Blog Detail
Prison News Blog
http://prisonnewsblog.com/
My name is Michael Santos. I have been confined in federal prison since 1987, when I was 23. Now I am 45. I serve time because of convictions related to the distribution of cocaine. This is my story.
Recent Posts
Twenty-Three Thanksgivings in Prison
Today begins my 23rd consecutive Thanksgiving holiday as a federal prisoner. I’ve now passed as many Thanksgiving holidays in prison as I passed as a free citizen. Prison has numbed me–I no longer experience the excitement and joy of holiday ...
Bam
Last week I spoke with Bam, a prisoner and former gang member serving time at Taft Camp. Bam’s been incarcerated for six years, though his initial prison adjustment led to problems with prison officials and transfers to higher security prisons. Bam...
The Executive Clemency Process
I heard speculation from a lawyer about presidential commutations today. My lawyer friend has an acquaintance, who works in the Department of Justice, and the two lawyers agreed that President Obama would be unlikely to commute any prison terms this ...
Intelligence Trumps Force, Professor David Kennedy Suggests
David Kennedy, a professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, uses common sense to reduce crime and keep communities safer. In the February 9, 2009 issue of Newsweek, Suzanne Smalley reported on Kennedy’s techniques and the signi...
Prison Administrators Should Not Discourage Successful Adjustments
Many years have passed since I read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. When I read the story, I was locked inside the impenetrable walls of the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta. I was in my early 20s then, and staring down the long end of ...
Breakout: Voices from Inside
WNYC Radio is partnering with PEN’s Prison Writing Program to present BREAKOUT: VOICES FROM INSIDE The event will feature luminaries from the theater and writing world, including John Turturro (Do the Right Thing), Eric Bogosian (Law and Order: Cri...

