Hope on the Inside

  This morning after breakfast, I returned to the housing unit and checked my email as I often do. An email from my girlfriend wishing me a ...

Last week I came back to my cell after being outside for a while, and some unknown papers were sitting on my bed. I live in a very small 6...

I've noticed a somewhat strange trend since I've been in prison, over sixteen years at this point. The energy among the prison popul...

  The other day in the prison chow hall, I got my tray and drink and turned around to make sure my buddy who'd walked to chow with me wa...

Earlier this week, Erik and Lyle Menendez were resentenced in California for murdering their parents 36 years ago. The brothers were origina...

  I had an interesting discussion recently with a prison staff member about the views of the general public on prisoners and on how prisons ...

  The counselors in my prison housing unit just finished passing out and then collecting ballots for our block rep elections. This election ...

  I've been reading Chuck Colson's "How Now Shall We Live" as part of a Bible study over the last year or so. The late Col...

  Michigan's prisons use three classes of misconduct tickets. Class three tickets are considered "minor" tickets and usually c...

  I had to put myself in time out earlier this week. I know, a grown man shouldn't need time outs, but I still do from time to time.   T...

  Today, while I waited in the phone line, the guy behind me struck up a conversation with me. He told me he'd been to prison three time...

One of the most important lessons I've learned in prison is the importance of community. I've written about this before, but we don...

It's that time of year when the weather starts to turn warm, and prisoners shed their coats and hats to walk around in shorts and t-shir...

  The last several years, I've been fascinated by the tiny house craze. I don't know if it's still going on because we no longer...

  In much of the last sixteen years I've spent in prison so far, I've spent time in the law library nearly every week. I've work...

  The nature of prison is very transient. Prisoners can be uprooted at any time and sent to a different prison. And what further complicates...

  Max Weber was a German philosopher who wrote a very influential book called "Economy and Society." He insightfully wrote about b...

Every election cycle leads to either increased hope or discouragement among Michigan's prison population. Will the new administration or...

One of my neighbors in prison recently told me a little joke he tells himself when he hears about the prison system's staff shortages.  ...

  I n a recent Breaking the Chains addiction recovery class, I mentioned to the participants that it's easy for us to think others shoul...