From Cell Block to Corner Office

I agree. Typically, I'm not a big fan of motivational speakers. Many of them are charismatic shmoozers with not a lot to say, IMHO. But if this guy really did a 180, then he learned his lesson; he certainly learned it the hard way after so long behind bars. That's hard time. He came from an easy life and went to some of the hardest jails in the country. If that isn't a wake-up call, nothing is.

An ex-con with education may be dangerous on the outside, but probably a "good" dangerous. With all that time on his hand to improve one's educations and lots of thinking time, he's probably got some good ideas he can communicate.

A few year's on the lecture circuit might make a good livelihood. And there's always more writing, books, articles, and talk shows. From the 80s to the 10s quite a journey he's made.

I remember my first newspaper job was on a weekly that used a minicomputer-based publishing system that crashed without warning during thunderstorms. When the lightning flashed and the rain started coming down, the first person who noticed would shout, "SAVE!" to remind people to save their work frequently. 

I was in college, studying journalism. One of my worst memories re: computers involves a two-hour feature-writing exam. We'd all done our interviews and had two hours to turn them into a magazine-style feature for our final exam before winter break. About 90 minutes into my "masterpiece," the *#*#*# Mac froze then crashed. Luckily, my teacher and longtime journalist - Paul Good - gave me an extra 30 minutes to recreate the feature. When he designed the journalism program it was supposed to mirror real-world journalism work: In the real world, after all, deadlines are deadlines and printers (at the time there were no online pubs) cost huge money for every moment of delay. Ugh... but lesson learned! Save often. And always take good notes.

I don't even know if I was using a PC back then. I was working for a daily newspaper; we used a minicomputer-based publishing system with dumb terminals. Later in the 80s we switched to one with PC clients, but I don't recall what year that was. 

We used TRS Model 100s in the field. I loved that machine. 

That's why I looked up the type of computer I used back then. i knew it was a Mac -- and I knew it crashed a lot -- but couldn't recall the model. Although i do remember loving my SE/30.

The original article on Gizmodo says:

When I went to prison, in 1987, Motorola manufactured the large, gray cellphone that I used. People referred to it as "the brick." It had the capacity to send or receive phone calls, but there wasn't any text messaging back then.

I also had a pager, but it could only transmit digits, as I recall. I had a personal computer manufactured by IBM with a DOS operating system that I didn't really understand and 40 megabytes of memory. I was told that was a big deal. I linked the computer to an Epson dot-matrix printer, and I remember the perforated paper fed through on a track system that easily derailed. It was a hassle.

I remember all that! It doesn't seem that long ago. It makes me excited to think about how technology might progress in another 25 years.

I have to admit I'm skeptical of his motivational speaker business. It's great that he's building a life for himself after spending so much time in prison, but I don't see how that qualifies him as a mentor. Then again, I'm skeptical of all motivational speakers.

It seems like Santos wants to be rewarded for his crime here. 

You're right, Lin, but I was thinking of things like "debtors' prisons," in the UK way back when. Obviously, you can't repay a debt while you're locked in a dungeon! It's also encouraging to see that more law enforcement departments and courts are now treating first-time, non-violent offenders without sending them to prison or jail. Instead, they are increasingly likely to send them to drug rehab, counseling, or another program that educates them while they remain at home and, if they don't get into more trouble with the law, the record of their arrest is expunged. When you're dealing with a first-time, non-violent offender, that wake-up call plus education/counseling can be all they need to remain on the straight and narrow. Plus, of course, it's less expensive for society. Everyone wins.

"when you think about how the penal system has evolved from being a way to punish and isolate those who have commited crimes ..." --- not sure that I agree.

Inspiring change was the original intent of penitentiaries (and probation/parole). Derived from the word "penance," penitentiaries were originally  "intended not simply to punish, but to move the criminal toward spiritual reflection and change,"  and "reform through personal redemption."  Religious orginizations, such as the Calvinists and the Quakers, pushed penitentiaries as an alternative to execution, and a variety of other indelicate physical methods then commonly used to eradicate crime.

Mr. Santos is an example of a penitentiary system fulfilling its original intent.