Author Archives: William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

About William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Award-winning poet, playwright, and essayist. Author of three books of poetry, "Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present"; "Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats"; "The Black Feminine Mystique," and a novel, "Streets of Rage," written under his pen name Easy Waters. All four books are available on Amazon.com. Waters has over 25 years of experience in the criminal legal system. He is a change agent for a just society and a catalyst for change.

Eddie Ellis and Criminal Justice Language

Posted on August 3, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

When I think of the life and legacy of Eddie Ellis, I think of his Criminal Justice Language Letter, a short, simple, but seminal letter that began to change the discourse in criminal justice, first in New York State, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Reentry | Tagged criminal justice language, Eddie Ellis, NuLeadership Policy Group | Leave a comment

THERE ARE NO SECRETS IN THIS PLACE

Posted on July 27, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Officer Kirsch, or Officer K, as he was called, had once told Norman that there were no secrets in the maximum security prison. That was putting the matter nicely, Norman had thought. There were rats in every crevice in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Short Stories | Tagged escape, hell, prison | Leave a comment

Parole, higher education, felony-murder and more

Posted on July 22, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

CPR has been in the forefront, advocating for fair parole practices in New York since it was founded in 1999. Since then, other advocates and people who care about justice have looked at the issue of parole. Right now, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Life Sentences, Murder, Parole, Politics, Reentry | Tagged 19th Congressional District, 23rd Congressional District, 27th Congressional District, Brooklyn District Attorney, Coalition for Parole Restoration, Congresman Tom Reed, Congressman Chris Collins, Congressman Chris Gibson, CPR, Executive Law 259-i, Fair Parole Act, felony-murder, Governor Andrew Cuomo, higher education in prison, Juvenile Offender Law of 1978, Kenneth Thompson, mens rea, non-killing accomplices, RAPP, redicivism, Release Aging People in Prison | Leave a comment

Waiting for Parole — Between Hope and Despair

Posted on July 19, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

One of the most powerful forces is hope, oftentimes counterbalanced by despair. In the criminal justice system, nothing inspires more hope than the possibility of being granted and being released to parole supervision. On the other hand, nothing drops one … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Life Sentences, Murder, Parole, Politics, Reentry, Shawshank Redemption | Tagged Coalition for Parole Restoration, CPR, death penalty, determinate sentences, Ex Post Facto Clause, George Pataki, Hollywood, hope, indeterminate sentences, legitimate penological goals, lifers, Parole, parole commissioners, parole supervision, politics, politics of parole, post-release supervision, Recidivism, the "Pataki Rule", The Shawshank Redemption | 4 Comments

REVIEW OF “JAILHOUSE JOURNALISM: THE FOURTH ESTATE BEHIND BARS”

Posted on July 13, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Not much has been written about the history of the prison press. Indeed, until now, according to James McGrath Morris, the author of Jailhouse Journalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars, the only book was The Penal Press by Russell Baird. … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Life Sentences, Reentry, Uncategorized | Tagged Alfred Andersch, Billy Sinclair, Board of Pardons, Charles Chapin, concentration camps, Der Ruf, Erle Stanley Gardner, Forlorn Hope, Fort Philip Jearney, Frank Moore, free press, Great Red Scare, Gruppe 47, Hans Werner Richter, Idea Factory, Industrial Workers of theWorld, Iowa State Penitentiary, Jailhouse Jurnalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars, James McGrath Morris, Japanese-Americans, Jesse James Gang, Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners' Labor Union, Karl Arndt, Leaves from a Lifer's Notebook, Mumia Abu-Jamal, New York's Evening World, Ole Lindquist, Pell v. Procunier, postward Germany, POWs, Presidio, Prisoner of War Special Projects Division, Procunier v. Martinez, reeducate, Relocation Camps, Russell Baird, Saturday Review, Sing Sing, The Angolite, The Farm, The Penal Press, Thornburg v. Abbott, Tom Runyon, Turner v. Safley, Wilbert Rideau, William Keteltas, Wobblies, World War II, Younger Brothers | Leave a comment

Review of “No Man’s Land”

Posted on July 13, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Prison is a place steeped in mythology, from the outright lies about it politicians tell to promote their “crime-fighting” policies to the propaganda prison officials print in their periodicals to justify its raison d’être; even prisoners, in their writings, contribute … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles | Tagged Abandon hope all ye who enter here, Fielding Dawson, mythology, No Man's Land, prison industrial complex, prison mytholody, prison rape, Sing Sing Prison, Snagg Prison | Leave a comment

A Father’s Day Message…for Mothers

Posted on June 15, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Beware the self-fulfilling prophecy! One day, in the South Bronx, I observed the following: a young Latina mother with two boys, around ages 6 and 10, standing in front of a bodega. The mother seemed agitated. The older boy was … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged fathers, Fathers' Day, self-fulfilling prophecy, the ideal father | Leave a comment

Drop the Rock, that is, the argument using people convicted of violent crimes to make the case…

Posted on June 1, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The Rockefeller Drug reform movement argued its case for reform by using people convicted of violent crimes, stating that people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses were being sentenced to the same amount of time if not more than people convicted … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles | Tagged Drop the rock, fairness, Justice, murder and recidivism, nonviolent drug crimes, recidivism rates of people convicted of violent crimes, Rockefeller Drug Laws | 2 Comments

The Eleventh Muse

Posted on May 28, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The Eleventh Muse (For Maya Angelou) No stories of female griots? How so? You’re a part of that time honored tradition. Great God fashioned “Lucy” first, The progenitor of the human race. Children first heard stories sitting on your lap, … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged Maya Angelou | Leave a comment

A New Paradigm – Elevating the Voice of Formerly Incarcerated People

Posted on May 7, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

With the recent launch of JustLeadershipUSA, Glenn Martin, President and Founder of JustLeadershipUSA, is looking to elevate the voice of Americans impacted by crime and incarceration, especially people who have been imprisoned, by positioning them as “informed, empowered reform partners.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Malcolm X, Parole, Reentry, Slavery, Uncategorized | Tagged Alex Haley, Alexis de Beaumont, All of Us or None, Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, Blessed and Highly Favored: Memoirs of a Multiple Felon, But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry, But They All Come Back: Rethinking Prisoner Reentry, Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, Citizens Against Recidivism, criminal justice system, disenfranchisement, Elaine Bartlett, Era of Reentry, Exodus Transitional Community, felon disenfranchisement, formerly incarcerated people, franchise, Frederick Douglass, George Pataki, Glenn Martin, Great Society, Gustave de Tocqueville, Harvey Brown, Inc., incarceration, Jennifer Gonnerman, Jeremy Travis, Julio Medina, JustLeadershipUSA, leadership development, Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett, Lyndon B. Johnson, Malcolm X, mandatory minimum sentencing, Mass Incarceration, mass incarrceration, Michelle Alexander, New York, On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application in France, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, parole releasing policies, Piper Kerman, richard nixon, Rockefeller Drug Law, slavery and imprisonment in the United States, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet, the glass ceiling, the green wall, The Life of an Ex-Con, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Theo Harris, Thirteenth Amendment, United States, United States Supreme Court, war on crime, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July | Leave a comment

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