Author: Three Hots One Cot

by Daniel A. Rosen | On August 18, Virginia's State Assembly will hold a special legislative session that's likely to be historic. Originally scheduled to take up budget issues related to the coronavirus pandemic, it now will focus on a range of other public safety issues, given the recent social unrest following George Floyd's murder. … Continue reading Virginia’s Special Legislative Session Must Address Real Justice Reform

by Daniel A. Rosen | When I watched the video of George Floyd's murder from my prison cell, my first instinct was sheer outrage, like people of conscience everywhere. My second thought: If cameras were as prevalent in prison as on the street, the public might see many more men of color who can't breathe, … Continue reading Public Safety Can’t Be Purchased With Police and Prisons

by Daniel A. Rosen | The people "want law and order. They need law and order. They may not say it, but they want it." That's not a quote from Mussolini or Putin. It's from Donald Trump's June press conference on police reform. Apparently, Trump knows what people want better than they do. This is … Continue reading What the People Want

by Daniel A. Rosen | I'm sitting here in my prison cell, watching the protests on TV and doing some quick math. Every year in this country, according to the Washington Post, roughly a thousand men and women die at the hands of police. About half of them - 500 people - are unarmed. And … Continue reading The ‘Blue Normal’: Doing the Math on Policing and Justice in America

by Daniel A. Rosen | The fictional LA homicide detective Harry Bosch, penned by Michael Connelly, had a simple credo - as all good heroes do: "Either everyone matters, or no one does." And the gut-wrenching events of late keep bringing to mind that hard-boiled noirish wisdom. This isn't claiming "everyone matters" in the usual … Continue reading Do Any Lives Still Matter?

by Daniel A. Rosen | I'm an inmate at the Greensville Correctional Center in southern Virginia, the state's largest prison with over 3,000 inmates. Until now, we'd been spared much of the chaos engulfing other prisons - no inmates were reported positive for COVID-19 and only a handful of guards had been confirmed cases. All … Continue reading COVID Status: Code Red – Report from a Prison Cell

by Daniel A. Rosen | A young man named Vincent Lamont Martin killed a police officer named Michael Patrick Connors in November of 1979. He's served 37 years in prison as a result. He was supposed to walk out of the Nottoway Correctional Center on May 11th, 2020, after being granted parole on Good Friday. … Continue reading The Murder of Mercy

by Daniel A. Rosen | According to a recent Associated Press article (Barr to Prosecutors: Look for Unconstitutional Virus Rules, Michael Balsamo, April 27, 2020) Attorney General William Barr "ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments 'that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of … Continue reading Barr to Governors: You Answer to Me Now

by Daniel A. Rosen | I am a registered sex offender serving five years in prison for soliciting a detective posing as a teen online. Let's get that out of the way up front. If you're still reading: The Virginia Department of Corrections is working to effect the early release of up to 2,000 state … Continue reading Let My People Go, Too

by Daniel A. Rosen | It seems people locked down at home due to the Coronavirus outbreak have taken to comparing themselves to prison inmates on social media. That's not really amusing to those of us actually locked down in prisons and worried about what happens when (not if) the virus gets in here. But … Continue reading A Nation of Coronavirus Inmates

by Daniel A. Rosen | In early February this year, the Virginia Department of Corrections sent out a self-congratulatory press release claiming that the Commonwealth has the lowest three-year recidivism rate in the country, at just over 23 percent. My fellow inmates and I find that figure not at all credible; we know they've massaged … Continue reading The Realities of Recidivism in Virginia

by Daniel A. Rosen | In early January, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam proposed three modest changes to the state's criminal laws in advance of the Assembly's 2020 legislative session. All three common-sense reforms were passed and signed into law, though not without significant friction and controversy. The more serious justice reforms proposed during this Assembly … Continue reading Virginia’s Justice System is Not ‘Working’

by Daniel A. Rosen | Attorney General William Barr recently characterized Jeffrey Epstein's death in prison as the product of a "perfect storm of screw-ups" and "serious irregularities." As if only some unforeseeable and unpredictable machinations could have produced such a result. But at the prison where I reside, in one week alone in early … Continue reading Rape, Overdose, and Suicide: A Week of Dysfunction in Prison

by Daniel A. Rosen I was on the phone with my wife as usual on a Saturday evening last month when the PA system crackled and a stressed voice announced: "The boulevard and all rec yards are closed; offenders will report back to their dorms immediately." Something serious was clearly afoot, and everyone rushed to … Continue reading Higher and Higher