Wired

This week CNN reported that the United States government was setting aside millions of dollars to develop “portable Internet connectivity” for people fighting for freedom in repressive societies.

Watching “The Arab Spring” and the power of the Internet to bring images of uprising and repression to the world, the United States government rightly concluded the Internet matters.  What’s the first thing the Libyan and Syrian regimes did when protest broke out?  Shut down access to the web.

So American engineers are now designing briefcase servers capable of being snuck into a country and giving access to the Internet.  As the spokesman for the U.S. agency in charge of the project said, “Freedom is directly tied to the internet”.

Good quote.  Here’s another to consider: 

“Freedom’s just another word for

nothin left to lose
nothin’s worth nothin if it ain’t free.”    ~ Janis Joplin

How ironic that we applaud people protesting in the streets demanding the overthrow of their governments, “breaking the laws” of their societies and we recognize “these people need to be connected to the outside world” yet in almost every prison in this country, inmates are denied access to the “wired” world.  Everyday prisoners in this country are subjected to deplorable conditions, inhumane treatment, poor medical and mental health care.  They are jammed into spaces most people wouldn’t consider adequate for their family pet.  Those are not my words, that’s the word from the United States Supreme Court.

And connection to the outside world?  Forget it.  Inmates are denied basic contact with family and friends, let alone access to the web.  Try teaching a class on computer components when you, as the instructor, are prohibited from bringing components in.  “See that picture of the hard drive fellas?  They look almost like that.”

I love that people are transfixed by ordinary citizens taking to the streets throughout the Arab world demanding basic human rights.  Somehow, that message doesn’t carry through to our own country where one of every four inmates is serving a sentence for drug possession or minor distribution.

“Nothin’s worth nothin if it ain’t free.”  A friend asked me recently if I ever worried about repercussions from this blog.  I told him, “I’d lost the love of my life, my kids have no contact with me, I was sent to hell known as receiving where I saw unspeakable evil being tolerated by incompetent staff.  They took my physical freedom but they can’t take my mind and my faith.”  So no, I don’t worry.  They can’t do anymore to me than has been already done.

Here’s the bottom line.  If we’re going to care about freedom in Damascus and Tripoli, it’s high time we care about freedom in Lewisburg and Attica and Lunenburg.  “Freedom’s just another word for nothin left to lose.”  Sing it Janice.

The Goodwill Meeting

This week, Goodwill Industries came behind the fence to meet the IT certificate grant students.  A significant portion of the grant is devoted to place these forty men in jobs and assist them with re-entry into their community.  Goodwill Industries partnered with the community college to participate as the re-entry coordinator.  But, they did more than that.  Goodwill put $100,000 of their own money into this program.  Starting in September, Goodwill will direct seminar programs for these forty men preparing them for life outside the structured confines of prison.  And, they will find work for each man.  They will meet with them, monitor their progress and make sure prison is a thing of the past.

Three members of the Goodwill team directly responsible for these men and this program came to the prison Wednesday.   Before the meeting, almost to a man, the attitude about Goodwill was “too good to be true”.   Afterwards, without exception, every man in the room “saw the light”.  They believed in Goodwill; believed in themselves.

What changed?  They met the people.  The program director spoke first.  A man about my age with a gray beard, he talked about Goodwill’s commitment to helping anyone in need.  “Twenty years we’ve dedicated ourselves to helping released inmates return to society.”  Then his voice lowered and he told everyone about his closest friend at church.  “I knew him fifteen years before he found the courage to tell me he’d spent five years in prison in the late sixties for a robbery.  He was a decent man who made a mistake, paid his debt and for years was not accepted back in the community.  That wasn’t right.”

As the men quietly listened he added his own son had been to jail twice, both times arising out of alcohol abuse.  “You guys aren’t unique.  Everyone makes mistakes.  Ultimately we’re all the same and we all deserve a second chance.”

Then the employment director spoke.  A forty-something black woman, she sold the guys right out of the chute when she said, “I know exactly what you are thinking.  I sat in the same place when I was ready for my release from the women’s prison in ’03.  I did five years, lost my kids, was addicted to drugs.  Goodwill helped me when I was released.”

The president of the Community College then spoke.  He reminded the men that they were a first.  At a meeting a week earlier in New Orleans, community college presidents from around the country saw the video of the program.  “How can we do the same thing?” over and over, he was asked.

$52 billion.   That’s what the states and Federal government spend annually to hold nearly three million people in prison.  $800,000 and the dedication of a few college instructors and Goodwill Industries may show our country a better way.  America’s current prison system is a colossal failure.  A little goodwill may do more than any prison ever accomplished.  For one day at least, forty men believed.

Happy Birthday Larry!

Today Larry turns 52.  This is not where he intended to be at age 52, but he is making the most of it.  Please keep him in your prayers today.

Moral Dilemma

An incident occurred in DC’s class that caused him and me a great deal of concern and stress.  I share this incident with some misgivings.  This is not typical in classes.  A large number of women work behind the fences serving as nurses, counselors, teachers.  Few incidents occur in prison at this level involving inappropriate sexual conduct by inmates toward female employees. The reality is there is a greater likelihood of a fraternization incident than an unwanted sexual encounter.  Still, what happened this week reminded me we are living, at times, on the edge of anarchy in here.  Then again, the same thing happens in offices and factories around the country on a daily basis.

The two college IT groups are currently enrolled in Health.  The instructor, a very pleasant and attractive mid-thirties woman, is a first time teacher “behind the walls”.  Like everyone else who first goes through security and comes in here as a visitor, it is a little intimidating.  First-time instructors go through a brief (one hour) “orientation” conducted by DOC staff to explain the do’s and don’ts of the institution. As Dr. Y told me one day, when you leave the orientation you’re even afraid to make eye contact with any inmates.  Gradually, what most instructors come to realize is that men in these college classes, while not possessing the full complement of academic skills their counterparts on the street have, nonetheless have more curiosity and hunger to learn than the “free” students they encounter.

Ms. T, after four weeks of classes, was starting to recognize that.  She was changing from a guarded, worried instructor to an outgoing and engaging one.

DC has a member of his cohort (the term used to designate a group of twenty guys who take their classes together) who is known to excuse himself from class and head into the private bathroom for some “personal” time.  Anyway, class ended Monday and, as is our responsibility as aides, DC was resetting the classroom with Ms. T busy collecting her things.  This clown stayed back and called DC aside.

“I need you to take off DC.  The lady digs me.  I’m gonna make my play and set up getting my freak on.” [Exact quote.  I’ve learned an entirely new form of English in here].

DC told the guy “Man, you are nuts.  She’s not into you.  Get your head right.”  He then refused to leave the room which utterly infuriated “Mr. Suave”.  “Man, you f—d up my play.  I was gettin’ in and you ruined it.”

DC came back and talked to me about it.  The dilemma:  do we “rat” the guy out to the school?  I’m sure most readers will say “no brainer”.  But, it’s not that easy, as I’ll lay out in a few minutes.

The guy is looking for female companionship; I understand that.  I’ve been locked up for almost three years, three years of not having physical contact with a female.  The guys laugh at me because – being a “storyteller” – they know I spent almost thirty years with my wife and was never unfaithful.  Relations with some other woman didn’t really tempt me.  I wore my love on my sleeve for my wife.  It is a struggle in here.  One of the cruel elements of incarceration is the fact that intimacy – with your spouse or girlfriend, is disallowed.  But normal, healthy people have urges.  I am convinced one of the reasons there is so much violence in prison is because the system disrupts the normal, intimate contact between these men and the women who love them.

Guys deal with this lack of physical intimacy with females in different ways.  I know I avoid pornography and any sexually suggestive material on TV.  I try and focus on other things.  Sometimes, it’s hard (“that’s what she said!”  Sorry, a continuing joke from “The Office”).

What happens in here is occasionally, a guy will, well, snap.  He’ll believe a female employee/officer really is into him.  The guy may not always be crazy.  As I’ve written before, there are dozens of cases of fraternization every year involving female staff and male inmates.  There are, however, ten times as many cases of guys misreading a pleasant smile and demeanor.  Nothing usually comes of these guys warped thought processes.  But you can’t be 100% sure which leads back to DC and me.

I asked him “is this guy crazy enough to act on this?  Would he put his hands on her?”

DC – “I don’t think so.  He’s just a knucklehead.”

But what if he does act on it?  This compound would be locked down, the college program in jeopardy.

DC assured me he’d never leave any guy alone in the room with Ms. T.  I believe him.  DC may be a pacifist, but even at 58 he still has the hand speed of the great boxer he was forty years ago.  And me, at least four times I’ve been ready and willing to get my butt pummeled.  I learned my first week in the Henrico Jail you can’t let fear and intimidation stop you from doing what’s right.

So we discussed the pros and cons of letting our boss, the principal, know what took place.  Being a snitch in prison is the unpardonable sin.  You may not understand that, but one day incarcerated would change your view.  And, before you quickly say “of course you need to tell”, how many times have you told a friend “your spouse is unfaithful”.  How many times have you said to someone you care about “you shouldn’t divorce your spouse”.  We all have opinions about proper courses of conduct, yet day in and day out we keep them to ourselves.

DC and I met with our boss after a college meeting Wednesday.  DC assured her we saw no imminent danger for Ms. T.  We told her we let two other aides know and none of the guys would be alone in the room with Ms. T or any instructor.

Is that the proper solution?  Did we handle it correctly?  I can’t answer that.  I know I’m comfortable with what we did and I believe we did the right thing.  The thing about doing the “right thing” in here, or out there for that matter, is you have to take a risk sometimes.  If people know where you stand they’ll respect you.  They may not like you sticking your nose in their business, but they’ll respect that you’re willing to take a stand.
DC did the right thing in the class and I’ll back him up and defend him on this one.

General Human Tendency

Another college semester got underway last week and I found myself serving as a TA (teacher’s aide) once again for the wonderful English professor “Dr. Y”.  Dr. Y is an early sixties African American woman who captured the hearts of our IT students last semester with her energy and unbridled enthusiasm.

Prior to Wednesday’s class, I was helping her set up the classroom and made idle chit chat with her.  I asked her where she went to school and she mentioned the university my ex and my circle of friends all work at.  I told her my connection to the school and she suddenly lit up.  “I know you Larry.  My husband was Jimmy.”

We then discussed her husband who worked for one of my closest friends.  Jimmy died suddenly a few years ago.  The campus was in deep mourning.  Then, Dr. Y and her family walked in.  They had a look of joy on their faces that transcended the grief in the room.  They were a family of deep faith.  Jimmy was a pastor on weekends.  To them, his death would be a celebration of his life and his call to the Lord.

I wanted to speak to her further, but it was time for class.  We began with an essay on “mature reasoning” and the use of argument – well reasoned argument – to persuade.  A quote jumped out of the piece:

“The general human tendency is to have the strongest opinions on matters which we know the least.”

What does that mean?  To me, it says we take rigid position on the subjects we know the least about.

Dr. Y stopped and looked at the class.  She spoke directly from her heart to these fourteen associate degree candidates enrolled in her English class. She said,

“Before I came here six months ago, I thought I knew about prison.  The first night here I was deathly afraid.  But then, I experienced teaching in here and realized I was wrong.”

Every man in the room broke out in a smile.  “The general human tendency.”  Four interesting words.  I have received an education in humility these past three years.  I have seen moments of unspeakable cruelty and I have seen men show others more compassion than I’d ever seen from my “free days” with good, church going folk.  I have seen people put their faith in action and act more Christ like than anything I’ve seen before.

Prison is a terrible place.  And, the people who understand how wasteful, how dehumanizing, what a failure the system is are the ones who work here and do time here.  There are some who respond to this blog with curt “well they broke the law…” or “they deserve…”  That complete lack of empathy misses the mark.  There is a great deal of neglect and despair behind the walls and society, if we profess to be truly civilized, must figure out a way to do better.

The “general human tendency” is to accept that “the way things are” are that way for a good reason.  My incarceration and spiritual journey tells me that’s not so.   Jesus spent his entire ministry turning the law as understood by the “good people” upside down.  When He dined with the tax collectors and harlots a Pharisee chastised him.  Jesus replied “I desire compassion and not sacrifice”.  Put another way, “I seek mercy, not law”.

The vast majority of us in here deserve punishment for what we did.  But there is another side to each of us.  Dr. Y has seen that there is good in a lot of the men in this place.  She overcame her general human tendency and kept her heart and mind open.  The students benefit from that and so does she.

As I was leaving class with her, Dr. Y pulled me aside.  “I’m so thankful God gave me the chance to come in here.”  Then she looked at me and said “You should be too.  You have a good heart.  It’s been opened up more by these men.”

I learned a great deal Wednesday night about faith and mercy.  I’m convinced, as Dr. Y learned; we can all overcome our general human tendency and reserve our opinions until we gain knowledge and mercy.

Supreme Fallout

There are waves beginning to roll toward state shores following the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Brown v. Plata holding that California’s correction system violates the 8^th Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

The majority decision clearly states that if a state insists on incarcerating a person, they must have adequate bed space for the incarcerated and provide at minimum, adequate medical care.  In other words, if you support locking people up for breaking the law, you have to also expect the state to follow the law when operating its prisons.  California has bed space for 80,000; they choose to imprison upwards of 155,000.  No rational person would today argue for separate “white only” water fountains (the norm, the law, back in the segregated south into the early 1960’s).  No rational person can likewise support a system that allows a state to keep so many people incarcerated with no adequate living space, medical or mental health care under the guise of “public safety”. 

There is a bigger wave coming.  It is a tsunami called the Federal budget deficit.  A bipartisan Congressional Committee is looking at slashing $5 trillion in Federal spending. And, spending on corrections only lags behind Medicaid spending at the state level. 

Bob Dylan had it right:

            “You better start swimming
             Or you’ll sink like a stone
             For the times they are a changin.”

In 2009 and 2010 forty states cut spending on corrections, including Virginia.  As Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin (D) noted when recently signing a bill into law allowing the state to release certain nonviolent offenders, “We underestimate the number of non-violent offenders we have in our systems”.

Alabama is considering a law allowing non-violent offenders to “check in” at centers while living and working from home to alleviate overcrowding in a system currently at 190% of capacity.

Other states, such as North Dakota are placing additional resources into education and training – the two primary determining factors in recidivism rates.

As The Washington Post noted in its recent editorial discussing the Supreme Court’s decision (aptly titled “Cruelty in California”):

“Budget shortfalls and overcrowding have forced states across the country to reconsider their approach to law and order and the enormous costs associated with incarceration.  The Supreme Court’s decision – and its implicit warning…if states fail to take steps to provide the type of decent and humane prison conditions demanded by the Constitution, the courts may now step in to ensure that they do.”

And where is Governor McDonnell during this discussion?  I’ll tell you where he’s not; he’s not visiting his prisons; he’s not questioning his wardens to ensure they are behind his re-entry initiative, an initiative that is long on words and short on action; he’s not coming out with any “faith based” standards that show he believes the Gospel’s call to minister to the prisoners.  No, Virginia is doing nothing and the inmate population (per DOC itself) hovers at 137% capacity, the recidivism rate remains constant and $1 billion in taxpayer money will be wasted this year supporting a system in dire need of repair.
Meanwhile, a $100 million, 1000 bed prison sits empty in Grayson County.  Why?  Because the Commonwealth can’t afford the $25 million per year to operate it.

Virginia likes to think of itself as a leading state.  Its high time Governor McDonnell acts like the leader he promised to be.  As the story of Exodus so beautifully detailed, over and over the Lord said “be courageous”.  Be courageous Governor McDonnell and institute sentence reform with good time/early release available to inmates working to rehabilitate.  Be courageous and let nonviolent offenders go to house arrest or “check in centers”.  Be courageous and change the system.  Your legacy, our future, depends on it!

Fraternizing 101

We had a troubling incident hit on B side Thursday.  “A”, a mid-forties, married, black lawyer from Richmond, was taken out of the building in handcuffs and led to the hole.  Right now, he’s “under investigation”.  People are pretty tight lipped, but it’s obvious this isn’t your run of the mill visit to the hole.  They don’t take guys out in handcuffs or “cease all movement” on the boulevard when leading an inmate from the building to the hole.  “A” broke a major DOC taboo.  He was fooling around with an officer.

I’ve had an interesting three year experience with “A”.  The day I was arrested and hauled to the Henrico Jail, he was already there.  That was his second visit to jail.  Both times, wheeling and dealing with client trust funds.  He knew all the “big hitters”, the top criminal lawyers in Richmond and had heard me speak at a continuing ed seminar a few years earlier.  A likeable guy, he was none the less, a first class bullshitter.  I knew that when I saw him at the jail so I had no illusions what dealing with him entailed.

June, 2009 rolls around and he tells me “I’m going home; getting my law license reinstated”.  I’m there; mired in deep depression and despair just into my first year of imprisonment and this guy – with his second conviction under his belt – is heading home to rejoin the world.  Sure enough, the next day he’s called out.

Two months later, I get introduced to receiving hell.  For the next four plus months after my transfer I suffer, genuinely suffer, in the worst conditions imaginable battling each day to maintain my dignity, humanity and sanity.  Then, on November 20^th in ’09 I’m transferred to this Shangri La and who is the first person I see as I’m pushing my cart up the boulevard?  “A”.  The bullshitter leaves this July 15^th.

He and I view the world – this world – differently.  He carries himself around the compound like a political candidate telling fellow inmates how he’s going to say this and that to the warden.  Me, I avoid discussions with the administration.  They have a job to do, but so do I.  There job is to hold men here and enforce sentences according to their interpretation of the law and DOC procedures.  My job is to get out of here as early as I can and point out the insanity of the system that keeps them employed.

“A” thinks he can work with them.  He plays up his legal contacts all the time.  Yet, his knowledge level is low.  That’s the thing I’ve learned about bullshitters.  They talk a good game, but they don’t back it up with facts.  “A” comes to me when he’s asked about the law.

“Pride goes before the fall.”  I’ve lived that.  There’s a reason Micah told the people of Israel that the Lord wants His people to seek justice and “walk humbly before your God”.  Hubris kills.

“A’s” been bullshitting a female CO.  She’s attractive enough.  Of course I define attractive through the eyes of someone still reeling over heartbreak from love lost.  But, she’s OK.  She treats the guys well, very pleasant and fair.  But, she’s an officer.  There is a weird psychological occurrence in prison in which guys believe females on the compound dig them.  I don’t get it and the vast majority of times it’s just guys fooling themselves.  But it does happen.  Female officers, female counselors, female psychologists and teachers, fall for inmates and engage in inappropriate relationships.

“A” and this officer had such a relationship.  It was common knowledge.  He’d end up in the office with her and the lights would turn off.  Something happened recently that even went further.  No one knows exactly what – but “A” crossed a line and the fraternization came out and now he’s in the hole and she’s under investigation. 

As I’ve written before, prison life imitates the “real world”.  It’s not called fraternizing out there, but it’s the same thing.  One only has to turn the TV on and see “Aanold” or John Edwards or Congressman Weiner (there are so many jokes I could make here) who followed their groins instead of their brain.  It’s not just a man thing.  Each of those men was involved with a woman.  And those women they were involved with all knew those men were married.

And the really strange thing is, I don’t get it.  We spend our lifetime looking for that one person and then we look for physical intimacy elsewhere.  “A’s” jeopardized his release and his marriage for a couple of carnal connections with an officer.  She’ll probably lose her job.

It all comes back to my alter-ego Dr. Gregory House.  In an episode from five or six years ago, his former lover shows up with her husband who is dying.  House is a broken man – physically, with a damaged leg and Vicodin habit to dull the pain; emotionally, with a broken heart from losing this woman.  He’s fragile and, in a recurring theme season after season, finds it nearly impossible to love another woman.

As with every “House” episode, he finds the correct diagnosis and the husband’s life is saved.  His ex comes to see him and says the following:

“You want the truth?  I still love you.  I always will.  You are the one, the only.  But this life is easier.”

Fast forward.  House is alone in his home.  There’s the background music, Mick Jagger singing:

“You can’t always get what you want

             But if you try some times
             You just might find
            You get what you need.”

House pops a pain pill.   It dulls him.  But, it doesn’t completely take away the ache he feels in his heart for this woman he loves.  Pain, loneliness, heartbreak suck.  Yet, they are preferable to the quick empty feeling of fraternizing.  Ask Arnold if it was worth it; or John Edwards.  Ask “A”.  I think they’d tell you they’re just a bunch of weiners.

Sentence Disparity: A Case Study

A Norfolk woman, convicted of stealing $2.3 million from her employer over five years, was sentenced to serve 28 months in Federal prison for her crime.  The U.S. Attorney, who agreed to plead the case of Leslie M. Coffman down to one count, sought a four year sentence.  Coffman has yet to make any restitution.

As I enter my thirty-fifth month of incarceration for embezzling $2.3 million, knowing I have an active sentence of 13 years, I am left to ponder why I even had a modicum of faith in the system.  Why did I agree to make significant partial restitution at my sentencing hearing? 

As “J Rock” said to me when he showed me the story, “Why’d you deserve this?  You got f----ed.”

Fact is, I shouldn’t have stolen the money.  Fact also is, I didn’t deserve the punishment I received.  It was unjust and justice matters.  And, it makes all the difference in the world if you expect citizens to believe the system works.

The Governor's Incentive Program

Last week, Governor McDonnell announced an incentive program for state employees.  Come up with a money saving suggestion and get $2500.  I’m not sure if I’m a state employee.  The prison pays me forty-five cents an hour to educate inmates (where’s the public teachers union on that wage disparity).  Frankly, the Governor can keep his $2500.  Let me out early and you save the taxpayers $25,000 per year.

Here are a couple of “savings” ideas for the Governor to consider.  Frankly, finding wasted money in the DOC bureaucracy is about as tough as spotting the elephant in a ten by ten room.  Here’s a couple of “no brainers” –

·         VCE (Virginia Corrections Enterprises).  The VCE plant here has inmates building office and dormitory furniture.  We’re not talking hand-crafted, solid oak pieces. No these are pre-cut chairs, conference room tables and the like.  Labor costs are practically nil (55 cents to 85 cents per hour; remember, the 13^th Amendment outlawed slavery except as it applies to inmate labor).  These simple chairs are sold to Virginia’s universities for around $1500 a piece.  The same chair could be purchased on the open market for $200 or $300.  Virginia requires its universities to buy from VCE.  VCE makes a huge profit which is then used to prop up the staggering costs of its prison.  The universities, meanwhile, have to spend their stretched dollars on price inflated furniture.  Their cost is then passed on as tuition increases paid by; you guessed it, Virginia taxpayers. It’s a shell game, a Ponzi scheme.  There needs to be transparency in prison funding.

·         Taking the “shell game” concept further, my second proposal is to end the cozy relationships between DOC’s vendors and DOC.  Corrections Cable is a joke.  Why not let prisons negotiate cable deals with local providers.  It would generate work in the local community and save money.  Same with DOC’s sweetheart deal with Jones Express Music (JEM), Global Tel Link and Keefe Commissary.  These companies make enormous profits off inmates and their families.  Over and over we hear Governor McDonnell talk about private enterprise.  Just as President Eisenhower warned Americans in his farewell address of the dangers of the “military-industrial complex”, so to are the dangers of this adulterous relationship between DOC and its vendors.  “History repeats itself” is an often used cliché.  Think Krupp, Bremen Motor Works and the Nazi concentration camp system.  Transparency, Governor, transparency.

·         And finally, why spend $25,000 per year to house nonviolent felons who could be out working, paying taxes and supporting their families?  If the goal of “corrections” is to rehabilitate, then do so and send the rehabilitated inmates back to society.  Arbitrary sentencing doesn’t help rehabilitate convicts.  It only makes them bitter.

So Governor, that’s three good ideas that will save the Commonwealth millions.  I look forward to receiving your check.  Oh, I forgot.  DOC doesn’t allow checks.  You’ll need to run by the 7-11 for a money order!

The Ombudsman Came Calling

We learned a little something about the power that can be exerted on DOC from outside this week.  We also learned that the new administration will push the envelope on rules, but will just as quickly cave when the heat is put on them.  That may not be good.  Consistency is necessary at a prison.

As I wrote a week or so ago, the new warden and his sidekick have instituted a significantly stricter set of rules for the compound.  Many bear absolutely no relationship to the goal sought to be achieved, namely provide a safer, more secure environment. The rules have, in fact, had the opposite result.  Morale of the officer corps is languishing.  Tempers and hostility from the inmates has dramatically increased. 

One area where the new administration sought to change the rules was with inmate visitation.  I can tell you first hand, nothing matters more to guys than visits.  Families stay connected through visits.  Children have time to see an incarcerated parent, play games, talk about school.  Visits from family and friends do more to keep inmates straight up in prison than any program designed.  The Governor recognizes the importance of visits in his re-entry initiative.  Family support, family involvement in this period of incarceration is crucial to the rehabilitation process.

Even knowing this, the new administration put in place draconian visitation room rules usually reserved for a level 5 (max security) institution.  The main rule change required inmates, after entering the visitation room, to remain seated through their visit.  No big deal right?  Except guys with young children can no longer walk around with their kids, helping their kids count out money or going with them to get puzzles or books.  A fair number of the visitors include older people who can’t maneuver around the room very easily.  Rather than be able to assist them, the inmate must sit there.

Add to that the prison assigned a notorious officer to work visitation last weekend.  Under two prior wardens, this officer was suspended for making rude and suggestive remarks to visitors.  He is known to bait inmates in the VI room and to be heavy handed and disrespectful.  One day he was in the college dorm while I was doing a seminar on grammar.  He pulled me aside and asked “why you wasting your time on these losers?  They’ll never amount to anything.  College is a big waste on them.”  So, I asked him how far he made it in college.  His response, “F--- you!”

Last weekend, a young guy named “G” was called to the VI room to visit with his mom.  She had arrived before him and gone to the vending machines.  Her hands were full and she was having difficulty breathing (asthma).  G entered the room, saw his mother having problems and walked over to the vending machines to help her.  Immediately, the officer approached and said “visits over.  You’re goin to the hole.”

By the next morning, twenty people who saw the exchange had called to Richmond, to the DOC Regional Director responsible for this prison, complaining about the visitation rules and the officer. By noon, G was released from the hole and the charge dropped.  The Regional Director called G’s mom and apologized for the heavy-handed behavior exhibited.  And the visitation rules?  They’ve been rescinded by order of the warden. 

The next day, a visitor appeared on the compound walking in the buildings, the law library, anywhere he wanted to go.  He’s the DOC’s inmate ombudsman.  His job is to address received complaints about conditions in the facilities (complaints lodged by the public; inmate complaints are addressed under the grievance procedure mandated by Federal law as a prerequisite to filing suit). 

The ombudsman was concerned about the small, stacked bunks put in by the warden, the failure of the institution to comply with a court-ordered settlement of Prison Legal News’ suit against DOC, and a host of other issues.  In other words, he was heading back to Richmond to report his concerns about the prison breaking their own rules and regulations.  The prison, it seems, is a lawbreaker.  Ironic, isn’t it? 

More rules are coming.  More tension to be created and these guys have only been here two months.  Richmond knows what’s happening.  How much leeway will these guys get?  Only the ombudsman may know for sure.  As the US Supreme Court correctly noted just a week earlier, the right to incarcerate does not give you blanket permission to do whatever you want to that incarcerated person. 

Sentencing Inconsistency

Two days ago a story appeared on the news indicating Congress – at the request of the Federal Sentencing Commission – was considering applying the new crack cocaine sentencing guidelines retroactively.  The hope, according to the news report, is that the states will follow suit.

Prior to Congress passing and President Obama signing, the new crack cocaine sentence guidelines, thousands of drug users – mostly African American – were serving excessive prison sentences for possession of five grams (that’s about five sugar packs) of crack.  The penalty for that amount:  a mandatory five year minimum sentence.  To get the same sentence with powdered cocaine, a person would have to be in possession of 500 grams. 

The thought behind the law was crack was significantly worse than powdered cocaine.  This was a fallacy.  Cocaine is cocaine.  In any form:  powder, liquid or as a crack rock, cocaine is a highly addictive, dangerous drug.  The “real” reason for the sentence disparity – crack was cheaper and it was the drug of choice for hundreds of thousands of poor and predominately black Americans.  Powdered cocaine, on the other hand, was preferred by wealthier white Americans.

One of the major reasons the criminal justice system fails in its efforts to rehabilitate inmates in prison is because the system is perceived as biased and unfair.  There is much truth to support that perception.

Study after study conclude that defendants who can afford to hire the counsel of their choice serve shorter sentences than poor defendants who must rely on either overworked public defenders or – in the case of Virginia – court appointed lawyers whose fees are strictly capped.  These court appointed lawyers cannot hire investigators or experts to assist in the defense of their client’s case.  The expression “equal justice under the law” does not exist.

Sentencing inconsistency creates a victimization mentality amongst the convicted.  How does a man who rapes his seven-year old daughter get an eight year sentence and a check forger ten years?  Which presents more long-term harm to the community?

The day I was sentenced, a young man appeared before the judge shortly before my case was called.  He was with me at the Henrico Jail.  His crime:  his third DUI, driving on a suspended license resulted in his causing the death of his passenger.  The judge, noting his participation in alcohol treatment in jail, sentenced him to “twenty-four months” and required him to maintain an “ignition interlock” system on his car (breathalyzer to start his vehicle) upon release.  Sitting in the holding cell awaiting transport back to the jail following the judge giving me a fifteen year prison sentence, the young man told me “I can beat that lock.  Have in the past.”

A twenty-two year old named Matt was sentenced to twenty-four years in prison for malicious wounding.  His crime:  he and his fiancé broke up but continued to share an apartment.  They agreed to not bring any dates back to their place.  Matt came home from work and walked in on her and another man having sex.  Matt used a ten pound dumbbell and struck and injured the man.  Matt had two prior arrests involving drug and alcohol use.  He was denied bond and then given twenty-four years.  One day, while at the jail, Matt tried to slit his wrists, distraught over his future circumstances.

At the same time, the Henrico County Commonwealth Attorney’s oldest son was arrested.  Age 19, he was at an illegal card house, playing poker.  He was high on marijuana and drinking.  A dispute arose at the table and he struck another player with a beer bottle, injuring the man.  He too had prior drug and alcohol arrests.  He, however, made bond (the court set a $3,000 bond).  His sentence:  three years, suspended with drug and alcohol treatment.

Two similar cases in the same jurisdiction with vastly different results.  The prisons are full of such cases.  In my own case, I cooperated fully, made significant partial restitution and accepted responsibility.  I deserved to be imprisoned, just not in excess of child molesters, pornographers and second degree murderers.

Criminals must be held accountable for their crimes and accept responsibility for their behavior.  But, the criminal justice system must be fair.   Punishment must correlate to the crime and sentences must be transparent with application of restorative justice principles to return a remorseful, rehabilitated person to the community.

86

This October marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1986 New York Mets World Series win.  That summer, that year, are forever etched in my memory.  I hadn’t planned on writing about that team so early this summer but the other day Hall of Fame catcher Gary “the kid” Carter announced he was being admitted to Duke University Medical Center to have four “small brain tumors” removed.  Later, word came out that the tumors were malignant.  Carter, age 57, has brain cancer.

What does all that have to do with me?  A good deal.  I saw my first pro baseball game live in 1968 at Shea Stadium.  The Mets were playing the Giants with Willie Mays – my boyhood idol – patrolling center field.  My aunt – my dad’s younger sister (eleven years which can seem like a generation) was a Mets fan.  She and her then husband, with my dad and me in tow, headed out to Shea.  Willie Mays had a good game, a couple of hard singles back up the middle.  But it was the Mets that I fell in love with.  From that day forward, I lived each summer following the Mets:  their amazing 1969 upset of the powerhouse Orioles: Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Bud Harrelson – weighing all 120 lbs. of him in s Superman shirt, Art Shamsky, Tommie Agee, Nolan Ryan.  The list of players and the seasons went on and on.  More often than not they broke my heart.  Bad play, bad trades; still, each spring I believed “this is the year”. 

Fast forward to 1986.  I was in my third year of law practice and my fifth year of marriage.  For the prior few seasons I’d watch the Mets slowly rebuild with a combination of young ballplayers like Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and Lenny Dykstra, and star veterans like Carter, Keith Hernandez and Ray Knight.  In 1986 they tore through the National League winning 108 games.

This team wasn’t like other Mets teams.  They were brash, cocky and damn good.  We spent July 4^th in Atlanta that year and took in the Mets four game series against the Braves.  One evening my wife and I found ourselves in the hotel bar.  There they were, the best players the Mets had, kicking back beers and shots, just hours after throttling the Braves.  They played hard; they partied even harder.  Later that evening we climbed into the hotel elevator to go to our room.  Already on from an earlier floor:  one of the Mets’ starting pitchers and a beautiful young “professional” woman, flaunting her attributes.

Every baseball fan knows what happened in Game Six of the ’86 World Series:  the famous ball through Bill Buckner’s (the hobbled Red Sox first basemen) legs that allowed the Mets to stage the most dramatic two-out comeback in World Series history.

I lived that moment.  Throughout the entire series, no matter how far down New York was, I believed.  As a ten year old watching the ’69 Mets I became convinced God was a Mets fan.  They wouldn’t win every year; Mets fans would learn to be patient.  “Wait on the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage.”  But, ’86 was different.  They were the best team in baseball and as Game Six progressed, the Mets, down three games to two, were rapidly facing a series loss.  We were at a friend’s house watching the game, just a few short minutes from home.  With the game tied heading into the top of the tenth inning, Boston took a two run lead.  My wife told me we needed to head home.  We made the five minute drive in silence.  Arriving home, I quickly turned the TV on as the bottom of the tenth began.  The first two batters made outs.  New York was one out from elimination.  In the Red Sox clubhouse plastic was draped over lockers to protect clothing from champagne.  NBC announcer Bob Costas was in the clubhouse ready to present the World Series trophy.

In my living room my young wife, trying to be supportive, uttered the following:

“The game’s over honey.  They lost.  You have to accept it.”

To which I replied,

“Baseball is like life.  It’s not over ‘til the last out.”

I then stripped down to my boxers, tying my shirt around my head.  I took our sofa cushions off and lay them out like a baseball diamond.  I stood at my “home plate” and watched as Gary Carter came to bat.  I clapped and prayed and suddenly, Carter had a base hit (Carter, a man known not to swear, told reports later that as he stood at the plate he kept telling himself “I’m not gonna make the last f---in out of the series”).  Kevin Mitchell came up next.  I was now standing on “first” yelling at the top of my lungs as Mitchell lined another hit, this one a double.  Now Carter was at third, Mitchell at second with veteran Ray Knight at bat.

A single!  Knight hit a single and the two runners scored.  The game was tied!  Shea Stadium was literally shaking.  I was yelling as loud as I could, I believed!  And then up stepped Mookie Wilson.  A wild pitch put Knight on second and then, the impossible.  A slow routine ground ball down the first base line.  But Buckner had terrible knees.  He couldn’t get low enough and the ball slid underneath his glove.  Knight rounded third arms thrust upward to the heavens.  I fell to my knees, arms equally held skyward.  Behind me, my lovely, doubting wife who could only smile and mutter, “I was wrong”. 

The series wasn’t decided that night, but in reality, it was.  New York won Game Seven handily.

Twenty-five years later so much has changed.  Life has been difficult for so many of those Mets.  Dwight Gooden, perhaps the best right-hand pitcher since Bob Gibson had his career cut short by drug and alcohol abuse.  He’s been in and out of prison since.  Darryl Strawberry battled drugs and cancer.  Pitcher Bobby Ojeda was in a boating accident that seriously injured him and killed a Cleveland Indian pitcher.  Wally Backman, during a bitter divorce and custody action was arrested for domestic assault.  Lenny Dykstra, “nails” for his aggressive play at all cost approach, had a gambling problem.  Millions of dollars in debt and bankrupt, he was recently jailed and indicted for fraud.  Add Gary Carter’s recent brain cancer and a host of other difficulties and you see the last twenty-five years have been tough on the ’86 Mets.  And the team, they’ve only been to the series once since then.  Their owner is in danger of losing the team (he was an investor in the Madoff schemes).  The Mets now “hover” near 500.

And me?  You know that story:  Successful lawyer, husband and father, now an inmate,  divorced from the only woman I ever loved, estranged from my two beloved sons.

As I read the story of Gary Carter’s battle with cancer I remembered that October night twenty-five years ago.  I remembered the young man who knew in his core that “the game” wasn’t over.

I have struggled mightily with depression these past three years.   There have been more days than I care to admit when I’ve prayed “just let me die, God, I can’t do this”.  As my friend Big S told me two weeks ago “you’ve been in a funk ever since that woman wrote you.”

I’ve questioned everything.  I’ve doubted everyone.  I’ve felt as though the last thirty years were a waste, that I’d invested my heart and soul into a relationship that didn’t matter.  “It was all bullshit”, I’ve thought.  She never loved me; friends really weren’t friends.  But Big S – who has heard more of my stories than I care to remember – reminded me “you aren’t a quitter, Larry”.  And you know, I’m not.  I never gave up on people I love, I never gave up on myself, and I’m not going to start now. 

“The game isn’t over ‘til the last out.”

I think Job was a Mets fan.  I also think that’s what Viktor Frankl meant when he talked about finding meaning in your suffering.  And I also think it’s what James meant when he wrote “consider it a joy when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance”.

I’m heartbroken, I’m discouraged, but I’m not ready to give up.  A few of the guys in here have recently thanked me for “not giving up on them” and “believing in them” when no one else did.  I told one of the guys, Todd, he should thank the Mets for that.  Being a Mets fan makes me a hopeless optimist.  And thanks to “the kid”, I remembered I’m not ready “to make the last f---in out”.

A Response to Governor McDonnell

Dear Governor:

I intently read your office press release concerning recent legislation you signed to push your prisoner re-entry initiative forward (http://www.alexandrianews.org/2011/06/governor-mcdonnell-signs-prisoner-re-entry-legislation/).  I also read your online op-ed piece (http://www.riponsociety.org/112bm.htm) touting prisoner re-entry which appeared on the pages of “The Ripon Forum”.  Ironically, I had to wait until someone on the street sent copies of these to me.  Even though I serve as an academic aide in one of your re-entry pilot programs – this one training inmates in computers – we aren’t given access to the Internet.

Like the folks in Syria and Libya, I am one of approximately 40,000 incarcerated persons in a Virginia prison yearning for freedom.  Like those people in the heart of “the Arab Spring”, I am cut off electronically from the outside world.  And like those people, I hear politicians speak and write each day in lofty platitudes about “freedom” and “second chances”.  But, as my Grandfather used to say “actions speak louder than words”.  You talk a good game Governor.  But, as you will see below, there’s no action behind your words.  If you really do believe “everyone deserves a second chance”, then cut the bs.  Stop the quick campaign slogan gimmicks about “public safety” which have absolutely nothing to do with the operation of prisons or the failures of “truth in sentencing” laws which instead just lead to a bloated, money down the drain, criminal justice bureaucracy that cannot be sustained. The legislation you recently signed will do nothing to lower recidivism rates in the Commonwealth.  The legislation, simply put, doesn’t address why some men and women commit crimes, nor does it address the attitude most pervasive in here:  the system isn’t fair.

Start with your comments about “truth in sentencing” and Virginia’s abolition of parole.  Statistics can be used to skew the truth.  It’s obvious you know that.  Yes, Virginia – per the recent Pew Center study – has the seventh lowest recidivism rate in the country.  But, the rate was actually lower when parole was in place.  As for “truth in sentencing” you know better than anyone the vast majority of states have adopted the same laws.  Why then are non-violent felons sentenced to substantially shorter sentences in the neighboring states of Maryland and North Carolina?  Why does the state most comparable to Virginia in population – Massachusetts – have about 11,000 inmates while Virginia has 40,000?

The reality of truth in sentencing is there is no truth to it.  Real examples for you to ponder:

·         A woman steals $2.3 million from a Norfolk business and gets 28 months. 

·         A Republican political hack steals $4 million in public funds and has a conviction for public indecency on his record (you know the case Governor.  When you were Virginia’s AG the investigation came across your desk and suddenly got misfiled) gets 10 years.

·         An employee in Fairfax steals almost $2 million, causing the company to lay people off.  He gets 4 years. 

·         I steal $2.1 million over twelve years; pay back over one third prior to sentencing, cooperate fully and accept responsibility for my actions and get 15 years.  

Sadly, the examples I just set out happen every day.  It’s called sentence disparity, Governor.  We sentence petty drug dealers to more time than child pornographers.  My sentence is higher than the dozens of child sex offenders I’m doing time with.

“Truth in sentencing” doesn’t exist.  Your sentence is dependent on the harshness of the judge, the case load of the prosecutor’s office, publicity surrounding your case, and the quality of your defense attorney.  What the abolition of parole and “tough on crime” rhetoric has led to is a prison system at 137% bed capacity, spending for DOC at over $1 billion a year, with no lessening of the recidivism rate, and those beds filled primarily by non-violent felons.  The “truth” Governor:  this isn’t about public safety; it’s about justice and economics.

Your press release and op-ed tout the work your Department of Corrections is doing to turn inmate lives around.  Have you ever been to one of Virginia’s prisons?  Go to C3, Powhatan Receiving Unit.  This time of the year the 10 X 6 cells hit 95°.  Chances are you’ll be put in with a sociopathic gangbanger who’s killed two men already for wearing rival colors.  Maybe, you’ll get to do time with a child molester who’ll be interested in pictures of your kids.  Yes, Governor, that’s your DOC receiving unit.  And that doesn’t include the toilet leaking, the roaches and ants crawling over everything.  That’s the system you’re overseeing Governor and it is broken, unyielding and cruel.  And Sir, as Governor, you are responsible for it.

I can’t speak for all the incarcerated, but to a man, the ones I have talked to think you’re just another politician feeding the public a cartload of manure.  “He doesn’t care about us” is the most common refrain I hear in this place.  Imagine trying to convince men that you really are sincere.  I’m labeled a hopeless optimistic.  “These guys say this all the time when they’re in office, but nothin’ changes.”  Makes me feel like a young Natalie Wood in “Miracle on 34^th Street”.  See Governor, one thing this experience has taught me is, we’re lost without hope.  So I believe in you.  “I believe.  I know it’s silly, but I believe.”

Instead of travelling all over Europe, drive out to Lunenburg and talk to a few of us.  We’re the guys who are spearheading the pilot IT Certification program for the forty at risk guys.  You may not like what you hear from us, but it’ll be a damn sight more honest and on point than what your own people are telling you.

For example, at this facility we have a college dorm with seven academic aides and almost eighty students.  Ask any teacher who comes “behind the walls” and they’ll tell you the same thing:  these guys have a hunger, a desire, to learn that isn’t seen on the street.  That desire is what motivates me to work my regular thirty hours a week as an adult basic education aide and then put in twice that amount of time – without pay – to tutor these guys in English, History, Philosophy, computer and a creative writing program.

This program, partnered with Goodwill (God bless those people) and Southside Community College can be a model for prison education around the country.  What does DOC do?  They assign a head warden here who said in a meeting to these college students “I don’t know much about this college re-entry program”.  Then, DOC puts an aggressive Assistant Warden in place who is openly opposed to the program.  His own officers have warned men in the college building “he wants us to come down on you.  He hates the building and all it stands for”.

So Governor, you can talk about re-entry all you want, but if your people don’t buy in, it’s doomed from the start.

And then, there’s early release.  You know why inmates don’t believe in you?  Because you keep peddling the false notion that longer sentences work.  They don’t.  Length of sentence bears absolutely no correlation to crime rate or recidivism rate.

What does work?  How about this.  Tie good time/early release into educational, vocational and rehabilitative programs.  An inmate who actively works at change and accepts responsibility for their crime should get out early, say after 25% to 50% of their sentence is served.

The fundamental flaw in your logic is you think making a criminal do a long prison sentence will make them feel more remorse and responsibility.  They’ll come out better citizens.  That Sir is backward.  The longer a person stays in prison, the more bitterness is created.  Every day in here is a day to lose hope.  You want prisons to be places of rehabilitation and restoration?  Turn the system on its head.

Governor, you talk a great deal about your faith.  The Book of James reminds us of two significant points:  faith without action is not faith and God’s judgment will be merciless on those who fail to show mercy.  Jesus dined with the prostitutes and the tax collectors.  If He were here, He’d come out to Lunenburg.  He also told the adulteress – seeing her remorse – “I forgive you.  Go and sin no more.”  He didn’t set an 85% minimum sentence on her.  That should be the model we follow for incarceration.

The Re-entry Con Game

Prior to his inauguration, amidst much fanfare, then Governor-Elect Bob McDonnell visited the Henrico County Jail to announce that under his administration a partnership would be formed with the private sector and faith based organizations for the re-entry of inmates back to their community.

The hearts and minds of thousands of inmates languishing in Virginia’s prisons were suddenly buoyed that finally a politician had been elected who gave a damn.  It was surprising, no astounding, that the politician was a “tough on crime” conservative, born-again Christian, Republican.  Within weeks of his inauguration, a huge “Re-entry Initiative” was printed at a cost of thousands of dollars and who knows how many trees.

But, it appears that after months of talk about re-entry, Governor McDonnell’s plan is nothing but a sophisticated snake oil sale.  Nothing about McDonnell’s plan is different from the past.  Bob McDonnell is long on words and short on action.

As I sit here at Lunenburg, a facility specifically designated as a “re-entry center”, I can assure you the exact same “transition out program” used for years before McDonnell’s election is still the same program used today.  Nothing different.  Nothing new.

The old “Breaking Barriers” program, a touchy feely group exploration of why “we” break the law has been replaced with “thinking for a change”.  Same poor program taught by prison “counselors” (who are a joke).  The name changed but the content remained the same. 

Even worse, Lunenburg is now being managed by a warden who plays no role in the day to day operation of the facility and by an assistant warden who actually scoffs at the notion of inmate programs.  In other words, DOC has placed management of one of its re-entry facilities in the hands of people who are opposed to re-entry.  Is it any wonder approximately one third of Virginia’s inmates re-offend within three years of release?

My friend in “Alaska” has been taking me to task for the great waste of resources used on prisoners who never even admit their culpability for their crimes and see themselves as the victims.  I couldn’t agree with you more “Alaska”.  Almost every day I have some guy come up to me and say “I didn’t do it” or “the Commonwealth attorney paid off the judge”.  Most inmates won’t accept responsibility for their behavior, won’t seek forgiveness for their wrongs, and won’t apologize to their victims.  And the reason, quite simply, is because people that do that suffer worse at the hands of the system.

What “Alaska” wants I think, is what I have called for almost from the inception of this blog, implementation of restorative justice principles, not retribution.  Founded on Biblical tenets, it was what Bishop Tutu used in South Africa and what is leading to societal reconciliation in Burundi and Rwanda.  And, it is the exact opposite of what we do in our prisons.

Over and over I am told by well meaning people inside and outside of these walls that for “a smart man” I was “foolish” for (1) admitting my wrongdoing the day I was questioned without even asking for counsel; (2) pleading guilty to all charges brought without requiring proof of the “loss” or any sentencing deal.  I’m looked at as a fool because I apologized to the court, my employer, my wife, children, parents and friends and told the judge I deserved prison time.

“What were you thinking?  “Why would you give everything to your wife knowing she would divorce you?  Why would you apologize to an employer who was calling the prosecution demanding you get one hundred years?”  When I tell them I did what the Lord requires us to do when we fail, I’m met with “the Lord sure didn’t tell the judge to be just did he?”

Inmates and accuseds will never accept the idea of remorse, of just punishment, and of rehabilitation, as long as the system is so blatantly unfair.  Sentences bear no relationship to the crime committed and in many instances are products of an accused’s race and class.

A book that draws widespread attention in prisons is Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow”.  In it, Ms. Alexander argues quite persuasively that prisons in modern America have replaced the plantation model of pre-civil war America for black men.  I’ve read the book.  It is disturbing and insightful and correct.  White, middle class teens committing the same crime as impoverished black teens receive substantially shorter sentences.  And once in prison, inmates (a majority of which are African American) are put to work doing dangerous, harmful work for slave wages.  During the Gulf Oil spill, for example, thousands of Louisiana inmates were put to work handling carcinogenic laced oil without adequate safety measures and without pay.  Here at Lunenburg, VCE (Virginia Corrections Enterprises) operates a furniture shop in an un-air-conditioned shop.  Inmates build furniture for state universities for 55 to 85 cents an hour.  That furniture is then sold to those schools (who must buy it even though furniture from private manufacturers is less expensive).

The system should be built on the simple, yet all important premise, of restoring the lawbreaker – where possible – to the community as a whole person.  To do that requires the law breaker to admit their wrong, reflect on why they did it, apologize to the victim, where possible make restitution to the victim and be reconciled to the community.

This process isn’t accomplished by giving a man fifteen years with no hope of early release and in his fourteenth year sending him to a ten week “transition out program”.  All that time before is wasted, making the inmate more embittered, feeling more victimized himself.

Governor McDonnell needs to quit selling snake oil and really make prison matter.  Reinstate early release and tie it specifically to the principles of restorative justice outlined above.  Make prison an effective method of correction, not a dumping ground based on punitive principles.  Inmates will change when they see the sincerity, not the hypocrisy, in the system.