I have been very fortunate for the opportunity to enroll in and graduate from a few different vocational courses during my incarceration. Most recently, I graduated a horticulture class and was accepted into the advanced course. I was then given an opportunity to become the horticulture “teacher’s aide” officially and, especially during Covid times without students, the greenhouse maintenance/landscaping technician unofficially. 

‘Corrections’, as it refers to the department of state and federal institutions that hold people who have been convicted of committing crimes, is an Orwellian term. Just as the Ministry of Peace in his famous book was the institution that promoted war, so too is the “Department of Corrections” an organized infrastructure created to warehouse and, likely inadvertently, further damage its humans. What exactly is being corrected? A thorough understanding of this subject would require a study on the history of the penitentiary and of Western Civilization’s crime and punishment in general.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan’s Task Force on Victims of Crime released its Final Report. It found
that the treatment of victims by the Criminal Justice System (CJS) is an absolute “national disgrace.”
That’s a pretty serious statement, but did it lead to any meaningful change?

Crime results in, or is the continuance of, conflict. It also creates (involuntary) relationships where none existed previously. One who has been impacted by crime may not appreciate either of these terms; conflict nor relationship. Yet, from a broad perspective, both can be applicable. Antagonism, an indicator of the presence of conflict, is produced by every crime. Even in so-called ‘victimless’ crimes the community is affected and, hence, there are conflicting stakeholders. Looking at crime as conflict thus requires ‘conflict-resolution.’

“You’ve forgiven him of course”, the Chaplain said to me, not as a question but as a statement.

He went on to say that I’m obviously intelligent enough to know that forgiveness is not about him, its about me and relieving myself of the burden of anger as well as other negative emotions. I was somewhat speechless and a little ashamed for the fact that no, I hadn’t forgiven him and, in reality, I hadn’t even considered it.

Is it possible today for a person to be condemned to life in prison due to a single word? Surely not! Having reviewed this man’s case most thoroughly, I am convinced that, indeed, if an alternate word was presented he would be free instead of serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. But, people are incarcerated for their deeds, not due to mere words, right? Well, having read the transcripts, reviewed all the evidence, and become intimately familiar with every aspect of this man’s case, I shall explain this seemingly ridiculous note. Oh, and one more tidbit to note in this preface: this man is me.

Throughout the years of my unjust incarceration in Virginia’s Department of Corrections, I have experienced great hardships. Many of these hardships have been endured with my fellow prisoners, however, some have been specific to me. Prisoners must persevere hourly punishment, day after day for years or decades, seemingly in atonement for having committed an offense.

In social psychology, the term dispositional analysis refers to a rush to judgment, with an assumption that the behavior of a person is indicative of his or her internal characteristics. The tendency to believe that what people do reflects who they are, without taking into consideration situational forces, is known as fundamental attribution error.

There are some who, consciously or unconsciously, believe that my guilt is assured merely by the length of my
continued incarceration. I must be guilty, they feel, for why else have I spent nearly 26 years in Virginia’s prison
system? (Others have suggested that after so long in prison, guilt or innocence doesn’t really matter, for a person
becomes unfit for society.) Surely the courts would have determined by now that I was convicted wrongly or a
Governor would have granted me clemency, right?

There were quite a few times that I nearly failed to make it through BUD/S, Navy SEAL School. Of all things, one of these was for the test for colorblindness. Turns out, I have a hard time distinguishing some yellows from oranges and a little difficulty with purples and blues. Although this handicap wasn’t significant enough to bar me from the SEAL Teams, it has affected me in subtle ways.

If you are not composting, shame on you! Every scrap of potentially compostable rubbish that you carelessly toss in the trash could, instead of needlessly crowding landfills, be converted to “black gold.” Why are you not doing this? Do you not care about our planet? Does it seem like such an insignificant act, not warranting your attention? Is it merely inconvenient? Or, let us suppose ignorance; that you are really not quite sure why it is necessary, what is compostable, nor how to begin. Every one of us can set aside our organic scraps. If I can do so as an individual incarcerated in America’s burgeoning prison system you certainly can do so as well.