What's He Thinking?

The assistant warden is at it again.  Every week this chucklehead does something else to upset the inmate population and make the lives of his officers that much worse.  And the warden, the actual guy in charge of this place, the guy that makes Barney Fife look like a Navy Seal?  No one sees him.  He’s nowhere to be found.  He’s turned operation of this facility over to an arrogant nitwit who hates inmates, hates educating inmates, hates any programs to rehabilitate inmates, oh yeah, and hates flowers.

This week’s latest pronouncement involved, among other things, the visitation room.  From the inception of the prison level system (low level 1 up to high security level 5) the policy has been more contact, more programs, more movement at lower levels.  In the “old days” there was really only one level.  You went to prison, did your sentence and made parole.  But back then only seriously violent criminals went to prison.  Now, you’ve got 40,000 men and women locked up at dozens of prisons.  At level fives, inmate movement is tightly controlled under officers in gun areas.  It’s called “moving under the gun”.  But, at level 2 – like this place – movement is less restricted.  At least it was until this clown showed up.

This past week a young guy – Brandon, age 22 – collapsed on the weight pile on our side.  He was in the dirt twitching violently.  The guys were screaming for an officer, any officer, to call medical.  No one could get to a building door because – per Assistant Warden Einstein – gates must be locked.  Even worse, there was no officer in the tower observing the rec yard (you would think placing an officer in the tower overlooking the yard would provide more security than locking fifty to four hundred guys behind multiple gates with no supervision, but that’s just my opinion.  I’m not a trained assistant warden).

Ten minutes Brandon was unconscious twitching on the weight pile before the officer on the boulevard saw the commotion and radioed medical.  Then, two nurses and an officer came casually pushing a stretcher to the yard.  By the time Brandon was finally loaded, unconscious on the stretcher and transported to medical, twenty-five minutes after the seizure began had passed.  Yeah, this new emphasis on security is making this place run much more smoothly!

Back to the visitation room.  The ass warden (I’m not sure I abbreviated that correctly) has painted the visitor picnic tables.  One side is painted red and marked “offenders only”.  The other side is for guests.  Inmates can no longer sit beside family members.

In the visitation room, a red line has been painted three feet in front of the vending machines.  The red line states “No offenders beyond this point”.  Even when I was at Receiving with level 5 inmates there was no line by the vending machines.

Then there is school.  This coming Friday is graduation.  The principal here, Ms. C, makes a big deal out of GED graduation and guys completing vocational certification.  The Community College even participates and awards Associates Degrees as part of the ceremony.  Last year, over one hundred inmates received GEDs, another hundred vocational certification and three Associate Degrees.  As I wrote last year, with these men having family and friends present it was perhaps a more moving ceremony than my own high school or college graduation.  I knew I’d succeed.  For most of Lunenburg’s graduates, that ceremony marked their first academic success anytime in their lives.

And every year the warden and assistant warden show up because they know education matters.  That is, until this year.  The little weasel warden isn’t coming (sent his “regrets”).  And the assistant?  He remarked “why do I want to go to that thing?”

While Director Clarke is busy telling the press about his “mission” to rehabilitate Virginia’s inmates, perhaps he could take a little side trip to Lunenburg and kick these two losers in the ass.  This place is deteriorating.  Programs will suffer.  Both inmate and officer attitudes are souring and that’s a bad mix in a prison.  What, I am asking, is Director Clarke thinking putting these nuts in charge?

Schools in Session

Last Monday classes resumed for both the regular associates degree students and the specialized IT/college students. For the IT guys, the week was especially overwhelming. Each of the two groups of twenty are enrolled in ten credit hours of classes. They are in class six hours per day, every Monday to Thursday afternoon and evening (almost every guy holds down a job so they work in the morning). Each class has numerous reading assignments, worksheets, essays. We returned from class at 9:15 pm, caught our breath, had evening count, then started reading. I do all the assignments with the guys so I’ll know what the “correct” answers are.



By mid-week, tempers were fraying. Guys were up late studying; they were going to classes and getting new assignments (“for tomorrow, read chapters two and three” – sixty pages). A number of guys were ready to quit. One of my “strengths” is I apparently can cajole and goad guys to “man up”.


Thursday, the President and various Deans from the Community College gave a “pep talk” to all the college guys.


“You guys are making history. This is a test program. Nowhere else in the county is this happening.”


It was moving what the college president said. He urged all of us to endure, to not accept defeat, to fight for our futures. He then said this: “and the Governor believes in this. He wants his re-entry initiative to become a model for corrections.”


I thought a good deal about that comment. It’s a laudable goal the Governor has put forth. Unfortunately, until he gets his “rank and file”, front line staff to buy in, it amounts to nothing. The fact is, until Governor McDonnell and DOC Director Clarke kick their wardens and officers in the pants and demand change, nothing in the Governor’s initiative will succeed.


The truth is, DOC doesn’t want re-entry to become the model, doesn’t want an incentive based policy that allows for rehabilitated inmates to be released early without the stigma of incarceration branded on them.


Until Governor McDonnell and Director Clarke compel DOC to change their antiquated approach to housing, movement, programs, and treatment of inmates, this program – no matter how well these guys do – will not be successful. Simply put, the rank and file who work at DOC don’t give a damn about these guys succeeding.


Each day, the men going to college in here (the “campus behind walls”) deal with difficulties not faced by any other college student. That’s understandable. We broke the law. Rules have to be in place to preserve security. But, many of the rules have absolutely nothing to do with security. Many of the rules are enforced to simply make it more difficult on the guys trying to get an education.


Case in point: Evening classes are to begin immediately after count clears (every inmate has been accounted for). Every college student is in building 4A. Every evening, Monday through Thursday, at least seventy guys head to the program building for classes. The total number of inmates in programs those nights other than college students is perhaps thirty from the rest of the compound.


What do they do? They call “college and programs West side” first. Then, after those few guys find their way up to the building, they call “college East side”. A mad rush out of our door ensues and finally – around 6:45 pm – classes get underway.


The exact same principle holds for lunch service. Guys have to eat before class. But, the way they call “third period school lunch”, the 12:30 classes usually don’t begin until 1:00, the guys are being shortchanged (they can’t stay in the building after 3:30 – another rule).


Each college student has a stack of five to eight textbooks. Add notebooks to that and you have a huge stack. Dorm rules prohibit more than two books on your locker shelf. Dorm rules prohibit any personal items being left in chairs or under lockers. Where does DOC want these guys to keep their books?


Shortly after the school year began, the principal sent three long wooden tables into the building. Most buildings have heavy circular tables that barely allow two men to sit at comfortably. The new tables allowed six men to spread out comfortably and study. Within two hours, the tables were removed (forget the fact the assistant warden OK’d their use). The reason? Security: “Guys could break table legs off and use them as weapons.” There are fifty items in the building that can be used as weapons and not one word is said.


I sat there and listened to the college president speak and noticed no one from the prison administration was there. Not once has any warden, assistant warden, or senior officer ever spoken to the college group and said “we are behind this program”.


The annual cost to hold a prisoner in Virginia is $24,667. In fiscal year 2008 Virginia taxpayers spent 7.6 percent of the state’s general funds on corrections. Virginia’s percentage of adult correctional population behind bars is the fourth highest rate in the country. The state’s imprisonment rate per 100,000 residents is nine percent higher than the national average for all states. Those are the facts.


Yet politicians and DOC and their contract benefactors continue with the myth of having to keep prisoners locked up longer to ensure “public safety”. Corrections today isn’t about public safety – it’s about money.


As I sat there listening to the college president, he suddenly called my name and the other academic aides’ names to stand up.


“These guys work with you daily. They are putting you first to give you a chance. Without them, this program won’t succeed.”


It was nice to hear. After twelve and fourteen hour days working with guys who have never known academic success, it was a nice change to know somebody appreciated the effort I was putting forth. I like to think Harold Clarke and Governor McDonnell are paying attention and will say “this guy deserves out of here. Look how he’s worked to improve the lives of those around him.” I like to think that. But, the truth is, unless Bob McDonnell specifically looks at my situation, and Craig's and a host of other guys, we will continue to languish in here.


If Governor McDonnell and Director Clarke really want their initiative to succeed, come up her to Lunenburg and meet with a few of us. Let us sell the program. Give us a second chance. That’s the challenge I’ll set out.


I have a set of English papers to read, then computer worksheets. The guys are working hard. Hopefully, it’s not in vain.

Parole Letters

Last week, with much fanfare, Governor McDonnell introduced the new chair for the Virginia Parole Board. The Governor promised a new review on all parole eligible inmates. Less than 72 hours later, letters began arriving to parole eligible inmates who’d had their “hearings” in January (more on the hearing process later). As I saw these men react yet again to the disappointment of parole rejections, I couldn’t help but think of Roger Daltrey and The Who singing “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”



A few months ago, as the new DOC director was sitting for interviews and describing to the public his “philosophy” of corrections, “my mission is to . . . rehabilitate,” I posed to him the rhetorical question “what kind of corrections director would Jesus be?” As I watched many of my friends receive their letters against the backdrop of the Governor’s smug pronouncement, I couldn’t help but ask “What would Jesus do?”


“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites? For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law; justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting others.”


Justice, mercy, faithfulness. Pretty simple pronouncement. Yet, placed against the backdrop of our current “Keep the criminals locked up” mantra, Jesus’ words seem so far out of reach. We hear daily about forgiveness, redemption and rehabilitation. Still, we as a society fail to practice what we preach.


Governor McDonnell is the duly elected Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He could put his self-professed faith in action and begin a radical transformation of the current failed corrections model. Instead, he does the same thing his predecessors did. Its business as usual. “Keep ‘em locked up.” He continues with the lie that communities are safer under the bloated corrections bureaucracy that has seen the inmate population quadruple in just fifteen years. He oversees an unjust, merciless and unfaithful system.


If Jesus were here today, I believe he would say “Woe to you, Governor McDonnell, these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”


I do not make light of the serious nature of the crimes the men I write about committed. Many of the men I have developed deep bonds with are serving lengthy sentences for murder. I have asked myself repeatedly, what is an adequate punishment for taking a life? I don’t have an answer. There are, however, two conclusions I have reached.


First, in God’s eyes there is no difference between murder and an unforgiving heart; and second, everyone can be restored and redeemed.


This week, my friend Black was again turned down for parole. Black killed a man in a drug deal gone bad when he was nineteen. That was nineteen years ago. For the last nine years he has appeared and been rejected for parole. The same reason has been used in each rejection letter: “serious nature of the crime”. I ask this: if you can use the underlying crime as a basis for parole denial, why even bother with parole eligibility? Black has an exemplary inmate record. Under anyone’s definition of rehabilitate, Black meets the criteria. Crazier still, in less than three years, Black get out on mandatory parole. He will have served the maximum sentence time allowed. What is going to change about Black in the next three years?


At the time then Governor Allen hoodwinked Virginia’s voters into demanding abolishment of parole, there were 9,600 incarcerated people in Virginia’s prisons. Today, counting DOC inmates in regional jails with the prison population, there are approximately 40,000. 7,000 or so are still parole eligible, yet less than two percent are annually awarded parole. Historically, a parole eligible inmate received an annual, live hearing before the entire board. The board would hear from the inmate, question him, and review his prison record. Not so today. In its place, a parole examiner in Richmond holds a brief (fifteen minute) teleconference with the inmate. A computer generated report is circulated to the five board members and votes in favor or opposed to parole exchanged via email.


As the Gospel of John records, Jesus was confronted by the law-abiding Pharisees who presented a woman before him caught in the act of adultery. Facing her and those condemning her, He saw in her heart the brokenness and remorse for her sins.


He spoke so simply yet powerfully; “Carry out the law. Only, you that is free of sin, throw the first stone.”


When the crowd dispersed only He was left with the woman. In an act of justice, of mercy and of faithfulness, He told her “neither will I condemn you, go and sin no more.”


What kind of corrections director would Jesus be? What kind of parole board would He direct? What kind of Governor would Jesus approve of?


I am no theologian. I’m just a convicted felon serving a lengthy sentence for embezzlement, a sentence more severe than most sentences given child pornographers and second degree murderers. I’ve lost the woman I love, my sons and all my wealth. I sleep peacefully at night because I know God sees my heart, knows my brokenness and remorse.


I know in my heart Jesus would grant parole to Black, and DC, and Ty, and Saleem. I know in my heart Jesus would commute my sentence. That’s justice; that’s mercy; that’s faithfulness. And that is what God is demanding from the Governor, Director Clarke, all of us.