimaginative version of The Hunger Games or Divergent. While I did enjoy both afore-mentioned series' this standalone far surpasses either in both imagination and quality of prose. The story crosses both sides of a global catastrophe from several characters' point of view, all of whom, in one way or another, are satellites of a famous actor who, in the opening pages is performing King Lear at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto. Emily St. John Mandel draws us into a horrifying and totally plausible world-wide catastrophe and then through ingenious flashbacks and historical reference sews together a tale that is as rich as any great myth. Even if this type of story isn't one's 'cup of tea,' I would bet that even the most reluctant would find it riveting. Station Eleven refers to a self-published comic, written and illustrated by one of the main characters, a frustrated artist who settles for corporate doldrum, yet still manages to complete a few issues of her creation. One of the more interesting facets of this plot device is the way in which the comic influences the characters. Mandel also hints of how all art is a reflection of the creator's own life and times. That theme is further hammered home when members of the book's post-apocalyptic theatre troupe, The Symphony, discuss Shakespeare's own relationship with the plague. Mandel leaves nothing undone in this novel that needed to be sewn up. Everything has its place, making me hungry for anything else she may have written. Four stars. Rick Fisk - TDCJ

Families Pay The Price - by Martin Lockett

adoptaninmate — Fri, 13 May 2016 16:00:00 +0000

We often hear of the exorbitant costs to operate prisons. State budgets are stretched thin and perpetually strained in order to incarcerate tens of thousands of people, for many years at a time. But other costs are absorbed by the casualties of incarceration that often go unreported. Yes, the families pay a heavy price to ensure their loved ones behind bars can have a "comfortable" existence during the years they're incarcerated.

When an inmate is indigent (in the state of Oregon anyway), he or she will be provided baking soda to brush their teeth, a toothbrush, small bars of soap, and shower shoes. They are also given two envelopes per month to write family and friends. Obviously this is the bare minimum on which one can get by, but most inmates do not live this way.

I am grateful to be incarcerated in a state that "rewards" us (points that are converted into money because technically they can't "pay" us) for working; however, the highest paying jobs (I have one as a GED tutor) yield approximately $75 a month. Most jobs average between $30 - $40 a month. Our canteen items are marked up exponentially. For instance, one of the highest selling items — instant Taster's Choice coffee (8 oz) — goes for $9.83. Other staple food items such as Top Ramen soups ($.24 each) are also marked up. Our wages, after buying soap, toothpaste, deodorant, lotion, envelopes, etc., are rapidly depleted, leaving no money left to buy food, let alone electronic items (television, radio, mp3 player) to help divert our attention from our current reality. So who do we turn to?

Our families and loved ones often feel compelled to help us through our incarceration, especially in terms of financial expenses. They know things cost, so they do what they can to help, but their bills at home don't stop just because we came to prison and now are unable to support ourselves the way we would like. So they send hundreds of dollars throughout the year to enable us to purchase commissary items (food, shoes, electronics) that will bring us a semblance of comfort and normality. But this doesn't even factor in the expense they pay for the most basic need that we and our families have: phone calls.

The telephone allows us to maintain the most fundamental form of communication on a regular basis with our families and loved ones, yet this turns out to be the most expensive cost of prison for families. They are forced to pay thousands of dollars over the course of each year in order to talk to us. For instance, in Oregon we go through a company named Telmate. Our calls are $.16 per minute, and calls last thirty minutes, so a full call is $4.80. Calling once a day for thirty days amounts to $144. In a year this will cost a family member $1,728.

When inmates are written up for violations of institution rules, such as "disrespect" or "unauthorized area," for example, there is usually a penalty fee assessed as well. The fee charged to the inmate can range from $25 - $200 (unless there are medical expenses incurred due to injuring another inmate in a fight, which can run in the thousands of dollars). If the inmate does not have adequate funds on his or her spending account, a negative balance will be reflected. Subsequently, if and when a family member or friend sends money to the inmate, the department of corrections confiscates half of that money to go toward the fines incurred by the inmate. The other half stays on the inmate's account for spending, but if there is any amount remaining on the last day of the month, it too will be taken to go toward paying off the fine.

It pains me to think about how much innocent people are essentially forced to pay to keep in regular contact with their incarcerated loved ones and/or help them live more comfortably while here. As if life isn't expensive enough, now they're asked to pay even more in out-of-control fees imposed on them by the state and federal prison systems. One could make the claim that they end up paying two prices — the emotional, and the monetary cost of losing their loved ones for years.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University - Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

Letters From Prison: No Mental Health Help For Ohio Inmates

adoptaninmate — Wed, 25 May 2016 16:00:48 +0000

From www.rehabcenterforwomen.org:

According to a report by the Treatment Advocacy Center, in 2012 the United States had 10 times more mentally ill individuals in its prisons than the amount who are treated in psychiatric hospitals (356,268 in prison, vs. 35,000 being treated in a hospital). The unique and stressful environment created in prisons can many times actually enhance symptoms of a mental disorder and make its side effects harder to manage. Having these individuals in prison instead of a mental facility has many negative repercussions.

Below is a letter from a prisoner in Ross Correctional Institution in Ohio.

The state of Ohio has effectively gutted its Mental Health obligations in prisons and untrained and unprepared staff are left to pick up the pieces.

In November of 2014, six of the eight mental health professionals turn in their notice at Ross Correctional Institution. Three months later, the head of the Mental Health Department and five others leave. The prison does not have a plan in place to replace the much needed Mental health workers despite having 90 days notice. Many inmates are automatically kicked off of the Mental Health caseloads, not because they are stable, but because there is no one to see them.

I was one of those inmates and it took a year to get back on the Mental Health caseload. After two short visits I find myself kicked off of the caseload again because I do not have a recent suicide attempt or hunger strike. I suffer from manic depression, fugue states, and auditory hallucinations. While I do admit I need help, I do not wish to hurt myself or others at the moment. There are others here that are not so lucky.

I recently had the extreme displeasure of sharing a cell with a 58 year-old man in the grips of severe dementia.

Mike is three years into a seven year sentence. By his own admission during the times he is a able to communicate, he was a career alcoholic, smoked crack, and drew Social Security because he had severe memory issues. Mike must have staff and inmates constantly tell him when to go to a meal, when to stand, when to sit. Mike has no concept of time. He will often try to go on a pass the second he gets it. We get our passes a day before we are suppose to go. Mike will try to go to a 1:15 pm pass at 7 am. He will ask you the same question six times in ten minutes. His personal hygiene habits require him to shower two to four times a day, and he often puts the same soiled clothing back on.

When I celled with Mike, it was not uncommon for me to have to scrub the walls and floor around the toilet while he was in the shower. Mike will wolf down his food as quickly as possible and then stare at you while you try to finish yours. He has been known to lie about missing chow and then go begging for food. Sometimes people will toss him a soup only to see him wolf that down and go begging at the next table. Mike would ask me every two minutes after I turned the light off at night, "are you awake?" He will do this every two minutes for hours sometimes. He often gets angry and rude if you try to correct him. He goes to chronic care medical visits every two weeks where he is asked if he is willing to go to a camp for older inmates with issues. Mike does not believe he has any problem and that all of the inmates and guards are working together to make him look bad. Ross is not equipped to handle my issues, let alone somebody like Mike, who recently asked me when his son was going to pick him up, because he didn't care for this hospital. Mike has a whole block trying to keep track of him. The state knows he needs to be in a different type of facility but because of the added expense, refuse to do the right thing.

I had to move out of the cell Mike was in. He is not suitable for anyone to cell with unless they want to care for a man who acts like a spoiled two year-old with potty training issues. To be honest, Mike is the kind of inmate who could die in the middle of the night due to natural causes. Nobody wants to wake up to that or spend a week in the hole while waiting for a cause of death to clear themselves. I wish Mike the best, but elsewhere. - Timothy in Ohio

Poetry From Prison: Angel Dedication

leahmpatterson — Sun, 29 May 2016 16:00:48 +0000

Hello Angels, I received this beautiful poem from Michael and want to dedicate it to all of you. My title would be, "Ode to Angels." Love & Light! ~Leah

Ode to a Friendship

I shed a tear When I thought no one could see, I couldn’t imagine Your words were for me.

I shed a tear Deep in the night, So no one could hear As I put up the fight To not slip away Far from the light.

This part of my sojourn; If lived by the sword, Could sever the lines To the life that I long.

But you share your words, That keeps me moored. There’s no question of might, The pen or the sword.

So I’ll live each day As if I were done, In the secret of life; That we’re all one.

And yes, I’ll shed more tears. But I won’t be as coy, Because of your words They’ll be tears of joy.

Michael Henderson, Florida

Calling All Angels: Stamps, please!

adoptaninmate — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 17:12:54 +0000

We are working night and day on a few projects - one of which is catching up with a significant backlog of mail. We owe several hundred replies which must go out through regular USPS mail, and that means .... we need stamps. Lots of stamps. This is an easy and painless way to give in support of the most fundamental part of our daily work. Everything we do revolves around the mail: collecting it daily from the post office, and carefully reading, logging, replying to, and filing each piece - as many as 300 each week. Each letter carries a message filled with both despair and hope. Please help us respond to these heartfelt letters. Our goal is 500+ stamps. Check out some of these groovy stamps available now at your local post office, or online through usps.com.

Log on to usps.com and have some stamps sent directly to us (fill in our address below on the online order form), or buy from your local post office and drop them in the mail to us. Your generosity delivers hope, healing, and human connection.

** One book of twenty stamps means forty people will hear their name called out at mail call. **

Adopt an Inmate Stamp Campaign PO Box 1543 Veneta, OR 97487

Please share this post to help us reach our goal.

Rick Fisk's Review of The Great Bridge by David McCullough

adoptaninmate — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 16:00:51 +0000

David McCullough's The Great Bridge is an extraordinary book. It tells the tale of how the Brooklyn Bridge was conceived and built. As is the case with other McCullough works, it is superbly crafted and reads as well as any great work of fiction. The main focus of the book is the bridge, but it is about the fascinating human beings who made the bridge possible. Designed originally by John A. Roebling, it was his son Washington who completed it, along with his incredible wife Emily — as unlikely a story in the Victorian era as one might encounter. One of the reasons I found the book so fascinating was the great love and respect Washington and Emily showed each other, culminating in Emily's selfless dedication to Washington after he suffered physical catastrophe during the bridge's construction. Besides the Roeblings, the cast of characters involved with the bridge contains a who's who of New York's political and industrial giants, including A.C. Barnes (whom you might associate with today's Barns & Noble), Seth Low (two-term mayor of Brooklyn, and one-term mayor of New York), and William Marcy Tweed (the infamous "Boss" Tweed of Tammany Hall). Tangentially even Henry Ward Beecher had a part to play. For a while, Brooklyn's Great Bridge was the world's largest suspension bridge and even though eclipsed by later works including the Golden Gate, it is still the only bridge with a pedestrian promenade. Walking it has been on my own personal bucket list since first reading this book. While construction of a bridge that might seem to some as exciting as watching paint dry, this book is anything but droll. I was fascinated throughout, but especially so upon learning that what I always thought was an affliction limited to divers, "the bends," was discovered by bridge builders who were sinking the footings of their creations using specially-designed platforms – caissons – hence the original name of the malady, caisson disease. McCullough's book was first published in 1972, and a further testament to its greatness is the fact that it is still in print. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I have a 1982 paperback edition that was signed by the author. Neat. I highly recommend any edition you can lay your hands on. Four stars.

JEForbes Muse of the Builder

adoptaninmate — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 00:59:09 +0000

JEForbes Muse of the Builder

adoptaninmate — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 01:06:01 +0000

letter JEForbes

adoptaninmate — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 01:06:15 +0000

MGarcia Welcome2a

adoptaninmate — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 01:06:33 +0000

MGarcia Welcome3

adoptaninmate — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 01:06:50 +0000

grief clouds

adoptaninmate — Sun, 01 May 2016 23:19:58 +0000

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adoptaninmate — Thu, 05 May 2016 18:20:01 +0000

mandelstation

adoptaninmate — Thu, 05 May 2016 19:51:41 +0000

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adoptaninmate — Thu, 12 May 2016 21:00:52 +0000

"The System" Is Not Broken by Martin Lockett

adoptaninmate — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It's true: the American criminal justice system is NOT broken — it's doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

Far gone are the days when the only things that distinguished prisons from college campuses were the barbed-wired fences, gun towers, and . . . oh yeah, the fact that people couldn't go home when class was over. But the most prominent features that make colleges what they are (classrooms full of eager, studious learners and willing instructors looking to advance the specialized knowledge of these students) were no different in prison settings across this vast country. But that was also when college tuition was available to inmates via the federal Pell Grant program — before President Clinton abolished this all-important rehabilitative mechanism with a single stroke of his presidential pen. Out went the funding for college degrees for inmates, and in came the rapid increase of mandatory minimum sentencing laws that would balloon the prison population to the staggering 2.2 million individuals that we see locked up (state, federal, and county jails) today.

Such laws came about with the introduction of the now infamous Crime Bill signed into law, incentivizing states to build new prisons by allocating billions of dollars for such projects. Logically, it then makes sense to devise laws that would sweep large numbers of bodies off the street and into jails and prisons for extended stays. Mandatory minimums made perfect sense during this era as an extremely sinister means to this egregiously inhumane ends. Moreover, the majority of those who make up the system are – wait for it – black and brown. Without attempting to litigate the veracity of the claim that there is inherent and even calculated bias and racism behind this outcome, it is fair to assert that the radical disproportionality of who is affected by this system is, the the very least, a problem that warrants being addressed.

Every year there are approximately 650,000 people released from incarceration. Within three years, two-thirds return to confinement for a host of reasons – they are unable to find gainful employment, housing, loans for higher education, etc. At every turn they are denied opportunity to fully reintegrate into their communities, whether it be through voting, participating in many volunteer programs, and/or furthering their careers. These folks succumb to the insidious notion that life is far too arduous for their withstanding, and it would be much easier to revert back to what they have always known. And like a conveyor belt that never stops moving – transporting its products from the beginning of the process to the end continuously – these people are swept back up, placed on the conveyor belt, and whisked away to the next arm of the system to be processed.

We often refer to our criminal justice system as "broken" because we are viewing it strictly from a humanitarian standpoint. We find it reprehensible that our country incarcerates its citizens at a much higher rate and for lengthier stays, on average, than any other nation on earth. We are repulsed at the fact that we funnel far more money into constructing and maintaining prisons in America than we do our schools and extra curricular activities -- you know, those things that could actually deter kids from turning to crime when they are most impressionable. But the reality is our nation is not concerned with preventing crime and offering its help to those who are most at-risk for committing such crime, but rather its focal point is rounding up as many people as it possibly can to keep an industry (yes, people actually can buy stock in private prison corporations) – a big business – thriving and ever-expanding. We endorse warehousing humans, not rehabilitating them. The latter would surely be counter productive to this cause. The object is not to keep people out of the system by funding initiatives that have been proven to prevent crime and reduce recidivism; it is to ensure that a large number of people stay engulfed in the criminal justice system, that they continue to take their place on the proverbial conveyor belt – over and over again. Therefore, when viewed more accurately for what it is, the system is not broken — it's more like a well-oiled machine; fluidly carrying out its mechanical mission by doing exactly what it's designed to do.

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adoptaninmate — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 16:45:14 +0000

Martin Lockett's Review of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

adoptaninmate — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 16:00:35 +0000

I'll admit, when I first heard the title of this best-selling book, I, as a black man, was taken aback. I scoffed at the notion that anyone could attempt to make a sound case for comparing the atrocious Jim Crow segregation laws of the 50s and 60s with today's – albeit egregious – system of mass incarceration . . . and then she did it!

Michelle Alexander, a civil rights attorney and law professor at Ohio State University, starts from the beginning by illustrating the political and economic motivations by those in power to exploit and subjugate blacks and poor people from seventeenth century North American slavery to twenty-first century mass incarceration. She makes this provocative case by providing compelling evidence through a social and historical narrative that is driven by greed, political power, and economic advantage. If I were a skeptic, her book would at the very least cause me to pause and reconsider my position. Alexander argues her stance as though she were a seasoned lawyer (which she is) presenting her case to a biased jury that she knew would not see it her way unless she presented a masterful argument to win them over — and she does.

Professor Alexander refuses to allow her political persuasion (which I still don't know) to interfere with her assessment of our broken criminal justice system and its treatment of minorities and poor white people. She equally criticizes Republicans and Democrats for their promotion through propaganda and funding of bad policy that are responsible for creating the highest per capita rate of incarceration among its citizens of any country in the world. She highlights the shrewd political expedience used by Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to propagate the "necessity" to fund the War on Drugs and later devise, state by state, sweeping mandatory minimum sentencing laws, respectively — which are both underlying policies resulting in over 2.2 million people currently incarcerated. She is unapologetically critical of the policies of other presidential administrations, including our current one (which was, frankly, somewhat surprising as she is a black woman), pointing out how they have been led by special interest groups and the big business of building more prisons with the hope of garnering more votes during election cycles.

I found The New Jim Crow to be both incredibly insightful yet profoundly disheartening. It bears the naked ugly truth of America's ongoing struggle to accept and treat groups of people as equal participants in our diverse society. This book forces its readers to view an insidious, corrupt system – which is driven by politics and money – that confines, disenfranchises, and discriminates against millions of its citizens through a more cynical lens; one that we thought we had moved on from since 1865. For anyone who is affected by or interested in understanding the many tenets that have shaped our system of mass incarceration, I strongly encourage you to read this book – then give it to ten friends to read!

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University – Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

AI Quarterly E-Newsletter: Summer 2016

adoptaninmate — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 18:00:07 +0000

Hot off the presses, the AI Newsletter Summer 2016.

This publication was created for you - family members, friends, and advocates of prisoners. In each issue you will find useful resources for and from inmates; artwork, stories, and recommendations from both adopters and adoptees; and news from the staff. Don't forget to print and send a copy to your inmate loved one. We do hope you enjoy it.

See the archive page for previous issues.

Page one is shown below, click the link above for the PDF file with clickable links.

Update: Yvette Louisell

adoptaninmate — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 18:17:23 +0000

We blogged about Yvette last August, and are can now report that she has been approved for work-release. Des Moines Register story here, see text below.

For the first time in almost 28 years, convicted murderer Yvette Louisell soon will live outside the walls of prison.

The Iowa Board of Parole voted Friday to move her to an Ames work-release program, ending years of legal wrangling that overturned an earlier sentence of life without parole.

Louisell was convicted of first-degree murder in 1987 for the killing of Keith Stilwell inside his Ames home. She was a 17-year-old college student at the time of the murder.

She is one the first Iowa inmates convicted of first-degree murder as a teenager to be granted conditional parole after a 2012 Supreme Court ruling declared that mandatory life-without-parole sentences are an unconstitutional form of cruel and unusual punishment for those who committed their crimes before turning 18.

There are more than 30 Iowa inmates who fall into this category.

She has received support from church members, sentencing reform advocates and even the prosecutor who convicted her of murder. They've all argued that Louisell has matured during her decades as an inmate and is ready to be released.

Louisell detailed the accomplishments she has made in the 10 months since her last parole hearing on Friday via a video feed from the Iowa Correctional Facility for Women in Mitchellville. She has a leadership role with a group that prepares inmates for release, and she has taken an increasing number of supervised trips outside the prison.

On Thursday, she rode on a DART bus to the downtown Des Moines headquarters and learned how to read bus schedules and download the transit authority's smartphone app, she said. She earned an instructional driver's permit during a trip to an Iowa Department of Transportation licensing center.

"Ms. Louisell has done above and beyond all that has been requested of her in the last few years, and certainly the years before that," her attorney, Gordon Allen, told the parole board. "She's ready to move on."

Louisell and Allen spent three years in litigation, which ultimately led a district court judge to set aside her original life-without-parole sentence and open the door for her to one day leave prison.

Her bid for a new sentence went before the Iowa Supreme Court, and the ruling set significant precedent for how Iowa judges can sentence young people convicted of first-degree murder.

Louisell's transition to a work-release facility will not be immediate. There is a waiting list at the Ames facility, parole board chairman John Hodges said.

Promising future

Louisell had a promising future when she graduated from high school in Michigan at age 16 and accepted a full scholarship to Iowa State University, where she planned to study politics. But she drank heavily and began suffering academically. On Dec. 6, 1987, she stabbed and killed Stilwell, 40, in his Ames home.

Louisell met the older man after taking a job modeling at a local art institute where Stilwell took classes. Stilwell, who was handicapped and needed canes to walk, offered to pay the struggling college student for private modeling sessions at his home.

At her trial, Louisell testified that he cornered her with a knife and threatened to rape her one night after she decided to quit posing privately for him. Louisell claimed that she stabbed Stilwell in self-defense after struggling for control of a knife, but she also took his wallet and tried to use his credit card at a mall before her arrest.

In a 1996 interview, Louisell said that abuse she suffered as a young child played a role in her crime. She also hedged her past claim that Stilwell tried to rape her.

"It had a lot more to do with my mental state than it had to do with his actions," Louisell told Des Moines Register reporter Thomas O'Donnell in the interview from prison. "Because of what I came out of I took him to be threatening, you know, to be almost trapping me in a way that was very familiar to me. I didn't have the sense to realize I could just get up and walk out of this situation."

None of Stilwell's family members was at Friday's parole board hearing.

No early freedom

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan wrote the majority opinion in the 2012 ruling that deemed mandatory life-without-parole sentences unconstitutional for minors. She wrote that life sentences should only be used for the "rare juvenile whose crime reflects irreparable corruption."

In late January 2014, Story County District Court Judge James Ellefson sentenced Louisell to 25 years in prison — a move that would have allowed her to be free within days.

But the ruling was put on hold while the Iowa Supreme Court considered whether Ellefson had the authority to fashion a sentence that would release Louisell while bypassing the parole board. The seven justices unanimously overturned the lower judge's sentence last year, ruling that decisions about the release for most young killers should be left to the parole board.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, at least two other Iowa inmates sentenced as teens to life without parole have been released.

Kristina Fetters, who was imprisoned for killing her great-aunt, was released to a Des Moines hospice facility in 2013 after she was diagnosed with inoperable breast cancer. On May 12, the parole board granted work release to Mitchell Ronek, who was convicted of killing a man at a hotel in Maquoketa in 1984.

Turbulent childhood

Louisell had a turbulent childhood growing up in a family scarred by divorce and her mother's mental illness, according to a history of her case written in the 2015 Iowa Supreme Court ruling. Louisell accidentally took LSD and experienced hallucinations when she was only 3 years old after finding the drug in her home.

In Friday's interview with the board, Louisell said a major factor in her crime was letting her life spiral out of control without asking for help. Prison psychologists and others helping her prepare to leave prison have taught her to set aside her own independence, she said.

"I’m a very independent person, but I know that not asking for help is a huge part of what led me down the path to committing my crime,” she said. “If I have any problems, they get dealt with at the first opportunity.”

Louisell is active in Women at the Well, a prison ministry at Mitchellville coordinated through the United Methodist Church. Finding and becoming active in a church would be one of her first priorities upon leaving prison, she said.

Louisell and Allen asked the parole board to consider granting a full parole Friday, under the condition that she move into the Butterfly Freedom House, a faith-based transitional home in Ames. But, Hodges and other board members each said they preferred a more gradual release.

Louisell will be eligible for full parole at the recommendation of her parole supervisor.

Letters From Prison: Welfare Check Please

adoptaninmate — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 16:00:51 +0000

Here is a touching letter from an inmate in Texas who is worried about a fellow inmate he met during transit - which means he likely spent a week or less with him. #InmatesAreHuman

NEWS: FCC Approves Modified Phone Rate Caps to Bring Financial Relief for Prisoners’ Families

adoptaninmate — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 21:50:16 +0000

PRESS RELEASE Human Rights Defense Center For Immediate Release August 4, 2016 FCC Approves Modified Phone Rate Caps to Bring Financial Relief for Prisoners’ Families Washington, D.C. – Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted modified rate caps for calls made from prisons and jails in an attempt to once again provide financial relief to prisoners’ families who have long been preyed upon by Inmate Calling Service (ICS) providers, including Global Tel*Link (GTL) and Securus Technologies. The FCC voted 3 to 2 in favor of adopting slightly higher rate caps. Over 1.5 million families with loved ones in state and federal prisons should have experienced significant financial relief with respect to the rates charged for prison phone calls in March 2016, with the same relief being granted in June 2016 to families with loved ones held in local jails based on an order issued by the FCC in November 2015. However, ICS providers wasted no time in appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in an attempt to invalidate the FCC’s ruling, so they could continue to prey on prisoners’ families. The D.C. Court of Appeals stayed implementation of the lower rate caps but allowed the FCC’s reforms related to ancillary fees to go into effect as scheduled. Not only did the new rate caps not go into effect, but at least one ICS provider – Securus – has increased the rates for in-state calls to “offset fees that have been eliminated or reduced.”1 The FCC’s November 2015 order capped rates for all debit/prepaid calls from state and federal prisons at $0.11/min., and between $0.14/min. and $0.22/min. for debit/prepaid calls made from jails based on prisoner population. The new, modified rate caps were adjusted to include the long-alleged but never documented costs incurred by detention facilities to provide ICS, and are set at $0.13/min. for debit/prepaid calls from state and federal prisons, and $0.19/min. for debit/prepaid calls from jails with more than 1,000 prisoners; $0.21/min. for jails with 350-999 prisoners; and $0.31/min. for jails with under 350 prisoners. As with the FCC’s initial order, collect calls will initially be capped at slightly higher rates during the first year and phased down after a two-year transition period. “While today’s vote set rates higher than the initial caps, the FCC’s action should bring much needed rate relief to families more quickly than waiting for the appeal process to conclude,” said Paul Wright, executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center. “There should be no mistake that this action was the direct result of the relentless greed of ICS providers and the government agencies that run detention facilities,” he added. The Human Rights Defense Center had previously filed comments with the FCC expressing that even the original rate caps were higher than the phone rates charged in a number of state prison systems. Currently, for example, at least nine states have prison phone rates of $.05/min. or less, including West Virginia, Virginia, New Mexico, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Minnesota and Ohio. Based on that fact, as well as the failure of prison and jail officials to quantify or justify their alleged costs for providing ICS, “we would have preferred to see the rate caps lowered rather than increased,” said HRDC associate director Alex Friedmann. 1 https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/106240077012073/HRDC%20FCC%20Ex%20Parte%20Filing%20-%20062416%20FINAL.pdf

Michael Henderson's Review of Night by Elie Wiesel

adoptaninmate — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It's not very often I can say that I'm sorry I missed the contemporaneous contributions to humanity by any particular human being. The recent passing of Elie Wiesel has left me feeling that loss.

The vivid portrayal of Mr. Wiesel's Second World War atrocities were nothing less than shocking and left me with an urgent need to know more about the boy who survived some of the most inhumane conditions ever perpetrated by man, and the man who endured and grew from those conditions.

Much of the treatment meted from the German SS was, I am sure with good reason, not described in Night. Nonetheless, Elie Wiesel is an author I plan on learning more from — even posthumously.

This edition was translated by the person who knew him best — his loving wife — who lost nothing in translation. I was moved for the entire Jewish populous for their ordeal, but I felt uniquely helpless for the author who found the strength to re-live his pain in order to heal the world.

With intense, gripping narrative, I was unable to put the book down until I was overcome by the need to sleep. But sleep doesn't come easy with the realization of what humans are capable of doing to each other, and how hard Elie Wiesel worked, through his writings, to change the world — his and ours.

5 stars and I'm looking for more.

Michael Henderson, FL

Martin Lockett's Review of Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Senator Jeff Smith

adoptaninmate — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

[gallery ids="3130,3129" type="rectangular"] What a book! This indepth, candid memoir depicts a prominent man's epic fall from being a young hot shot politician with a sky's-the-limit career staring him in the face to a convicted felon serving hard time in a federal prison among some of society's most degenerate criminals. And yet, this 5' 2" suburbanite with a Ph.D was able to not only successfully conform and navigate his new survival-driven surroundings, but also thrive in numerous ways while coming away with a wealth of knowledge that has spurred his efforts to reform the criminal justice system from, once again, a position of prominence and privilege. It's not everyday that a politician is convicted of a campaign indiscretion (well, an illegal act in terms of campaign laws) and sent to federal prison, but Smith acknowledges and admits fault for his poor judgement, despite the fact that most who commit such crimes do so routinely and with impunity. He does not dwell on this fact, however, but instead chooses to focus on how he can best utilize his time — and that he does. In his book, Smith takes his readers through a vivid depiction of prison life by narrating many personal anecdotes of his prison experience, relationships, and the peculiar dynamics that characterize prison life. He provides succinct translations of all institution jargon that he uses throughout the book for his readers' comprehension, giving the full effect of his experience. We learn about his awkward adjustments to certain situations that could potentially get someone beat up or even killed, his run-ins with Aryan Brotherhood members who detested his association with black inmates, and his resourcefulness in using his superb athletic prowess to make friends while simultaneously building alliances. But this book is so much more than a memoir of intriguing tales of prison exploits and riveting episodes of survival among career criminals — so much more. Former State Senator Smith was astonished to discover the plethora of untapped human talent locked away in state and federal prisons while he served time for a year. He began to draw the many connections between the prison population and the political world: both require a fierce tenacity in order to gain an advantage over others; both demand assertiveness and attentiveness to details in a world where complacency can be one's literal or figurative demise. But even more than that, says Smith, there lies a mountain of human potential in the drug dealers who possess inherent, extraordinary entrepreneurial attributes, the embezzler who has superb accountant skills, and the con artist who is charismatic and possesses the gift of gab better than most. The issue, however, is the illegal ways they have used their gifts. Smith advocates for rehabilitative mechanisms to be implemented in the criminal justice system that would not only educate and transform these men into productive members of society, using their gifts for the benefit of us all, but also demonstrates how investments in such resources would save the American taxpayers billions of dollars over time. He cites many studies that substantiate his claim, bolstering the legitimacy of his proposed solutions and causing the average, rationally-minded reader (regardless of where ones stands ideologically or politically) to think critically about the issue of mass incarceration and our philosophy as a nation on the criminal justice system. This man's tumultuous, unlikely journey is a compilation of entertaining stories of how anyone who didn't grow up in a criminal environment might successfully adjust to the violent, predator-prey, perpetually volatile prison setting they are thrust into. It is also a very insightful, thoughtful manifesto of what is glaringly wrong with our current prison (and political) system and how it can begin to be rectified, benefiting all of America at the same time. Mr. Smith Goes to Prison is one of my favorite books this year, and I am confident it will be one of yours. Give it a read — you won't be sorry you did.

Martin L. Lockett is a GED tutor at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon. While Incarcerated, he has earned a Human Services Certificate from Louisiana State University, an AGS from Indiana University, and a BS in Sociology from Colorado State University – Pueblo. He aspires to counsel adolescents who struggle with substance abuse.

More Than A Number by Martin Lockett

adoptaninmate — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Inmate 1-2-6-6-4-1-7-5 — that's my "other name." That's the "name" I'm forced to answer to on a regular basis lest I be found in disobedience of a direct order for refusing to answer to a state-issued number, insisting on being called by the name my parents gave me at birth. In others words, when you come to prison your personal identity is no longer considered central to your existence but rather something you forfeited the minute you were convicted and sent to a state or federal prison. Perhaps it was designed to dehumanize prisoners, make them feel as though they are no longer worthy of being afforded the same identity as those outside these walls; but this would be pure speculation, obviously. Whatever the case, I refuse to accept the degradation and institutionalization that becoming a number over my name places upon me. And thank goodness countless others don't accept this inhuman form of treatment either. I am continually encouraged when I walk into the visiting room and find it full and vibrant with family members and friends who are there to visit a bunch of "numbers." They find great comfort in spending quality time, laughing, crying, and holding hands with their "numbers." It confirms the notion that people truly can be gone but not forgotten. How easy (theoretically) it would be for those who love us to get on with their lives when we come here. Surely they could find enough things to do throughout the day to occupy their time; they don't need to accept our calls, come visit us, and write us letters, right? I mean, who in their rational mind would waste their time on a "number" anyway? I am also perpetually in awe of the sheer talent that exists in such a restrictive, callous dwelling. One would logically suspect that prison would squash and squeeze the life of anyone here, rendering them useless, unmotivated, and lacking interest in doing anything productive and challenging for the years they're here; thank goodness this is anything but true! To the contrary, it appears that prison has a way of uncovering hidden talents that people never knew they had, often to their amazement. Artists create pieces that render them speechless. Mechanics and builders learn their crafts from a technical aspect that they never understood before, enabling them to land good-paying positions in their respective fields when they are eventually released. Musicians: where do I begin? It's always mesmerizing to watch a guy pick up a guitar, harmonica, or keyboard for the first time, study and practice the foreign instrument diligently for months and years, finally reaching the point that he can play inspiring, crowd-pleasing solos. As a tutor I have had the privilege of working with men on their formal education for over 11 years now. I find it remarkably touching to see a man begin the GED curriculum with zero confidence, even coming within seconds of quitting out of frustration; then months (or years) later, seeing him at his graduation donning a cap and gown, hugging and crying with his family who are there to celebrate the momentous occasion. Invigorated about life for the first time, they understand now that they have more opportunity than they had realized prior to that point. Would you tell them or their families that they are nothing more than a mere state identification number? Clearly my examples of human potential and value could go on for pages, but why belabor the point? I tend to believe when people become long-winded in defense of their stance, they are trying to convince more than just their audience. Instead, I will close with this: it is true that I am referred to as a number — a statistic even — but I also know I am so much more! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yAQkyn8pe4

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