LETTERS FROM INSIDE

LETTERS FROM INSIDE

Letters from inside

[NOTE: The opinions and views presented herein are expressly of the individuals who have written the letters. Access Legal Aide Inc. will not be held responsible for any controversial or inappropriate matter posted by the public. Access Legal Aide Inc. does not authenticate or endorse any matter presented in these letters.]

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TODD EDWARD SMITH (10264033)
2/20/2012 3:49:21 PM
LETTERS FROM THE INSIDE`- MY VOICE

“SPEAKING FROM THE HEART TO YOUR”

Over the past 7 years, I have had plenty of time to reflect & realize the nature of the crime that I did & what I have done wrong. First of all, I had to admit to God, my family, for co-workers and myself from the Radio Industry where I was employed or had contact with, the Louisville Community of my guilt and charges from which I committed. I realize that what I did hurt a lot of people, including my family & most of myself. I deceived the good citizens of the Louisville Community, my church (Harvest Baptist Church), charities, fundraisers and countless others. I’m truly sorry for my actions & I hope & pray that one day everyone will forgive me & give me second chance to prove myself.

A wise person to whom I was the closest to & hurt during this time and whom I confided in told me this, “We are all imperfect people and there is equal grace for all of us”! I’m not asking anyone to forget what has happened but what I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me. I made a huge mistake and we all make them everyday and I have to live with those mistakes for the rest of my life but I know that if I can learn to forgive myself, that my prayer is one day to be able to get your forgiveness as well!

Seeing the pain that I caused my family, friends and the Louisville Community after I admitted to what I did was more hurtful to know that I disappointed everyone closest to me. I want everyone to understand, everybody makes mistakes everyday and I know that I made a huge mistake. The same wise person that I hurt during all of this told me to hold on to this “I believe that a persons character is determined by the admission of the mistakes you make, beyond that, what one does about is up to them. Some of things that I have learned since being incarcerated is how can I change the lives of other people so that do not end up in this situation that I have been through? How can I use this story to change the lives of someone else whether young or old? I know that I made a huge mistake, I made the choices that I did to protect myself and my family and I will have to pay for those choices for the rest of my life. All my life, I’m used to being in control of the choices in my life and determine the outcome but because of my actions I now have to let someone else determine the outcome of my future. With that being said, I have been incarcerated for 7 years for the actions that I have taken and I believe during that time, I have learned to accept what has happened, learn from it and take what I have learned inside the walls of prison and make myself a better person which I believe that I will. I know that it will not be easy, but with faith and keeping a positive attitude, I will hopefully one day regain the trust that I once had. I may not get any trust back but I will do all that I can to try and hopefully help someone from not getting in the same situation that I have been in.

With God’s help, all I can ask for is one day, accept my apology & receive your forgiveness and give a chance to make things right!

God Bless

TODD EDWARD SMITH
FCI FORT DIX
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 2000
FORT DIX, NJ 08640
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CURTIS SPEIGHT (51190018)
2/20/2012 7:01:26 AM
LETTERS FROM THE INSIDE!

MY NAME IS CURTIS LAVAR SPEIGHT INMATE NUMBER #51190-018, I’M CURRENTLY SERVING A PRISON SENTENCE AT JESUP, GA. ; HOWEVER WHAT IS NOT KNOWN ABOUT ME IS THAT I’M A INSPIRING AUTHOR AND A FATHER TO A BEAUTIFUL BABY BOY. I HAVE A FASCINATING PERSONALITY AND EXTREME SELF CONFIDENCE WITH OUT BEING CONCEITED OR SELF INDULGENT, BUT MANY WOULDN’T KNOW THAT LOOKING AT MY SITUATION… I CAN’T BLAME THEM HOWEVER THE PERCEPTION TOSSED UPON INMATES IS OF A NEGATIVE PERCEPTION GIVING BY THE VERY PEOPLE THAT REQUIRE TAX PAYERS MONEY TO KEEP THESE TYPES OF PLACES OPEN. I HAVE LONG TO HAVE MY VOICE HEARD AND TO BE UNDERSTOOD FOR MORE THAN WHAT HAS BEEN PERCEIVED BY THE MERE FACT OF NOW BEING A CONVICTED FELON. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW THAT I’M YOUR NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR THAT LOVES KIDS, LOVES TO HELP OUT, AND THAT HAS ALWAYS BEING A RESPECTFUL, KIND HEARTED AND AMBITIOUS PERSON. YET I’M HUMAN SUBJECT TO MISTAKES AND FAULTS I’M JUST LIKE MANY OF YOU THAT ARE READING THIS LETTER, THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THE PENALTY RECEIVED FOR MY MISTAKES.

I HOPE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THAT MASS INCARCERATION EXISTS AND THAT THE VICTIMS OF THAT MASS INCARCERATION ARE NOT ALL BAD NEGATIVE PEOPLE . I WAS PERSONALLY INVOLVED IN COCAINE TRAFFICKING AND HAVE AND IS STILL PAYING THE PRICE OF MY MISTAKES YET THE BIGGEST GIFT I COULD RECEIVE NOW IS FOR EVERYONE TO GIVE A NEW EYE TO THE TRUE ME, DON’T LOOK AT THE BUILDING AND THINK THAT IT IS WORTH LESS BECAUSE INSIDE OF IT – IT IS FILLED WITH JEWELS, WISDOM, AND LOVE…

THANK YOU,

CURTIS SPEIGHT
USP LEE
U.S. PENITENTIARY
P.O. BOX 305
JONESVILLE, VA 24263

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MARK J CALHOUN (02808043)
2/20/2012 8:48:39 AM
LETTERS FROM THE INSIDE

Prison confinement stinks! It amazing that we as Americans place our fellow citizens in prisons for such a long time. The numbers don’t lie. The federal government has lost it’s mind. How can our country continue to “warehouse” humans as if we are some marketable product? What a waste of taxpayers money! There need to be redefinement of who is imprisoned and when. Violent crimes need all of the space and resouces available. White collar and most of the child porn crimes should be sentenced in a way that gives first and second chances. Our federal Justice Department should stop the “I Got Ya” mentality! What ever happened to “intent” to do wrong? People do make “stupid” mistakes! Whatever happened to common sense? I was sentenced to 200 months on Mortagae Fraud that was a stupid mistake on my part. I’m wasteing my life sitting in stinking prison. Yes, I’m angry at myself, but I’m more angry at my federal government!

MARK J CALHOUN
FCI OAKDALE
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 5000
OAKDALE, LA 71463

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JONATHAN CHARLES KOCH (11122030)
2/20/2012 4:02:55 PM
RE: LETTERS FROM INSIDE : Your Life – Your Voice

Inmate Libraries

I arrived at FCC Coleman Low in March of 2010. Our unit counselor, R. Miro, had designated a TV room as an education room, allowing inmates a place to work on their education. At the time there was one small bookshelf half filled with older materials, mostly novels. The TV in this room is tuned to the Bloomberg financial channel at all times. Classes are held daily on various topics such as currency trading, conversational Spanish, GED tutoring and ESL.

I obtained a job as a unit orderly assigned to clean the educational room and decided to try to make some improvements. Through the combined efforts of many inmates we were able to obtain three additional bookshelves, with another shelf currently being built by the facility woodshop. With the help of a friend, Azrael Pylons, we were able to post messages to Craigslist.com’s wanted section asking for book donations. Multiple individuals sent books and are continuing to do so. Miami Country Day School in Miami, FL, is also working to send textbooks to inmates at the facility.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was doing my small part to counteract the changes happening around this facility. Before I arrived over a thousand books in a unit library were discarded, the reason being that a staff member wanted a bigger office. The old space, directly across the hallway, was left empty and inaccessible to inmates. The facility main library has also discarded multiple shelves and whole sections of books, including more than two-thirds of the law library including the entire state law section, to make room for additional DvD players. The overall inmate opinion is that the goals of rehabilitation and education would be best served by access to books than the small selection of DvD’s. Future plans call for the removal of additional books as well.

I don’t know how long our unit library will last. Around September 2011 as part of a compound wide random search of the units revealed a few gambling related slips of paper inside a book in another unit library. No investigation was conducted as to who might be responsible for the gambling tickets. All of the books in that unit, approximately 50, were simply thrown in the trash. My counselor is retiring soon and it is up to the whims of the next counselor if our educational room will continue. No matter how much effort we put into the educational room, any officer could come and tear it down at any time.

There is little that the inmates here can do. There is no official oversight of the unit libraries. The unit libraries help promote the rehabilitation and education, yet they are not a considered a worthwhile project by the staff. Hopefully our efforts will help my fellow inmates for years to come, but I fear it is only a matter of time unit our unit educational room reverts into just another general television viewing room.

JONATHAN CHARLES KOCH
FCI COLEMAN LOW
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 1031
COLEMAN, FL 33521

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BRIAN ANTWANIN JOHNSON (33822037)
2/21/2012 8:17:54 AM
Thanks for accepting the E-mail

first and foremost, how are you doing. unfortunately i am one of those incarcerated under the mandatory minimum clause and as you know they’ re making it hard for us to fight a losing battle, me and the rest of my fellow convicts are waiting for justice and if the goverment see things fit they will change the mandatory minimums. we as inmates have our fingers crossed for this law to be passed dealing with statutory and mandatory sentence. the fight against mandatory minumums.

thank you.

BRIAN ANTWANIN JOHNSON
USP CANAAN
U.S. PENITENTIARY
P.O. BOX 300
WAYMART, PA 18472

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LUIS HIRAM RIVAS (48463004)
2/21/2012 9:35:06 AM
RE: LETTERS FROM INSIDE : Your Life – Your Voice

Thanks for responding and accepting my email request to subscribe to your service. my name is Luis H. Rivas, I go by Lou to my friends, and my number is 48463-004. I have ben writing a weekly essay that deals with everything from what’s going on in here to overal politicala dn eeconomic news. i have over 30 years of experience in the financial field so I tend to write a lot about the economy and the politics that drive it. If you would like to learn more about me yo can google The Forex Project, Luis H. Riovad, The fibonacci Filter ( my currency and stock trading system) and The ripple Effect Theory of Proce Action ( the economic theory I developed in the 1970′s). You can also read abut my case in the Chattanoogan, the Chattanooga Times Free Press and on Google. Unfortubnately the press information is decidedly one sided but I’m sure you know haow that goes. Bottomline I am someone with 30+ years of financial experience who ran one of the largets private Foreign Exchange Trading Companies in the Southeast and from whom they took over $52 million Dolars and then gave 25 years for something they thenmselves say they couldn’t prove. But I am not here to whine about my case…I will work on that as I can.

I am writing becauseI know for a fact that there are a ton of incarcerated folks who are actively seeking knowledge of the Markets and a bunch more who are attempting to help thier families trade and navigate the Stock Market and the Foreign Currency Markets. I would like to write a weekly essay having to do with what’s happening in the markets from my systems point of view and make it a regular feature for your subscribers. My weekly picks and things like that, of course always written within the guidelines of our current situations. You could over a serbvice where they can get updates on stocks or currebncies of their choice and as an added bonus they can get my weekly essay.

Please let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

LUIS HIRAM RIVAS
FCI MIAMI
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 779800
MIAMI, FL 33177

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HALIM A FLOWERS (11967007)
2/21/2012 1:02:16 PM
LETTERS FROM INSIDE

The purpose for incarceration is to reform those who will one day be released, regardless of their offense to the state. Even more so when this offender is a juvenile who has been sentenced as an adult. I see so much reform “talk” in reference to non-violent offenders. However, just because someone commits a violent crime, does this mean that he or she has a lesser capability to be rehabilitated than a non-violent drug offender? If you look at the statistics, they will inform you that non-violent offenders have a higher recidivism rate than violent offenders. Non-violent offenders tend to serve shorter terms in prison, which often leads to them returning because of the new correctional policies that have no “serious” regard for programs that help prisoners acquire the necessary skills to survive economically in society, in spite of all the employment discrimination that ex-felons continue to face from potential employers upon their release. I am a violent offender, I was convicted of aiding and abetting a murder. I was not charged as the shooter, just my presence along with the commission of the felony was enough to secure me a mandatory 30 years to life sentence. I was only sixteen at the time of my offense. During my incarceration, I have attended college, acquired numerous vocational trades, mentored younger prisoners, counseled suicidal inmates, and I have accepted responsibility for my past destructive actions and continue to demonstrate sincere remorse through my efforts to avoid violence and to help others from preying on weaker inmates. I have seen many of my “non-violent” prisoner peers come in and out of prison during my 15 years of incarceration. Just because I was apart of a violent offense, am I not deserving of a second chance to see if I can be a mature law abiding “adult” citizen in society or shall I be forever condemn for my bad choices that I made as a minor?

HALIM A FLOWERS
FCI FAIRTON
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 420
FAIRTON, NJ 08320

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JONATHAN CHARLES KOCH (11122030)
2/21/2012 1:02:28 PM
LETTERS FROM THE INSIDE

Blue Light Special

During my transit from Muscatine County Jail in Iowa to FCC Coleman Low I entered the custody of the Corrections Corporation of America in Leavenworth. My experience there was unlike most inmates experiences. Inmates are confined to “pods” of approximately 60 inmates, triple bunked in cells no bigger than a closet. The food rotates on a two week cycle and always arrives cold. Showers are in lockable cages reminiscent of medieval torture chambers. I shared these experiences with my fellow inmates. But there was one experience I had to endure while they got to watch, the blue light.

The hallways would be cleared, the doors secured. The icy cold stares still penetrated the glass, but our physical safety was assured. The evenly spaced flashing blue lights on the ceiling made the entire facility aware of our impending presence, the next source of visual entertainment to then fill the following hours at the tables with hate speech. Thus would begin our walk of shame, paraded past the windows of other pods to the rattling sounds muffled shouts of hate filled words. Stopping at the most visibly placed checkpoints and made to feel like models posing at the end of the catwalk.

Our destination was either the women’s recreation yard or the women’s medical holding area. The purpose to keep us men entirely segregated. They couldn’t easily confuse the sexes, whereas no visible badge reveals the crime committed. Only the blue light serves that purpose. Murders were allowed to walk unprejudiced among the population, but not us. The danger wasn’t from us, it was from them. The knowledge of our crimes could be ours alone, but punishment must go further, and the danger was brought to bear by the use of the blue light.

JONATHAN CHARLES KOCH
FCI COLEMAN LOW
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 1031
COLEMAN, FL 33521

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LETTERS FROM INSIDE MARCH 2012
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LETTERS FROM INSIDE AUGUST 2012