Submission Requests

---

Once again I had an epiphany: open the doors to let others inside. Inside the contents of Life Inside and Out and my profile on Quora, which is where that link takes someone.

My hope is to open the doors for anyone experienced with the criminal justice to submit content for publication, or to just comment or otherwise participate. The goal is to facilitate positive change through knowledge about what goes on inside prisons. Though American prisons are the primary focus, anyone from any country may respond or send in submissions. Click here to send email.

Please spread the word to anyone on the Outside who has been to prison, or is still serving time in prison, jail, or any other form of confinement, to consider participating. With online access, anyone may respond to questions. Thank you!

Attention Writers!

If interested in submitting content for Life Inside and Out on Quora.com, email me what you have in mind, or let me know if you want to participate.

NO PAYMENTS for submissions. Sending any content to WTD4U.com through Corrlinks.com to info@wtd4u.com or wonderfulthingsdone@gmail.com or wayne@wtd4u.com or any other messaging or mailing system, authorizes the owner, moderator, or administer to publicly post the content on the stated platforms, including Quora.com, Life Inside and Out, and or https://straightfromthepen.com, without expectation of payment.

All submissions will be attributed to the writer who submits the content, unless otherwise stated. Only submit your material!

Any submission should include the identifying data you want publicly displayed, such as your name, institution, state, or anonymous ( e.g., Wayne D., Atlanta, GA; WTD, Atlanta, GA; Anonymous, United States Federal Bureau of Prison, or any other way you want attributed).

The decision to publish submissions for publication will be at the sole discretion of the owner/administrator, or other delegated personnel at WonderfulThingsDone, dba, WTD4U.com and StraightfromthePen.com.

By submitting content for “possible” publication, you agree to allow the administrator at WTD4u.com/StraightfromthePen.com to edit the submission, if determined necessary by the administrator.

INFORMATION ABOUT QUORA.COM and Life Inside and Out.

About Quora

Why Quora exists

Quora’s mission is to share and grow the world’s knowledge. Not all knowledge can be written down, but much of that which can be, still isn’t. It remains in people’s heads or only accessible if you know the right people. We want to connect the people who have knowledge to the people who need it, to bring together people with different perspectives so they can understand each other better, and to empower everyone to share their knowledge for the benefit of the rest of the world.

Gather around a question

The heart of Quora is questions — questions that affect the world, questions that explain recent world events, questions that guide important life decisions, and questions that provide insights into why other people think differently. Quora is a place where you can ask questions that matter to you and get answers from people who have been there and done that. Quora is where scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, mechanics, and homemakers take refuge from misinformation and incendiary arguments to share what they know.

Quora now has Spaces, which is essentially a blogging platform for those approved. I am the administrator for the Space, “Life Inside and Out.”

Life Inside and Out:  Truthful Answers About Prison Life and Life After Release

Details:  Life Inside and Out publishes content about life from inside prisons and about Life After Release.

These are actual Questions on Quora.com you may want to submit an answer to for potential publication.

1. I’d love to hear different opinions on this: Should prisons be replaced by psychiatric facilities? (If not, do you think prisons should have better amenities/conditions and what kind)? All opinions are welcome, especially if they’re elaborate.
2. What does it mean that there is no parole in the US federal prison system? Does it mean there is no chance of getting out early? (I’m the victim in this case.)
3. Why do we refer to a prison as a rehabilitation center, when most prisoners come out worse than they were?
4. Can you remember the first night you spent in jail or prison? What was the thing that kept you up? Do you remember that fateful day?
5. Question: Is it harder to do time in general population or Solitary confinement? What’s your personal experience? Since confinement is detrimental for the health which is it still being practice today?
6. What are the vital lessons one can learn in prison?
7. What happens if you don’t follow the rules in prison?
8. Have you ever felt like doing something so bad that you don’t care if it would land you in jail?

After reading all the above, feel free to submit questions you may want posted to see if anyone will answer, or your answer to any of the above questions. Thank you! wtd

Help Returning Citizens

Question from a Concerned Citizen on Quora.com

[Modified Answer for Blog Post]

How can we support people just released from prison so they can get on track to a productive life instead of going back to crime?

https://www.quora.com/How-can-we-support-people-just-released-from-prison-so-they-can-get-on-track-to-a-productive-life-instead-of-going-back-to-crime/answer/Wayne-T-Dowdy

Great question! I feel it’s important for those who are released to know help is available. Websites such as Fair Shake | Reentry Resource Center and other reentry based websites have collected available resources (including companies who hire ex-offenders/returning citizens), organized by state, if applicable, to help provide hope for success, and to help returning citizens know help is available.  That means a lot, so, I feel it is important to support those types of services, and to then direct returning citizens to them and to any of the organizations mentioned in those sites that supplies suggestions for successful reintegration.

Family and friends may also visit those sites to learn more about what the returning citizen faces upon release. Researching for the returning citizen helps, and during the process, the family members and friends may learn ways to help supply support to returning citizens.

As I state in many of my answers, there are many variables concerning prison life and the thousands of individuals held within the walls of confinement, who are then released back into society—with society sometimes being a foreign environment—because of all the changes that occurred since the departure of the returning citizen.

All released prisoners do not have the same history (amount of time served and under what conditions, which means a lot in considering release-needs; the nature of their offense(s); substance abuse and or mental health issues; what all was lost during the period of incarceration; educational and vocational backgrounds, which may help determine employability; available resources from family and friends. etc.).

The answers to those factors help determine what others may do to help that person successfully reintegrate.

PERSONALLY:  For me, it was important knowing I had the support of my family and friends, emotional support as well as any financial-support I needed, within reason. Having loved ones who provided me with clothing, any needed funds, a place to live, and a cellphone and computer helped more than the words flying from these keys can accurately represent. 

I have been blessed and am fortunate to have walked out of prison, thirty-years and ten-days later, to still have family and friends who were still around and still loved and cared for me.  Most returning citizens are not so fortunate and need help finding a job to support themselves, if able to work; if not, may need help finding where to apply for any available aid, and help in applying for that aid. 

Forms and processes for obtaining available services can be aggravating and overwhelming to returning citizens without experience in technology. 

Transitioning isn’t easy after decades away.  Seeing the differences in prices have made me say on many occasions that, “They better be glad I changed my ways.”  I felt like I was being robbed and would have wanted to rob-back, had I not changed.

Because of the many difficulties I have faced as an elderly-returning citizen, if I had not focused on changing my life during the last twenty-three of the thirty-years I served, I’d likely have already returned to prison.  Because truthfully speaking, for many of us who have spent most of our lives inside the insane world of incarceration; in many respects, it is easier to survive life inside prison than on the outside. 

On the outside, I have to be more responsible (paying bills, getting insurance, dealing with health-services; (under normal circumstances, finding a place to live), finding transportation and paying for expenses), having to make more decisions (such as what to eat and where to get it), and to learn a whole new way of life.  Thus, comes the term often applied to the long-term aspect of prison life: “institutionalization.”  I am not!

I’m up for the challenge and will succeed, regardless of any factors I am faced with during my transition from walking out of the Dark Ages into the Modern World. [End Quora Post]

A New Chapter of Life Began When I Walked Out the Prison Doors

Excerpt from Reentry Programs Will Reduce Recidivism (July 21, 2016)

https://straightfromthepen.com/2016/07/21/reentry-programs-will-reduce-recidivism/

https://www.fairshake.net/

FAIRSHAKE REENTRY RESOURCE CENTER: One valuable Reentry Service that is doing its part to promote change by assisting ex-offenders, is the FairShake, Reentry Resource Center. Ms. Sue Kastensen, Founder and Director, created FairShake.net (www.fairshake.net), from her personal resources and commitment to make a difference. She deserves an award!

FairShake. net needs donations to continue to provide a place where people may go to find important information and links to organizations to facilitate the successful reentry of the formerly incarcerated.

Many of those released are like aliens entering a distant world, after having spent decades of their lives confined in cages: Those men and women need all available help to successfully reintegrate into society.

FairShake offers resource information for all to use for successful reentry.

The FairShake Reentry Packet contains useful information to improve the quality of life. Whether just beginning or near completion of his or her sentence, it is a publication worth reading for anyone interested in improving their mind, body and spirit.

Family and friends of the incarcerated may go to http://www.fairshake.net to download and print a free copy of the Reentry Packet to mail into a prison or jail for a loved one or friend. [Check prison or detention center mailroom policies before printing to mail.]

[I regret writing that the following is no longer possible due to a lack of donations to cover the $8.00 per-packet-cost, and because of new regulations in many prison mailrooms that prohibit certain types of paper due to the influx of K-2 (Spice) and Suboxone.]

The electronic Fairshake Newsletter is still available. Those incarcerated may write or email to request a free copy–include your name, Id. No. and address. Send request to this address:

Fair Shake
P.O. Box 63
Westby, WI 54667
If you have Corrlinks, email outreach@fairshake.net.

UNIQUE WEBSITE: Their unique website offers valuable tools to assist members in their transition from the insane world of incarceration into the free society.

The website contains free web pages for members (membership is free to all formerly incarcerated individuals). The website contains five categories of important data:

• Reentry Resources (State and Local Reentry Guides);
• Employment Support;
• Building Computer Skills;
• Educate Yourself; and
• Finding Specific Pages.

The Reentry Packet illustrates how to navigate their system. Below a photo, under “Fair Shake Reentry Tool Kit,” is a list of options, including Resource Directory, Reentry Packet, Ownership Manual, Building Computer Skills, Preparing for Work, and Become a Member.

Visit http://www.fairshake.net to become part of the solution for reducing recidivism and changing lives: Save lives and taxpayer dollars!

Also available to Returning Citizens for locating valuable resources are these websites:

HelpForFelons.org. https://helpforfelons.org/reentry-programs-ex-offenders-state/

RZero.org to research a variety of data: http://rzero.org/resource-database-2