January 1, 2026: Thursday

I spent the day working through the various pages of our website, doing the best that I can to assess how our site will serve the needs of our users. I need to provide those users with an example of how to use our site most effectively, especially as they’re developing profiles.

As an example, I’ll write a journal entry in response to an article I read about executive clemency. Those who are building profiles may want to write about current events, describing how those events are prompting their thoughts.

Executive Clemency Article

I began serving my federal sentence in 1987. I did not conclude that sentence until 2013.

For more than twenty-five years, I lived inside the federal prison system while presidential administrations changed, policies shifted, and leadership rotated through Washington. During that entire period, I watched people submit petitions for executive clemency with hope in their hearts and silence as their answer.

My experience convinces me that the executive clemency process was broken during every administration I lived through, including those led by Presidents:

• Ronald Reagan,
• George Bush (41),
• Bill Clinton,
• George Bush (43), and
• Barack Obama.

In my view, the failure was more institutional than partisan.

Thousands of people applied for clemency. Most never received a response. They didn’t get an explanation or any type of meaningful acknowledgment that anyone reviewed their petitions.

The silence left people without hope, reinforcing the belief that regardless of how much effort a person put into reconciling with society, the system lacked interest in anything other than keeping the system final.

Leadership Matters

Recently, a former pardon attorney has criticized changes to the clemency process, presenting herself as a guardian of tradition and procedure. From my perspective, her criticism rings hollow.

When Elizabeth Oyer was in a position of leadership:

• the clemency process did not inspire hope.
• It did not create transparency.
• It did not encourage people in prison to believe that anyone would meaningfully evaluate their efforts toward rehabilitation or assess their candidacy for relief.

Silence remained the norm.

Leadership in a justice system is not measured by how well one preserves bureaucracy. It is measured by whether people affected by that system can see a pathway forward. During the years I served, the Office of the Pardon Attorney did not provide that pathway. It functioned as a procedural dead end rather than a bridge to reconciliation.

Criticizing reform is easy after leaving office. Inspiring hope while holding authority is harder. And that is where the system consistently failed.

This Moment Is Different

I am grateful that President Donald Trump has the courage to disrupt long-standing processes that did not serve the public’s interest. He is leading, showing a willingness to acknowledge that the old system was broken and is showing the courage to take responsibility for fixing it.

President Trump has made it clear that clemency should not be a black hole where petitions disappear without accountability. He has chosen to disrupt a failed status quo rather than defend it.

One of the most meaningful changes has been appointing Alice Johnson to lead clemency review efforts with real authority.

Why Alice Johnson’s Role Matters

Alice Johnson understands clemency not as an abstract legal theory, but as a human process tied to redemption and reconciliation. She knows what it means to live without hope and what it takes to earn it back.

Under her leadership, the focus shifts away from paperwork and politics and toward conduct. Toward effort. Toward whether someone has demonstrated sustained accountability and growth.

That is not reckless, as the former pardon attorney claims. It’s responsible.

For the first time in my lifetime, I see a clemency framework that tells people in prison: Your choices still matter.

Celebrate Change

No clemency system will ever be perfect. But a system that ignores people entirely is indefensible.

What we are seeing now is a move away from silent rejection and toward visible evaluation. A process that invites people to document their work, their service, and their transformation.

People who once lived without hope are now being told that merit, effort, and grace still have meaning.

We should celebrate the change, rather than fear and criticize the reforms that President Trump, Alice Johson, and the new leadership in the BOP are bringing.

I am optimistic about these changes. I am grateful that Alice Johnson is in this role. And I believe that justice is strengthened, not weakened, when leadership chooses hope, accountability, and reconciliation over silence.

I encourage members of our community to build a profile, and use the profile to show deep reflections. Ponder the question:

• In what ways am I building a self-directed, intentional path to advance myself as a candidate for clemency?