Tag Archives: prison
Want to Time Travel? Go To Prison
I’ve been playing with an idea for a new book and it involves – wait for it – time travel. Not like the H. G. Wells, Time Machine kind of time travel. There is not fanciful device to dial up the year and zap you to the exact time and place of your choosing. The story I’m noodling […]
50 Shades of Grey Matter
Have you been around that person, the one with the brain that operates on an entirely different level than the rest of us? This guy (or gal) is the one doing their sudoku puzzles in ink along with their morning herbal tea. They are the ones who do math equations for the fun of it and […]
Prison and Politics – Part III
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, […]
Prison and Politics – Part II
All societies operate within the rules, boundaries and limitations of a political framework, a culture. The prison culture is no different. There are rules on the inside and the keepers as well as the kept know them. These rules dictate how the prison will run, or how it will fall apart. The typical State Trooper […]
Prison and Politics – Part I
Prison and politics makes for strange bedfellows. I know what you’re thinking, more politicians should be in prison. I will not disagree with that notion, especially as we head into the election season. Pick your poison here, lying, backstabbing, socialist, fascist, egomaniac, there are politicians of every stripe to choose from. While I have my […]
Life or Death
Hot button issues… They are everywhere, it seems. You can’t swing a cat without knocking over someone’s hot button issue. And, nine times out of ten it involves, religion, economics, race or politics. I tend to avoid conversations about any of these social land mines because they are so deep in the fabric who we are, […]
A Crappy Commute
When did the daily commute become a trial by fire? These days my daily commute consists of a few yards from the coffee urn to the desk. Barring unforeseen complications, I make my journey in a few minutes, negotiating the stairs and stray dog toys. On those occasions where I am required to leave the compound, […]
How Real is Too Real?
Something I’ve been stewing on for a couple of years, is the bridge between reality and your fiction work. The rule is that you have to keep your reader in a state of willingness to suspend belief. So, here was my dilemma. I worked in and around prisons for over twenty-five years. I’ve seen what […]
Prison and Plotting
Prison changes a man. I actually heard a hardened prison gang member say that once. The man was feared in gang circles and ran one of the biggest gang, weapons and drug rackets in Folsom Prison in the 1980’s. New inmates, “fish” as they were called, had to check in with his underlings and pay […]
The After Life
I have this new story idea bouncing around in my head. It refuses to leave me alone. The damned thing left a ransom note in a dusty corner of my brain, threatening to hold my attention hostage until I do something. So, here goes…the background. During the years I worked inside maximum security prisons, I […]
James L'Etoile 