Prison Professors' Website Updates

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?

December 31, 2025: Wednesday

As the year comes to a close, I feel optimistic about the year ahead and deeply committed to continuing the work we’re doing to improve the Prison Professors platform.

Our mission requires ongoing effort. We are committed to providing free, practical resources to distinct groups, including:

• People facing challenges at any stage of the criminal justice system,
• Family members who are supporting loved ones,
• Defense attorneys who advocate on their behalf, and
• Correctional staff who work inside the system every day.

Serving these groups responsibly requires us to engineer a clear and intentional pathway through the website. That means assessing every page, evaluating what works, identifying what does not, and making changes where necessary. We welcome feedback from members of our community, and we appreciate hearing suggestions that can help us improve.

In the coming days, I will send an email to everyone who has registered with us. I want to invite members of our community to share ideas about how we can better support their efforts and expand the value of the resources we offer.

Today, I am working through several tasks:

• Continuing a page-by-page audit of the site and sharing what I am learning with our development team.
• I need to update pages designed for defense attorneys and correctional staff.
• I also need to draft follow-up emails for people who leave testimonials on our site and for those who open profiles on behalf of a loved one.
• After that, I plan to step away from my writing tools and record a series of videos that our team can prepare for publication.

Each of these efforts moves us closer to building a platform that serves our community in meaningful ways. Results do not happen by chance. Each person has to work deliberately toward the outcomes they want.

As we move into 2026, our goal is to open more pathways for people to earn freedom through merit. I am committed to building this platform in service of that initiative.

I wish everyone a fabulous 2026. I will leave you with a question to prompt your thinking:

• What are you doing today to move closer to the outcome you want?

By: MGS

December 30, 2025: Tuesday

I am enthusiastic about giving a live demonstration of our website today. The website isn’t completely finished, as I have to film several explainer videos that we will feature on key pages. We want to make sure that people know how to use the website effectively, to get the information they need. This commitment will require us to work on site development every day. But we’re committed to providing resources free of charge to all people who want to learn how they can work toward the best possible outcome, and simultaneously help staff members in prison share our information to improve the culture of confinement.

Everything on Prison Professors will always be free, as we want to discourage people from wasting money hiring prison consultants who lack depth and breadth of experience. People should be willing to invest their time and energy to develop knowledge of a best-practice approach to making it through the journey, and to get that information, they need to hear from multiple sources.

Our development team continues to push forward with a goal of completing this first version of the website by January 1, 2026. It will include a few sections that don’t currently exist. One of those sections will appear under the “Programs” menu, at the top menu bar. I’m going to add a section called: Faculty.

We should think of Prison Professors as a platform, similar to the way that Amazon is a platform. Amazon publishes books from several authors. We want to publish content from several professors. Each professor will become an ambassador of our message, sharing strategies that people can follow to live as if they’re the CEO of their life.

What does it mean to be the CEO of their life?

• CEO’s identify a problem.
• They architect a plan that will lead to a solution.
• They prioritize decision making.
• They create clear tools, tactics, and resources.
• They adjust the plan as necessary.
• They create accountability tools to measure progress.
• They execute the plan every day.

I look forward to adding that feature, and profiling Celeste Blair, and the amazing work she has done to help grow our audience. She worked so hard that she received a commutation of sentence. Her amazing story shows that if a person makes intentional decisions, and works hard, that person can potentially earn freedom through merit.

We’re working to build more pathways for people to use so that they can earn freedom, using the Prison Professors platform as a resource to advance their self-advocacy efforts.

By: MGS