The criminal justice system is a "laughing stock"

I'm played out like the Jheri curl. Like the Green Machine and Atari 5200. I'm a dinosaur. I'm a bore. I'm out of place. I must be. Why else would I find myself laughing inwardly every time I take a look around? It's Saturday, May 19, 2018. The Royal Wedding is being broadcast live. There are eight TVs, four of them are on channels broadcasting the wedding. Many prisoners are watching. It's Ramadan, the holy season when Muslims fast, pray, and cleanse their hearts and minds of worldly desires,

Mentally and emotionally, Americans are more disturbed than any other nation. The world's superpower is populated and run by loonies. The crazy thing about this craziness is that we refuse to see it for what it's worth. Therefore, it will only get worse.  I recently read about Willow Smith (Jada Pinkett and Will Smith's daughter) suffering from a mental disorder that had her cutting herself at the age of 10. It all came about because of the pressure of fame. While shocking, her disorder isn't

I'm a dreamer. I often dream of a world where all people are peaceful and productive. One in which we all work together for a common cause with respect for each other's well-being. One in which we could open up to each other, share our concerns and problems, and trust that we will not take advantage of or deceive each other for one's own selfish motives. Yes, I'm a humanitarian. But years of imprisonment--a place overpopulated with cancerous individuals who are better off dead than alive--is

A pair of lips will say anything. Especially in the Look At Me era. It seems that making bizarre comments, just like being flashy and wearing bizarre clothing, is an easy road to fame now days. Just look at our President. So when Kanye West said that Slavery was a choice and that Michael Jordan would've been a better choice for the twenty-dollar bill than Harriet Tubman, he was simply being a zip-ass fool. A fool for fame. We've seen it before. We all remember the time he bombarded the stage and

Say it isn't so. Is it true that several rappers, including Snoop Dogg and Kanye West, and the Crips and Bloods are all entangled in a feud so ugly that violence has been threatened over Kanye's support of Donald Trump and the Republican Party? Please tell me this is all--as Trump would say--fake news. Though we are often politically ignorant (for lack of a better word) and easily swayed by social media, we can't be so game-goofy as to allow Trump and two-sided political system of Republicans

Today is Thursday, November 23, 2017. Thanksgiving. For federal prisoners across America, it is a day of irony. The day begins and ends just like any other day in prison. The cell doors were unlocked shortly after dawn, and prisoners, in a race to go nowhere, shot out like horses at the Kentucky Derby. After spending most of the morning making expensive phone calls, we were hustled to the mess hall to enjoy a not-so-delicious lunch consisting of sliced turkey that seemed to have come from one

There was once a time when prisons turned boys into men. They turned Tim Allen and Charles S. Dutton into actors, Bernard Hopkins into a champion boxer, Malcolm X into a Civil Rights advocate, Tookie into an author and Noble prize nominee, and Nelson Mandela into a humble leader and President. And the list goes on. There was something about either the prisons or the prisoners--or both--that encouraged growth. Boys became men. Sadly, today's prison culture is nothing like that of yesterday.

To kneel or to stand. The entire country is at odds over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. What began as a form of protest to police brutality and racial and social inequality has now been deemed disrespectful by patriotic fans, opportunist, and politicians. The goal of opening dialogue to address inequality has been met with a form of protest of its own. Instead of people coming together to address the concerns of these players (who are simply exhibiting courage by shedding light