Tag Archives: prison politics

In Prison — Seeing Is Believing

December 1, 2016 · by · in author, Crime, crime fiction, criminal justice, escape, James L'Etoile, parole, politicians, prison, prison population, social issues, writing · Leave a comment

What happens in prison usually stays in prison. Kinda like a bad Las Vegas honeymoon. Nobody wants to know the depths of the debauchery that goes on in either place. When I worked as a department of corrections administrator, we were often burnt at the stake when a criminal decided to do a bad thing. […]

Prison Lingo

March 17, 2016 · by · in author, Crime, crime fiction, folsom prison, James L'Etoile, prison, prison lingo, prison population · 8 Comments

Every culture has a language unto itself, phrases or words that mean something completely different because of where they are spoken. Prison is one of those places. The world on the inside has a culture and language driven by life in confined spaces, honed by decades of control and restricted freedoms. I’ve mentioned before that time […]

Prison and Politics – Part III

August 28, 2015 · by · in author, Crime, James L'Etoile, parole, politicians, politics, prison, prison population · 3 Comments

The success of any criminal justice initiative is judged on outcome. You and I think in terms of safer communities and prisons. That seems reasonable, doesn’t it? Policies, programs and sentencing strategies all woven together to reduce crime and allow for safe prison operations. The problem with this idea is that politicians aren’t normal folk, […]