CHAPTER SEVEN:

created by today’s criminal justice system. I have found extraordinary talent in the ranks of the 70-plus million Americans who have a criminal record. (If you have a criminal record, you are welcome to apply for a position at one of our companies.)

Sadly, most employers don’t see the opportunity of hiring people with a criminal record—despite the enormous tuition these people have paid in the School of Hard Knocks. That tuition is largely wast ed by employers who refuse to hire people with criminal backgrounds.

In 2015, The Brennan Center for Justice published some shocking data*, some of which is represented in the chart below:

There are just as many people in America today with a criminal record as with a college degree. There are more people with a criminal record in America than people who voted for Obama in 2012. Perhaps someone should start the “American Ex-Con Party”—its voter base would be the largest of any political party. Sadly, in many states, people with a criminal record can’t vote.

Laws that prohibit felons from voting effectively disenfranchise a whole segment of the population. Perhaps this is intentional selfpreservation by the existing elites. The practice skews elections to “law and order” voters—that is, voters who have not yet come face to face with the tentacles of the Leviathan. Over time, the more shakedowns there are of law-abiding citizens by the Leviathan, the more attitudes will change.

There are about 328 million people in the United States. When more than 70 million of them (21 percent, or one in five) have criminal backgrounds, something is gravely wrong. The rule of law in America is a mirage when one in five people is branded a “criminal.”

With my new knowledge of and personal experience with the prison system, I am eager to launch a prison charity to supply welcome kits for Federal inmates. The kits may contain the following:

• high quality shower shoes (two sizes for the kits…large and extra large)
• a small book of positive affirmations and quotes
• a list of pro bono legal resources for inmates
• a list of First Step Act eligible classes via correspondence schools

On the last day I was in prison, the camp called me down to R&D, which is what happens when inmates are going to be released. This was a signal to the inmates that it was safe to “scavenge” my cube. I walked out the door and then came back a very short time later to find that someone had already taken my shower shoes. They went first.

I also will never forget one of my fellow inmates who said to me as I was walking out, “Don’t forget us. You are one of the few people who can do something to help.”

I won’t forget them.