Some things you might not know about prisoners.

First of all, they can get college degrees, through programs very like the one I'm currently becoming uninvolved in.

Supposedly, someone knows someone who grades through my program whose students once included The Menendez Brothers.

However, most of the time prisoners can't have computers, so they have to do everything by hand. Which makes it harder to do, and also harder to grade.

Another thing is that sometimes prisoners have to be enrolled in some kind of course in order to have access to research materials that might, for example, help them to pursue an appeal. But if there are no classes, there is no access.

The final thing is this. I worked at a radio station which was within broadcast distance of a big prison. The inmates loved the radio station, especially the late night heavy metal shows. They'd spend hours drawing these crazy, elaborate drawings or plans for tattoos incorporating the names of popular radio djs, and sending the drawings in. When I worked in the office, I was required to open all prisoner fan mail, make a copy of it for the files, and make sure it wasn't threatening or whatever before I forwarded it on the radio personalities.

But it wasn't until after I'd been a dj for awhile that I discovered how prisoners, at least at this institution, made requests.

To understand, you have to think again about what prisoners don't have, which is a way to make long distance phone calls. Unless they call collect. Which, of course: the radio station couldn't accept collect calls.

I was introduced to the solution one night, only at first I thought it was someone playing a prank. (What was playing in the background? I do not know, but it might have been the Pixies, Bowie, Ash, the Coyote Shivers...) The phone rang; I answered.

"Would you accept a collect call from" (pause... then a new voice) "Rage Against the Machine."

I hung up going Yeah Right! Someone pretending to be Rage Against the Machine, how funny.

But then I remembered the prisoners who mailed all those yellow envelopes to the office. And that the seconds designated for giving their name were seconds during which the prisoners could communicate with the dj's for free.

And then I called a friend to bring over some Rage Against the Machine, because the station didn't actually have any.