Advocacy at Leavenworth

USP Leavenworth: Reforming a Historic Institution

Authorities locked me in solitary confinement after my arrest, and I spent the first year of my imprisonment alone in a cell. I didn’t know what prison life was like until after a judge sentenced me to serve 45 years. Then the U.S. Marshals transported me to USP Atlanta, the nation’s second oldest federal prison.

When I walked into USP Leavenworth years later to make a presentation, I was struck by the similarity. Leavenworth is the oldest federal prison in the United States, and its design mirrored the place where I began my journey. The architecture, the atmosphere, and the culture all reminded me of Atlanta. Both institutions carry a history—and both carry the same urgent need for reform.

Learning From History

While I was serving my sentence, I read Pete Earley’s book The Hot House. It did a powerful job of describing the culture inside Leavenworth. The book was vivid, but also sobering. It showed what happens when prisons are volatile, and when culture reinforces survival rather than growth.

My mission is to change that culture. Prisons should not simply hold people until a sufficient number of calendar pages turn. That approach measures time—not progress.

Instead, prisons should produce results that make society safer: helping people emerge as law-abiding, contributing citizens.

A Different Message

Some people resist this message of incentivizing excellence. They argue that justice means serving time, nothing more and nothing less. But I see it differently. Confinement is the process that follows a conviction—it is not the result we want. The true result should be transformation.

That is why I encourage people inside to:

• Document their journey—through biographies, journals, book reports, and release plans.
• Build profiles on PrisonProfessors.org.
• Earn points on our leaderboard, which tracks growth and progress.

When people memorialize their efforts, they create transparency. They show they are extraordinary and compelling. And with that evidence, we can advocate for policies that open new pathways to liberty through merit.

Hope Inside Leavenworth

My visit to Leavenworth left me hopeful. I want people inside to recognize their role in reforming the system. If they take ownership of their own reentry preparation, and if staff support that process, we can change outcomes.

The same prisons once described in The Hot House can become places where excellence is defined, measured, and incentivized. Step by step, with profiles and preparation, we can transform even the oldest institutions into engines of reform.

Would you like me to also draft a shorter companion version (like a 250–300 word newsletter) that pulls directly from this article but is concise enough to share by email or social?

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