A friend sent me a picture of a homeless man on a bench with dialogue below it. The homeless man said last week he had a job, food, clean clothes and medical care.The question, “What happened?” was posed to him. He responded, “I was paroled.” In the Utah system it doesn’t quite work ...
Before my personal experience with the justice system, like many people, I had no idea how the system worked.I didn’t know just how different sentences could be between two people charged with the same crime. It’s not at all unrealistic to say the difference could be probation versus a ...
Before I came to prison, I was given the opportunity to participate in <a href="http://www.daviscountyutah.gov/attorney/programs" target="_blank">Davis County’s drug court program</a>. The deal was, if I successfully completed the program, I would walk away without ...
In the outside world, people’s socioeconomic standing is always on display, from the communities they live in and the way they dress to the vehicles they drive.In here, no matter the means of each prisoner, we live in the same community, we dress alike, and when we’re riding down the ...
The Hollywood portrayal for an ex-con getting out of prison is either a Bible-carrying, changed man or a criminal ready to pick up where he left off.I guess this is because religion is seen as the opposite to criminal behavior and using either end of the spectrum easily shows the viewer where a ...
The other day, as soon as I came back from work, an officer’s voice came over the intercom in my cell asking me if I still wanted to move to Ironwood – as per my request. (Ironwood is the name of the new housing unit at the prison in Gunnison).Upon receiving my affirmation, he told me to ...
Along with my commissary order this week, I received a slip of paper that read, “As directed by DPO (Division of Prison Operations), the following items will NO LONGER BE SOLD by UCI Commissary,” followed by a list of powders like dry milk, creamer and Slim Fast.The rumor is this is a ...
“We should rob a bank. If we get caught and go to prison, we’ll have better healthcare than we do now.”This idea (not a direct quote) was suggested by an elderly man to his friends in a movie promo I recently saw. I’m here to tell you that he is wrong. The health care in prison is ...
About 10 years ago, college education funding for Utah prisoners was eliminated. This occurred despite the fact education has been proven to be the most effective way to reduce recidivism (the rate at which prisoners come back to prison).Utah’s current recidivism rate is around 70 percent. ...
I have a pretty good idea of the type of women I would like to date in the future. Unfortunately, as I’m told by a couple of prisoners and friends of mine, my ideal mate “does not possess the requisite low self-esteem it will take to give me a shot.”I live in a section with a prisoner, ...
