Apr 13
Changes Were Coming It had been about a month and a half since I left the DB for the LPU. After the pen pal incident and completing the two weeks of extra duty, I managed to stay out of trouble. The Disciplinary Board scared me enough to keep my nose clean, as if being in prison …
Apr 06
Relationship Trouble One of the cooks on my shift was a very large guy who was looking for a workout partner. My routine had been pretty intermittent up to this point. It seemed as if what he was doing was working for him, so I told him that I would work out with him. Since …
Mar 30
Peace Everything was different at the Local Parole Unit (LPU). The only thing that resembled being in prison were the head counts. We still needed to be accounted for twice a day. The guards would come through the barracks once in the morning and once in the evening to verify that we were all …
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 …
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