J. R. Woodgates
Tag Archives: James Russell Woodgates
In 1984, I was 33 years old. I was arrogant, judgmental, narcissistic and very full of myself. I was not as interested in justice as I was in winning…
The clear reality is that the death penalty is an anathema to any society that purports to call itself civilized. It is an abomination that continues to scar the fibers of this society and it will continue to do so until this barbaric penalty is outlawed. Until then, we will live in a land that condones state assisted revenge and that is not justice in any form or fashion.
After unnecessarily languishing for three decades on Louisiana’s Death Row, Glenn Ford has at last been exonerated as an innocent man.
Now, former state prosecutor A.M. Stroud III says Ford deserves to be compensated for what he suffered because of Stroud’s refusal 30 years ago to even consider that Ford might have been innocent of murder.
This is his personal letter to The Shreveport Times:
Prison life may be a recurring theme on TV and in the movies, but prisoners themselves often feel totally ignored and forgotten by the public. The fact is, prisoners are totally ignored and forgotten by most people – including the ones responsible for their well-being.
This is John Oliver at his best, examining the indifference too many top officials have towards the conditions endured by too many incarcerated Americans. (Obscene language advisory)
Kudos to Kairos Prison Ministry International for going after the hard cases, the worst offenders, the guys no one expects to see restored by God.
Royalties from all retail sales enable me to give away copies of the Recommended Reading titles to prison chaplains, upon request. They also enable me to provide free paperback copies of Daily Light on the Prisoner’s Path to prison ministries for distribution to inmates.
Click HERE and HERE to see who is distributing free copies of DLPP.
For more information, write to:
Prisoner’s Path Books
Post Office Box 32014
Washington, DC 20007
I can be contacted at PrisonersPathBooks@gmail.com.
America’s burgeoning prison population is not being fed just by the “overcriminalization” of our society, with its growing list of felony crimes.
The increasing problem of single-parent households is also creating generations of young men without a strong fatherly influence.
Growing up in a fatherless home is a major predictor of truancy, delinquency and eventual incarceration.
Once thought of mainly as “a black problem,” illegitimate births are now common in all three American racial groups: more than one third of all white babies, more than half of all hispanic babies and nearly three-quarters of all black babies.
Conservative pundit George Will reminds us of the prescient warning given to us a half century ago by the late Sen. Patrick Moynihan:
The wounds of PTSD are similar but different from those caused by moral injury. Both bring a sense of dis-ease and an unsettled psyche. But moral injury results from damage to a person’s moral foundation, caused by willfully immoral behavior – say, shooting a child or raping a fellow inmate.
Long after a return to “normal” life, moral injuries can haunt the conscience and undermine one’s sense of being forgiven. Unless moral injury is recognized and ministered to, it can sabotage a man’s peace of mind.
This article is about moral injury among combat vets. As you read it, consider the same phenomenon as it torments men who have done despicable deeds behind bars and are carrying the guilt of it still:
MORAL INJURY AND THE MAN OF WAR
It’s not just “the war on drugs” that has expanded America’s prison population. CBN News reports that a steady increase in new categories, classes and kinds of actionable offenses is also responsible.
“Overcriminalization” is making felons of Americans like never before.
There are more African-American men in prison and in jail or on parole and probation today than were enslaved in 1850 – a decade before the start of the Civil War.
In her book, The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander argues that minority (especially black) men are being deliberately targeted for disenfranchisement via America’s criminal justice system.
This conversation further explores the inequities of prison sentencing and whether the disproportionate percentage of racial minorities composing the prison population reflects a deliberate effort to disenfranchise such men. (Segment begins at 26:40)
Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black, joins former Prison Fellowship VP Pat Nolan, Senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Al Franken of Minnesota, a Koch Industries spokesman and others, for a refreshingly bi-partisan panel on the current state of prison reform in America.