Adjusting the Point System
Changpeng Zhao’s memoir, The Freedom of Money, teaches many lessons about resilience, leadership, and building systems that serve people at scale. I especially appreciated the section where he described building Binance’s customer-service division. On busy days, Binance onboarded more than one million new customers. The team had to create systems that could respond to customer needs, identify weaknesses, and improve quickly. When something did not work, CZ described how he would break the system and rebuild it.
Prison Professors operates on a much smaller scale, but we also have to build, learn, adjust, and rebuild.
Our mission is to improve outcomes for all people who go through the prison system. To succeed, we must use the resources we have at any given time, study what those resources teach us, and then improve the model. The more we learn, the better we become at building tools that help people prepare for success.
That mindset led us to build the Prison Professors platform.
We wanted to create a place where people in prison, and people preparing for sentencing or release, could memorialize the self-directed steps they are taking to prepare for success. We also wanted a way to measure that work. For that reason, we created a point system.
Theory on Profiles
We have a guiding theory behind the Prison Professors platform.
Every person going through the system will need to self-advocate. At some point, that person will need to persuade cynical stakeholders that he or she is more than a criminal charge, more than a case number, and more than a Presentence Investigation Report.
A profile can help.
A strong profile shows the work a person is doing to prepare for success. It may include a biography, journal entries, book reports, a release plan, certificates, testimonials, and other evidence of growth. Over time, those entries become a body of work.
That body of work can help at different stages.
At one stage, a person may want to advocate for a lower sentence. At another stage, a person may want to advocate for a higher level of liberty. Later, the person may want to advocate for employment, housing, education, or community support.
At every stage, communication skills matter.
If a person becomes more skilled at turning thoughts into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into persuasive arguments, that person becomes more capable of influencing others. A profile gives the person a place to practice those skills while also building a record of preparation.
Points
We assigned points to profile activity because we wanted to measure effort.
The original point system was simple. A person earned one point for each entry of up to 300 words. If the entry exceeded 300 words, the person earned two points. Those points appeared on a leaderboard. The most prolific writers earned the most points and rose to the top.
That system helped us grow. More than 7,000 people have participated in building profiles and memorializing their preparations.
But as we studied the data, we learned that the system needed improvement.
Some people were using the platform to make very short entries. For example, a person might write:
“Today I read a chapter in a book.”
Under the original system, that sentence could earn one point.
That result did not align with the purpose of the platform.
The goal of the point system is not simply to reward activity. The goal is to encourage people to become self-directed, developing stronger writing, thinking, and communication skills. We want each person to build a body of work that can help others see him or her as extraordinary and compelling.
A one-sentence entry does not accomplish that task. We do not think it’s fair to award points to people who do not actively work to build skills. The people who use the platform to develop a record that accurately shows their commitment to self-directed learning should earn the most points.
Turning a Sentence Into Advocacy
A sentence such as “Today I read a chapter in a book” can become much more powerful when the person takes time to reflect.
For example, of publishing a few words, or a single sentence sentence in a journal entry, a person could write something like the following:
Today I read a chapter in Good to Great and learned more about personal accountability. The chapter helped me think about the relationship between decisions and consequences. Before this experience, I did not always take time to think through the long-term impact of my choices. I focused too much on what I wanted in the moment, without considering how my decisions would affect my family, my future, and the people who trusted me.
One lesson from the chapter stood out to me. Jim Collins, the author, explained that accountability begins when a person stops blaming circumstances and starts asking better questions. That lesson applies directly to my life. I cannot change the past, and I cannot undo the choices that brought me into the criminal justice system. But I can decide how I respond today.
After reading the chapter, I wrote down three questions I want to ask myself each evening. First, did I use my time productively today? Second, did I do something that would make my family proud? Third, did I take one step that would prepare me for success after release?
I am adding this journal entry to my profile because I want to build a record of growth. I understand that people may judge me by my past conduct. That is why I must create a new record that shows what I am learning, how I am changing, and how I am preparing to contribute. Reading this chapter helped me see that accountability is not something I claim with words. It is something I must prove through consistent action.
That type of entry does more than report that the person read a chapter. It shows comprehension, reflection, accountability, and a plan for action. It gives stakeholders something meaningful to evaluate. It also helps the person develop communication skills that can become useful at sentencing, in prison, during reentry, and in the job market.
The New Point System
Based on what we learned, we adjusted the point system.
The new system awards points as follows:
Profile Activity / Points Awarded:
Open a profile / earn one point
Submit an entry of 1 to 99 words / don’t earn any points
Submit an entry of 100 to 299 words / earn one point
Submit an entry of 300 words or more / earn two points
Gather a testimonial / earn one point
Publish a certificate from a class you completed / earn two points
This adjustment better reflects the purpose of the platform.
We are not trying to reward people for checking a box. We are trying to encourage self-directed learning, stronger communication, and documented preparation.
Books as Incentives
Every time a person accumulates ten points, our system will send another book.
That process creates a pathway for self-directed learning. A person reads, reflects, writes, earns points, and receives more resources. The cycle encourages continued growth.
We want people to understand that the point system is not a game. It is a tool for building a record. It helps participants show that they are using time productively. It helps families, staff members, prospective employers, and other stakeholders see evidence of effort.
How We Use Leaderboards in Advocacy
The leaderboards help us tell a larger story.
We use them to show that people in prison are willing to work toward better outcomes when given clear tools, incentives, and opportunities. The leaderboards help us identify people who are consistently building records of preparation. They also help us identify facilities where people are engaging in meaningful self-directed work.
Our platform includes several leaderboards, including:
Most points earned overall: shows long-term commitment and sustained effort.
Tribe points earned: recognizes people who inspire others to participate in self-directed learning.
Monthly leaders: profiles people who earned the most points over the past month.
These leaderboards support our advocacy.
When we speak with administrators, policymakers, employers, donors, and community partners, we can point to measurable activity. We can show that people are not waiting passively. They are writing, learning, documenting, and preparing.
That evidence helps us advance a broader argument: people who work to prepare for success should have opportunities to earn higher levels of liberty and greater support upon release.
What We Have Learned
The original point system taught us several lessons.
First, people respond to incentives. When we created a way to measure effort, more people began participating.
Second, simple metrics can help build momentum, but they must evolve. A system that rewards one-sentence entries does not do enough to promote deeper learning.
Third, fairness matters. The people who invest real effort into writing thoughtful entries should not be treated the same as people who submit minimal entries only to accumulate points.
Fourth, data can guide improvement. We did not create the first system perfectly. We created it, watched how people used it, studied the outcomes, and then adjusted.
That is how systems improve.
What We Are Doing in Response
In response to what we learned, we are tightening the system.
Entries of fewer than 100 words will no longer earn points. We want participants to take enough time to explain what they are learning, why it matters, and how they will apply the lesson.
We are also expanding the ways people can earn points. Certificates and testimonials now matter because they show evidence beyond self-reporting. A certificate shows course completion. A testimonial shows that another person recognizes the participant’s effort, character, or growth.
Those additions strengthen the profile.
They also make the point system more useful for advocacy.
Building Toward Better Outcomes
The Prison Professors platform exists to help people build stronger records.
We want participants to understand that every entry can serve a purpose. A journal entry can show accountability. A book report can show learning. A release plan can show preparation. A testimonial can show credibility. A certificate can show achievement.
Together, those records can help a person self-advocate more effectively.
We expect the leaderboards to reflect the new point totals before the end of May 2026. As the system changes, some point totals may adjust. That change is part of building a stronger, fairer, and more useful platform.
Our goal remains the same.
We want to help people prepare for success. We want to help them document that preparation. And we want to use the data they create to advocate for better outcomes across the prison system.
The point system is one tool in that larger mission.
It rewards effort. It encourages growth. It helps us identify leaders. And it gives us evidence to show why self-directed preparation deserves recognition.
At Prison Professors, we will continue building, learning, adjusting, and rebuilding. That process helps us serve more people, strengthen our advocacy, and create more pathways for people to earn freedom through merit.