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.He wasn’t the brightest star in the east but he still flickered. It was easy to see how he could be set up, and he was. He ended up being the product of a scheme hatched by wanna be gangbangers. I would find out about his story from one of my tutors who grew upContinue reading “Betrayed”

.For my students, the battle to do good is just that, a battle. It is just as hard in prison as it is in the world to do good continuously, and for all the right reasons. In trying to correct my students thinking I would always be reminded by them that the world does notContinue reading “The Duel”

. Most of my students were dedicated and worked hard to attain their certifications. Still a small minority didn’t give a rats ass and were waiting to be paroled. The sooner the better, and to my surprise they were released. It became a viscous cycle. Released, reoffend, and return was what I witnessed throughout myContinue reading “The Conundrum”

.When our prison merged with a closed prison located in the city we had an immediate rise in positive inmate drug tests. The staff could be drug tested at random and I wasn’t privy to that information but inmate positive drug tests I was made aware of as a teacher. I ended up losing twoContinue reading “Smuggles”

.He ruled the prison in the darkness. I believed him to be heaven sent. I knew he was hunting here in our gardens by his regurgitated fur balls of bones, teeth, claws, and feathers. I found them on the ground next to the housing units. We had a rodent problem which was kept in checkContinue reading “The Great Horned Owl”

. I was in my fifth year of teaching when our school secretary was removed from our prison school for what I would learn later was an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner. I had learned that staff having inappropriate relationships with prisoners occurs during my training, and it was considered a serious department infraction. MyContinue reading “The Unexpected”

. My first education conference where I would get to meet and talk with teachers from Michigan’s 42 prison schools was incredible. It was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, not far from the University of Michigan campus. I enjoyed being in Ann Arbor. As an executive with the Detroit Medical Center, we had listened toContinue reading “The Conference”

. My boss Jesse, a real motivator of men, had enough of one of our academic teachers who always seemed to have a reason on why he couldn’t do what our Principal requested. This time it was the teacher not giving the Test of Adult Basic Education to those inmates needing a GED. I foundContinue reading “.Un Connard Paresseux.”

I would remember him for his honesty. I would remember him for his strength, but most of all, I would remember him for his one saying that I can not forget to this day. In the face of calamity, uncertainty, and fear which could occur daily in this prison setting he would say, “we willContinue reading “Vanished”

They made a bad decision. One could argue they kept making bad decisions and that’s why they are imprisoned behind three barb wire fences. Today would be a culmination of a continued convoluted logic. These level four prisoners decided they were not going back inside their housing unit. Instead, they would disrupt how the prisonContinue reading “Snowbirds”