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(Note: The following article is written for my many comrades on the other side of the razor-wire, and for those who have a stake in their welfare and their future…and just maybe your own as well.)
Education isn’t everything…
Education in prison is like rehabilitation: The only way you get out rehabilitated is if you already had it to begin with, or you mostly accomplish it on your own. Prison per se is today–under the conservative regimen–workhouses for punishment and retribution. more…
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I initially drafted this article around the issue of the current Pell Grants debate. The Senate is again attempting to gut the program. Pell Grants are available to those below a certain income. It’s traditionally been a means for working class youth to rise into the middle class.
For me, this lesson started back in the mid-‘90s in prison. As with the bellwether of Detroit, the American gulag was an early forecaster for what the “free-world’s” 99% is today experiencing.
In 1988, I was a Criminal Defense Investigator (CDI) in a Michigan cocaine conspiracy case. That charge against my clients ended with a dismissal by the state court. more…
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“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face–forever.” George Orwell, 1984.
(Click to enlarge...)
When I went to prison in 1990, I had careers in journalism, criminal defense investigation, and political organizing behind me (I was then 48).
I had also completed 3 yrs at Wayne State University (Detroit).
Given the time and opportunity I had with a 25-yr sentence, one way I coped was with a determination to complete my formal education. more…
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“Hey, Mac! You got a minute?”
Finishing up some production procurements on the govt’s internal computer system, I strolled over to where several fellow prison Business Office workers and the Associate Warden (AW) were having an argument.
Being one of the resident inmates taking college courses, I had occasion to being asked information and opinions related to education.
It was 1994. We were in a federal, medium-security prison. Congress was debating legislation to eliminate prisoners from getting Pell Grants. more…
If you have something to say about the prison experience, something funny, tragic or simply interesting, please send it (or have it forwarded) to publico@americantribune.org. We reserve all rights to the material and may edit it to ensure that it conforms to our style and mission.
Our only requirement is that you are or have been incarcerated for a felony conviction, and that you have something original and socially relevant to say about it. Your anonymity, if you wish, will be preserved.
Please join me in making The Prison Experience Connection the place to go for felons and those interested in their experiences.
