Prison Professors

Earning Freedom by Michael Santos Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term Chapter Eleven: 2003-2005 Months 190-209 Chapter Eleven: 2003-2005 Months 190-209   Officer Ruiz grips the handcuffs that secure my wrists behind my back as we walk across the lawn. He's a rookie in his early 20s, slight, and wearing a uniform that looks two sizes too big for him. The lieutenant's office at Fort Dix is a single sto...

Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term by Michael Santos Reading Chapter 10.3 Months 180-190 ****** When I enter the visiting room on New Year's morning, the large room feels empty. I appreciate the relative silence. Other than the whir of the vending machine, there's nothing else to distract us. Carole and her daughter sit beside each other in the maroon plastic chairs. Carole looks lo...

Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, by Michael Santos Chapter 10, Segment 2 Months 180-190 ****** Five extraordinary days with Carole lead to the preliminary plans for the rest of our lives. We pledge to build our relationship, growing together through the challenges I'm certain will come because of my imprisonment. Carole wants to marry me now, but I explain the reasons why she sho...

Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term by Michael Santos Episode 10.1 Months 180-190   The first time I see Bob he's carefully selecting items from the salad bar. He expertly manipulates the stainless-steel tongs, piling the freshest tomatoes, radishes, chopped iceberg lettuce, and spinach leaves on his plastic tray. He's oblivious to the growing line of angry men standing in line and t...

Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term Chapter 9.3 1998-2002 Months 127-180     It's September 11, 1998. I've been in Miami for a week and since my counselor hasn't yet given me a PIN code, I haven't been able to use the telephone. The staff isn't giving me any information about my transfer and I don't know if Bruce and Carol have made progress toward getting me out of here. Ty and I ar...

Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term Chapter Nine, Section Two 1998-2002 Months 127-180                              Gary's deposit solves my first problem of the day, but within hours, a crisis of a different sort erupts. I'm staring at the ticker, watching the Dow drop more than 500 points, worrying that the sell-off will accelerate as the trading day proceeds. I'm frozen to the TV...

Chapter Nine: 1998-2002 Months 127-180   The summer of 1998 advances me into my 11th continuous year of imprisonment, and I'm coming to the conclusion that it's not so bad. Human beings can adapt to any environment.  As crazy as it may sound, I'm now used to imprisonment.  It has become the only life that I know, and I really know Fort Dix, the low-security prison where I'm serving this portion of...

Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term by Michael Santos. Chapter 8.3   Julie and Tim agree to finance my tuition and book expenses with the understanding that I'll reimburse them from my earnings. When the mailroom delivers my coursework for first-year law, the stack of textbooks reaches halfway up my thigh. As I fan through thousands of fine-print pages optimism surges through me. I'm...

Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term by Michael Santos Chapter eight, part two. Months 103-127     While planning for law school I continue to build a strong network of support. To overcome the resistance and bias I expect to encounter, I put together a package that I call my portfolio. It describes my crime, expresses remorse, and articulates the steps I've taken over the past decade...

Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, with Michael Santos.  Chapter 8: 1996-1998 Months 103-127 As I cross through another holiday season and into January 1996, I look through a few birthday cards I received from my family.  It's hard to accept that I'm turning 32 in prison, but I'm not a stranger to these milestones passing.  Not anymore. For years I've been climbing toward 1997, hop...

I'm continuing to read from my book Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term. This is the third installment of chapter 7, covering months 93 through 95 of my confinement, in 1995. *  *  *  *  *  *  *   Other prisoners have told me that the bus ride to FCI Fairton only takes a few hours, and I'm determined not to waste this opportunity to enjoy our American landscape.  Still in a state of...

I'm continuing to read from my book Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term. This is the second installment of chapter 7, covering months 93 through 95 of my confinement, in 1995. *  *  *  *  *  *  * In search of the associate warden, I walk to the chow hall during the noon meal and I see Nuss standing in line, looking like the Grim Reaper. Knowing that he can influence my transfer to lo...

I'm continuing to read from my book Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term. This is the first installment of chapter 7, covering months 93 through 95 of my confinement, in 1995.   Hofstra awards my master's degree in May of 1995 and I begin working my way toward a doctorate at the University of Connecticut. The textbooks on penology could cure insomnia, but the clear path to a Ph. D. mo...

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Learn how to prepare after a sentencing hearing with the following article:   https://prisonprofessors.com/app-defendants-post-sentencing/

According to H.P. Lovecraft, an American writer, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." People going into a government investigation or facing criminal charges know what I'm discussing.   I'm Michael Santos, founder of Prison Professors. We launched our nonprofit to offer resources for justice-impacted people who wan...

Section 15 of Prison: My 8,344 th Day shows how reflecting on progress each day helps us to stay on track to prepare for success after release from prison. This strategy empowered me through 26 years, and others can use the same strategy.   https://prisonprofessors.com/section-15-my-8344th-day/

For prison reform, we need to apprise leaders of how and why the reforms will lead to safer communities. In Section 14 of Prison: My 8,344 th Day, I show the steps I took while crossing through 26 years in prison.   https://prisonprofessors.com/section-14-my-8344th-day/

While serving 26 years in prison, I studied the law to learn more about how society evolved. In Section 13 of Prison, My 8,344th Day, I show readers how reading case law helped me through a typical day during the 23rd year of my term.   https://prisonprofessors.com/section-13-my-8344th-day/

While serving a typical day during my 23rd year in prison, I reflected on the relationship publishing had on my preparations for success. In section 12 of Prison! My 8,344th Day, I offer guidance that other people in jail and prison may use to prepare.   https://prisonprofessors.com/section-12-my-8344th-day/

Our team at Prison Professors welcomes you to our App.   My name is Michael Santos. As a co-founder of Prison Professors, I feel a connection and a personal responsibility to our subscribers.    Our team at Prison Professors publishes free content to help all justice-impacted people.   We consider the following people to be justice-impacted:   Exposed to government investigations, Charged with a c...

Section 11 of Prison: My 8,344 th Day offers the origins of the Straight-A Guide, a strategy that people living in struggle can use to prepare for lives of meaning and relevance.   https://prisonprofessors.com/8344th-day-section-11/

In Prison: My 8,344th Day—Section 10, I show how mentoring others in jail or prison can help us restore a sense of strength and dignity. When we help others, we simultaneously help ourselves.   https://prisonprofessors.com/8344th-day-section-10/

In Prison: My 8,344th Day—Section9, I offer examples on planning. With daily plans, we strengthen ourselves through prison.   https://prisonprofessors.com/8344th-day-section-9/

To succeed through the challenges of a lengthy prison term, we must put priorities in place. We may endure inconveniences today in order to put ourselves on the pathway for higher levels of success later.   https://prisonprofessors.com/8344th-day-section-8/