Why Do We Still Have A Parole Board?
By Ed Mead

Most of us on the inside know that parole supervision of released prisoners is both ineffective and a waste of taxpayers' money. Many of us have also experienced, in one way of another, the board's arbitrary and capricious decision-making ...

By Ed Mead

On January 17, 1991, the Legislative Budget Committee (LBC) issued a "proposed final report" on the performance of the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB). The LBC assessed the operations of the ISRB in the context of the dual sentencing system that still exists in Washington State. Their ...

Did DOC Lie On Computer Issue?

By Ed Mead

Back in the late '70s I was involved in an armed escape attempt from the state prison at Walla Walla. It was my first time in a state prison, and the experience was to teach me a lot about the low ...

Getting Tough Approach To Crime Fails To Produce Results
By Ed Mead

Anthony P. Travisono is the Director of the American Correctional Association (ACA), a national organization consisting of prison wardens and other high-level correction officials. He also edits On The Line, the ACA's official newsletter. When writing his Editorial ...

Editorial Comments
By Ed Mead

Here is another edition of our newsletter. We hope that you find it is a good one. The Prison/Community Alliance is going to be working toward getting rid of this state's parole board and will need all of the help that can be generated. If ...

Ed Mead

The Legislative Budge Committee (LBC) has issued its preliminary report on the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB). The December 14, 1990, report was an audit that examined the operations of the Board in the context of the dual sentencing system that now exsists in the state of Washington. ...

Editorial Comments

by Ed Mead

Welcome to issue #1 of the second volume of our little newsletter. With the new year you will notice that we have added a more polished look to the paper. In the past Paul and I would type up the paper and paste in graphics ...

By Ed Mead

Whatever you decide to do with your life you should try to do it well - be a professional. I'm a professional prisoner. I do time. I've got 15 years in and figure to retire in another 5, maybe sooner if I have some luck in the ...

There has been a long and bitterly fought struggle by prisoners at the Washington State Reformatory to enforce a consent decree mandating single celling.

The consent decree is a product of a 1978 civil rights complaint filed by Evergreen Legal Services. The suit raised a number of issues relating to ...

Could Sending People To Prison Actually Cause Crime?

By Ed Mead

According to the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the nation's state and federal prison population increased by 42,862 prisoners, or six percent, during the first half of 1990. BJS director Steve Dilligham said: "the annual increase ...