by the time you think about preparing for parole, its already waytoo late
because doing nothing is easier and painless
FOUR TYPICAL REASONS WHY
INMATES DO NOT PREPARE
..as well as they could have.
PAIN
Looking inward is the hardest thing to do. Especially when your own history is your worst enemy.
SITUATION
Inmates get cozy inside prison really fast. Routine and familiarity. It makes freedom feel optional.
TIME
Prison throws distractions at you.. pulling focus away from the steps that actually matter.
HOPELESSNESS
Some lifers stop preparing entirely. They have decided long ago they would never get out.
DEEP DIVE RATIONALE
PAIN
Preparing for parole forces a man to revisit the worst thing he ever did. The brain protects itself by avoiding that entirely.
Shame runs so deep that preparing for parole means confessing it all over again.
Some men stop looking in the mirror entirely. Avoidance feels safer than the truth.
For the ones carrying the most heinous of crimes, hope itself feels like a betrayal of their victims.
Shame convinces people that self-examination is punishment, not preparation. So they never start.
Wanting freedom feels morally wrong. Like they don't have the right to ask for it.
SITUATION
Prison is predictable. Meals, routine, a role. Comfort is a slow killer of ambition.
Status inside prison is real and earned. The math of starting over on the outside does not favor leaving.
The walls feel protective after long enough. Freedom starts to feel like the threat.
When survival needs are met and danger is manageable, urgency disappears. The brain stops pushing toward change.
TIME MANAGEMENT
The yard, the TV, the card game. There is always something easier than preparation.
Nobody is forcing them out the door. Tomorrow is always available.
The hearing is five years away. Then two. Then six months. Then they are scrambling.
Procrastination in prison has no consequences until the one day it has every consequence.
HOPELESSNESS
Decades inside strips identity down to nothing. They forget who they were before.
No family waiting. No job prospects. Freedom looks emptier than the cell.
The board has said no before. It will say no again. Why hand them the ammunition.
Once a man decides the outcome is fixed, preparation feels like humiliation rather than strategy
A previous denial does not just discourage. It becomes evidence that trying harder is pointless.
OPINION
JEREH LUBRIN
Ex-convict, Ex-Santa Clara County Sheriff's Correctional Deputy, 2nd Degree Murder/Voluntary Manslaughter
PAIN
No amount of self-inflicted pain you carry will ever equate to the pain you caused your direct victims and the people around them. Until you accept that, you are unworthy of moving forward from your current situation.
SITUATION
Guilty or not, you brought those charges upon yourself. You may have gotten lucky too. I bet your charges don't tell the full story. There might be more to it. Be glad you're not in a 3rd world prison. Learn gratitude. Stay alive.
TIME
Time is not your friend or your enemy. In prison, it is just a tool. It allows you to face your own denial and delusions. If you are mentally weak, it will consume you before you ever figure it out. Use time wisely because 7 years flew for me.
HOPELESSNESS
Feeling like there is no hope or no point is 1000% a choice. In reality, no one out here cares about your release as much as you should. Only you can do your time. Only you can make the choice to power through.
You probably deserve to be in prison. Definitely no one deserves a second chance. You're not entitled to grace.
The fastest way to get an instant denial is to have is a victim mentality and entitlement issues.
Remorse is one of the easiest things to fake. And, you don't have to be as sorry as they say you do.
If you are going to board, you better stick that probation report if you want to home. Even if you have to lie.
Your charges represent you. Your history defines you.
Past behavior is a good indicator of future action.
The words "I don't know" is not a valid answer. You know you why you do the things you do. You did then, and you do now.