Dennis asked:

What can one tell his 25-year-old son, who is incarcerated for one and a half years, to see the "up"
side of the circumstance or to see the opportunity to take this experience and turn it into a positive life
aspect?

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Hard to answer without knowing him or you... he's in a situation where he's surrounded by criminals
and about all he can learn from them is how to be a criminal, and maybe how to pass the time in jail.
Not too useful outside. I assume the prison has a library; does it have internet access? Can he
request books from outside? There is an old book (maybe updated) called College on Your Own
which I highly recommend... it gives reading lists for various courses. In other words, what I'm saying
is that in my opinion as a person who has never been in prison he needs a) to turn away, mostly, from
what he'll learn from other people in prison, and b) to actively pursue learning in some area. Also, to
try to keep up with current news and events, so that when he gets out he won't be too disoriented.
You might tell him this: that even if he does only one half to one hour per day of learning in some
area, that will add up over time to considerable expertise. Surely he has that much time he can read
and study. He might

Steven Ravett Brown