Mar 23
Making it in Prison Leaving the walls of the United States Disciplinary Barracks was such a relief. The minute I stepped through the West Gate exit door, it felt like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. There were so many sights and sounds, that it was almost overwhelming. Across from the prison was a large …
Mar 16
New Custody Meant New Freedom There wasn’t anything special about my custody hearing. It went about the same as all the other hearings I’d had up to this point. They asked me questions and I answered them with the intent of saying what I thought they wanted me to say. In my mind, I believed …
Mar 09
Another Year in Prison The results of my parole board were delivered to me in a sealed, official Army envelope. As I picked it up, and began to open it, I already knew what it said inside. Maybe I was being pessimistic, but prison wasn’t a very positive environment and inmates were not positive people. Regardless, I believed …
Mar 02
Family Visit While living with my family in Germany, we began to watch a lot of movies. Traveling Europe was fun but we couldn’t do it all the time. So going to the base theater or renting videos became a huge part of our life. The military would get the movies about six months after …
Feb 23
My Parole Board Did Not Go As Planned Sitting in a waiting room in anticipation to be seen next was nerve racking. The parole board was in session and my turn was coming up. These people would decide three things for me. First, if I was eligible for the next custody level from Minimum to Trustee. …
Feb 16
Blowing It It was early April, 1991 and I had to submit my parole packet before my board in June. My parents would not be back to the U.S. for me to live with them, so the plan was to stay with my grandmother in Connecticut. That plan changed when we felt like it was …
Feb 09
How A Visit Made Me Feel Human Again It was a normal day of mess hall duties when I received a surprise message. I overheard a transmission on one of the cadre’s radio. The person on the other end said, “Send inmate Mike to South Gate, he has a visitor.” Since my parents would not …
Jan 26
Music and Friends A couple of friends from Ft. Polk were also in building B-6 with me. Devin who used to live in Jane’s trailer and Chris Holmes. We were all living in the same bay. Our relationship was different now, especially since I testified against Chris. It wasn’t the same as with Captain Tessler …
Jan 19
Crime and Punishment Although we were serving time for the crimes we were convicted of, there were times when if you messed up you were punished again. If you screwed with other inmates, there would be a great chance of retaliation. Not always right away, but things didn’t just go away. Or, there were some …
Jan 12
On 17 January 1991, the United States started an extensive aerial bombing campaign in Iraq, changing the name of Operation Desert Shield to Operation Desert Storm. Combat troops were on the ground blazing their way towards Kuwait City. The U.S. was at war which meant so was I, but I couldn’t do anything about it. …
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