Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform – New Hampshire

Every couple of days I would pass Mark in the hallway of the Hancock Building where we both lived at the New Hampshire State Prison. He was a quiet, nervous appearing, 54-year-old man with a salt-and-pepper mustache. I sometimes stood next to him in the noon medication line. His hands shook as he took his anti-depressant. Just a year prior Mark was on his way out of prison. After doing 5 1/2 years, he got approved for reduced custody and transferred to the Minimum Security Unit in preparation for parole. He never made it to the streets. 

Driving a Hard Bargain

I remember a guy I met when I lived at the New Hampshire State Prison. He was from the Dominican Republic and didn’t speak a word of English. He was in on a drug charge and had taken a plea bargain in exchange for a short sentence – six months, he thought - and then deportation. It wasn’t until he had been in prison for a week or so that someone who could read English and speak Spanish finally looked over his paperwork and told him the truth. He had been sentenced to 3 ½ to 7 years.

Peter is in the prison suicide tank again. I've lost track of how many times he's been in there. So has he. The suicide tank is shock therapy for suicidal inmates. If you don't like your life now, let us show you just how bad life can get.