Take Action on Long-Term Imprisonment
Published July 30, 2009 @ 04:35AM PT
Perceptions of time puzzle me. I’m about to begin my 23rd year in prison, and since I’ve been living inside for so long, prison feels completely normal for me. When I write that I’ve been incarcerated since 1987, that doesn’t sound like such a long time ago.
To put the term in perspective, I have to think back to when I was first locked inside a federal prison. Had I met someone then who had served as much time as I’ve served now, he would have begun his term in 1965. From that perspective, I can understand how much time has passed.
Another way for me to put how much time I have served into perspective is to contemplate my age. Yesterday I saw a photograph from much earlier in my term, when I was still in my early 20s. Today I am 45. Although I feel physically fit, the photograph provides incontrovertible proof that I am aging.
When my parents were the age that I am now, they owned a beautiful home, a thriving business, and they had nurtured my sisters and me through our high school graduations. I’m incapable of contemplating such experiences. The decisions that brought me to prison mean that I am well into middle age, though I do not own a home, a business, and I will never know the joy of rearing a child with my wife.
Sometimes I think about how much time has passed. I need these kinds of benchmarks to help me understand what I’ve missed. When I was a teenage boy growing up, I remember, I eagerly anticipated my first sexual encounter. It seemed like it would never come. Now, I chuckle when I realize I’m waiting again. In fact, I’ve waited for sex much longer as a grown man through imprisonment than I waited as an adolescent. When my wife and I make love for the first time, it will be as if we’re virgins.
Since I’ve been in prison, the world has changed in dramatic ways. The first big change I remember was when the Berlin wall came down, and when the government in Russia changed. Then I remember when Saddam Hussein led his troops into Kuwait, and thus inviting our country into a seemingly endless conflict in the Middle East; war was not a part of our culture while I was growing up, but national security has been a concern throughout my imprisonment.
Technology represented another huge change, though until I’m free, I will not appreciate the full scope of how much more advanced society has become. When I began serving my sentence, the relatively few Americans who did own computers stored their files on floppy discs, using MS-Dos technology. The Internet, e-mail, ubiquitous cell phones, video games, and digital music files had not yet hit the market; I don’t know whether they were even in development. The founders of Yahoo! and Google were still in junior high; the founders of Facebook and MySpace were wearing diapers, still crawling.
Our society has taken giant steps forward during the decades I’ve been locked in prisons, though in some ways, progress has either stalled or regressed. With regard to social issues, for example, the news I read suggests that the poor have become even more disenfranchised from the mainstream.
Certainly, I know the prison system has become much more punitive, more costly to operate, and more crowded. Our country confined fewer than 600,000 people at the time of my arrest. The Pew Charitable Trust reports that America now confines more than 2.3 million people; an average of more than 1 in every 100 American residents serve time in jails or prisons, while more than 1 in 35 is under some form of supervision by the criminal justice system.
Whereas it once was unheard of for nonviolent offenders to serve multiple decades of imprisonment in our enlightened society, now we accept long-term imprisonment as the norm. That is why Senator Jim Webb calls America’s criminal justice system a national disgrace. It is the reason I ask you to take action by joining Matt Kelley in supporting the National Criminal Justice Act and joining Thomas Kinney in supporting A Second Chance for First-Time Non-Violent Federal Offenders at Change.org.
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Comments (13)
Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.
Author
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Michael G. Santos has been incarcerated since 1987. He has earned an undergraduate and a graduate degree during his confinement, and he contributes to society through his writings about prisons, the people they hold, and strategies for growing through confinement. His daily entries are at prisonnewsblog.com.
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This is a heart-rendeing issue. On one hand it is inhumane to the young man whose life is counted lost to society through prolonged imprisonment, but on the other hand is the reason he was locked up in the first place. He caused harm and heartbreak to others, and broke the law. The question is when is punishment enough? When one considers that some crimes caused permanent damage from which there is no opportunity for healing.The offender has lost his place in normal society and so has the victim, who in many cases is not around to tell us how badly this miss theior loved ones and families.
Ultimately, education needs to be reformed in order that the young grow up knowing that going to prison is throwing away your life. There is no escape from justice. They must be made to understand that the penalty for certain crimes is harsh, and necessarily so. Being angry at someone will last a short time but the punishment for harming them may last as long as you live. We need to continue to be able to remove from society those who cause harm to others esp when killing is involved. When a life is taken then the price must be of necessity harsh to ensure that a person thinks long and hard. Hence why education is mandatory that children and youths grow up knowing the downside of harming others.
Posted by Bo Xavier on 07/30/2009 @ 09:29AM PT
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Hogwash!!!!!
Posted by Thomas Kinney on 07/30/2009 @ 04:05PM PT
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Bo's comment makes a great deal of sense. Care to expand on why you think it's hogwash?
Posted by Dennis G. on 07/31/2009 @ 01:08PM PT
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No
Posted by Thomas Kinney on 07/31/2009 @ 09:25PM PT
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Excellent argument Thomas. Evidently debate is not your strong point.
Posted by Dennis G. on 08/01/2009 @ 11:10AM PT
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Pardon my rudness, Iam usually a little more loquacious. What I ment to say was No Dennis.
Posted by Thomas Kinney on 08/01/2009 @ 02:27PM PT
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Well, since you have failed to explain your thoughts further, I can only assume that you are an apologist for violent criminals. That would be the only reason to belittle Bo's comment such as you did.
Posted by Dennis G. on 08/10/2009 @ 09:32PM PT
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For someone as new to this game as I am to be mentioned in the same sentence with Matt Kelly and by Michael Santos is an honor and also humbling. I find myself at a loss for words and that is pretty unusual. So I will simply say thank you to both. Those of you who follow this blog know that Michael’s release date is long past due and that when it comes to writing about reform, both of these gentlemen are masters. My passion is passage of H. R. 1529 and Matt has supported my feeble efforts from the beginning. To him an extra thank you.
And the fight goes on………..
Posted by Thomas Kinney on 07/30/2009 @ 03:48PM PT
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There needs to be consequences for ones actions. On the flip side there needs to be a functional system to resolve disputes. We currently have a punishment only system, so in response avoidance of consequences is the accepted strategy. For example if an accident occurred and one made a mistake - they can expect to be persecuted.
As for dispute resolution, we experienced several years of being stalked by my girlfriends husband, cops were called on numerous occasions, still the stalking and assaults continued. There was a point where I considered stopping this on a dark night, at that time I thought that "law enforcement" would do their job - they did not, a questionable attorney and biased courts - shades of "The Family" on C Street resulted in cascading damage that continues nearly two decades later. Maybe a dark night would have been the most viable solution.
The irony is that these clueless, entitled authorities wonder why people resort to violence as a solution - I think it is for profit as the dynamic cycles. If I had committed a crime, it would have justified more Barney Fife cops, prisons, gun purchase and community fear that one can taste....
Posted by jowey styxx on 07/30/2009 @ 03:50PM PT
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Please sign our petition to support the commutation request of a wrongly convicted Latino former high school honor student named Efrén Paredes, Jr. who was arrested at age 15 for a crime he did not commit. Efrén is 36-years-old now and has been in prison over 20 years. This is a very important story we hope you will help us generate support for. You can sign the petition on Change.org site at http://tinyurl.com/FreeEPJ.
Posted by Velia Koppenhoefer on 07/31/2009 @ 08:02AM PT
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No one disputes that consenquences to breaking laws must be in place. However, they must match the crime commited. The spectrum has become uneven-and something must be done, quick, fast and in a hurry. States are dman near broke tending to offenders locked up for life. I believe Senator Jim Webb has the right idea and we should support him at all costs. The United States has become the epitime of endless indignation for every country of this world. TIME OUT FOR THAT! As a country that is considered The Superpower of superpowers, we can and must do better. We must demand better from those that are voted into offiice.
My two cents...
Posted by Delphine McElveen on 08/09/2009 @ 08:48AM PT
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Punishment must match the crime commited. Ok, so I take it you are pro death penalty.
Posted by Dennis G. on 08/10/2009 @ 09:33PM PT
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http://www.change.org/actions/view/sign_ramos-compean_justice_act_of_2009_hr_3327
Sign “Ramos-Compean Justice Act of 2009.” H.R. 3327
"The Current Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Scheme has Failed"
Please sign the Petition to support the passage of H.R. 3327.
Posted by Camille Tilley on 08/17/2009 @ 10:51PM PT
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