Life in Prison Recorded in Audio Diaries

In 2000, the NPR show All Things Considered, created "Prison Diaries, An Intimate Portrait of Life Behind Bars." For several months over the course of a year, inmates, correctional officers and a judge in North Carolina and Rhode Island recorded their thoughts on tape recorders. The audio diaries include sounds and scenes of everyday life behind bars - including everything from shakedowns to monthly family visits to quiet moments late at night inside a cell.

The diaries were edited down to 30 minute segments. You can read more about the series and listen to the edited segments on the NPR website.

Prison Population Grows by 5.8% in 2003. Number of Women in Prison Hits Record High

Some interesting factoids from new Bureau of Justice's most recent report on the 2003 prison population:

• the number of women in prison increased by 2.9% in 2003 for a total of 101,179 people. This is the first time that the female prison population has topped 100,000. Women still account for only 6.9% of the total prison population
• the Federal Prison System grew by 5.8% (approx 9500 people). State prisons grew by 1.6 percent (approx 200,000 people)
• most prisons (both state and federal) were operating at capacity or up to 39 percent over capacity.
• Among the 1.4 million inmates sentenced to more than one year at year-end 2003, an estimated 44 percent were black, 35 percent white, 19 percent Hispanic and 2 percent of other races. The percent of inmates who were racial or ethnic minorities has changed little since 1995.

For more information and links to the actual report, see the Bureau of Justice's press release.

The Sacramento Observer also ran a story on the report. This may be available for a limited time.

Prisoner Review of David McCullough's John Adams Biography

PBP's new home, the United First Parish Church in Quincy is the final resting place of presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams and their wives. They are interred in crypts beneath the sanctuary, which happen to be on the other side of the wall from our office. Wondering what they might think about our program operating nearby, I took to the internet to find out more about them.

I was pleased to find Michael Santos' website and his review of David McCullough's biography of John Adams. Santos is a "long-timer" at the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado. His website includes numerous writings about life in prison as well as reviews of several books. We appreciate his perspective!

So would John Adams be our kind of guy? I think so. As a lawyer, he defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre of 1770, despite their being widely despised by the public. (Imagine having to defend a 9/11 terrorist today.) It seems he felt that even the most despised defendants deserved to be heard in court.

United First Parish Church is an independent church that is part of the Adams National Historic Park.