Hope on the Inside

Caring is at the heart of ethics and ethical decision-making. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who is truly ethical and yet, unconc...

Fairness is an ethical value that is much in dispute and subject to interpretation. It's a tricky concept because each party most often ...

Since responsibility involves being accountable for our actions, purusing excellence, and exercising self-restraint, it's pretty safe to...

Happy New Year! I hope this year brings you many  blessings, and hope for a beautiful future. Let's continue talking  about the characte...

Character isn't something you are born with. Character is something  you develop over time. Perhaps one of the hardest 'pillars'...

I know I promised a follow-up on the Character Pillars and it will be coming. But I wanted to take advantage of the season to remind you, my...

I'm currently participating in an excellent program being offered to some prisoners in Michigan. Chance for Life offers a two-and-a-half...

I recently finished reading 'A New Kind of Normal' by Carol Kent. In this book she talks about the new normal and different mindset ...

When I started this blog, I named it "Hope on the Inside" because of how important I believe hope is, both to those in prison, and...

There's a divide a big as the Grand Canyon between the public's desire to reduce crime and the public's understanding of the mos...

Sometimes prison can make people delve deeply into their creativity. T rust me, there are a LOT of people in prison full of creativity.  R...

For most prisoners, communication with the outside world is a highlight of the day. Whether it's a phone call to a loved one, a letter a...

In the last couple of years Michigan decided to bring tasers into its prisons, allegedly to provide additional protection to the staff membe...

Coming to prison is often not the end of 'punishment' for Michgian prisoners. Many prisoners continue to regard authority of any kin...

Michigan Prisons are divided into several different levels. Level five is the most restrictive and is usually referred to as "Maximum s...

Where you go from Quarantine is determined by several factors, including your sentence length, your crime (in some cases), your home region,...

People who have never been to prison in Michigan or who are not closely connected to someone who has, may wonder what prison is like in Mic...

I've been thinking a lot about cause and effect lately. I think it's a concept most people are familiar with, but one that many peop...

Memories are powerful forces in our lives. They have the power to cause debilitating fear because of a past experience, and to trigger the r...

I recently heard a statistic that if you came to prison before your 25th birthday that you stood a nearly 100% chance of returning to prison...