Classification

It is hard to imagine there are only two full months left of 2006. In my current situation this is a very good thing because the sooner the year goes by the sooner I approach my release date. Not including today there are only 60 days left of this year. I am not wishing (although this is not a bad idea!) away the year but trying to put everything in perspective because time does continue to go by no matter what. I do like when another page is turned on the calendar. My focus is getting to the 15th of the month which would be the “hump” period for November. I am also entering a very sensitive time of year with all the holidays fast approaching. I must continue with a positive attitude and know I will be back soon enough with my family and we will enjoy many of these special holidays together forever. In addition to the holidays, each day will be a special day because we will all be together.

Today was a very big day as I progress my way through the prison system here at Sierra Conservation Center. I received the classification ducat last night and my appointment was set for 9:30 am this morning. The time of the interview was perfect because today was my afternoon yard day and if everything went well at the classification hearing I would be able to workout this afternoon and also keep my 3:00 pm telephone call with my wife.

On days when my yard is in the afternoon, the correction officers in charge of my lower tier unlock at 15 minutes to the hour up until 10:45 am. My classification hearing at 9:30 am meant I had to depart the dormitory at 8:45 am in order not to be late. Breakfast occurs daily at 7:15 am and I am usually back in the dormitory by 7:45 am so the timing of the classification hearing was working out very well. (A quick aside regarding breakfast; the breakfasts are very similar to the reception center with one exception, every morning we receive some type of fruit juice be it apple, orange, or mixed fruit whereas at the reception center we either received the fruit juice or a piece of fruit. Here we always receive at least one piece of fruit – apple, banana, prunes, and the fruit juice.) I believe we are receiving more calories at breakfast than at the reception center which is good for me because this is always the biggest meal of the day for me. Today we had pancakes, grits, sausage links which I traded away for more grits, orange juice and a banana. It was a great breakfast because I only traded away one item and the entire breakfast was very filling. Even when I have to trade away more than one item I seem to receive my fill of the hot cereal. There is one dorm mate who I sit with who does not eat his hot cereal no matter the selection and always gives it to me. Again, I won’t starve but because of the working out, I am much hungrier than I have been in the past.

I returned from breakfast and read my new book “Deception Point” by Dan Brown. (Yes, the same Dan Brown who wrote Angel & Demons and the DaVinci Code) for an hour prior to the unlock. The unlock arrived at 8:50 am and I proceeded to the north end of the yard where the counselor trailer is situated. (It is a modular trailer but it appears to be permanent housing for the counselors.) When I arrived I saw the same inmates who came on the bus with me from the reception center. These are the inmates who have been assigned to the same yard (Level II) as me. I presume the others who were assigned to the Level I yard have their own counselor trailer because the only entrance and exit to the counselor trailer on my yard is through the same Level II yard. When I saw the other inmates I quickly inquired as to the time of their appointments and was told by two of them that their appointments were at 8:00 am (it was now 9:00 am). I know it was going to be a long morning because none of them had been seen as of yet. Good thing I brought my book because I would have plenty of time to read it. Another 30 minutes went by and these inmates were finally called inside the trailer. Around 10:00 am the inmates I knew emerged from the trailer having concluded their “hearing”. A few were very happy because they were granted “full pack” status which means they were fire camp eligible and placed on the waiting list for the physical training. Others were not so happy because they were denied full pack status and were not eligible for fire camp. These inmates came out shaking their heads in disgust and said the hearing was very difficult. Whichever the case all the inmates were saying how thorough the hearing was and how the members (it is a committee of three people who hear the case – one is the Captain of the Prison, one is the head of all Counselors, and one is in charge of the Education Department) covered everything in their arrest files going back 20 to 25 years in some cases. Having heard all this I did not know what to think because I have nothing in my file other than my current case. I have no prior arrests of any kind so I was interested in how my case would be handled.

Finally, after hearing some good and some not so good stories from other inmates it was my turn. I was called into the trailer at 11:15 am where I waited another 15 minutes to enter the rather smallish conference room. I opened the door and went inside. The Captain of the Prison was on my immediate right, next to her on her left was the Head of the Counselors, next to him on his left was a Counselor (not mine) next to him on his left was the Head of Education Department and finally seated on my right was my counselor. As I went to sit down in the “hot seat” the Captain rose from her chair. My counselor said to her “this is the most interesting case we have all day aren’t you going to stay?’ She replied, “No, you guys can handle it; and with this she left the room. I didn’t know what to think of that so I took a deep breath and the “hearing” began. My counselor did most of the talking and he acted as my advocate. This surprised me because he seemed to be acting in my best interest. He summarized my case for the others in attendance and actually brought up my compulsive gambling addiction. He mentioned the amount of restitution and did not make a big deal of it. He did say I was ineligible to become a clerk because of the computer charges.

There was one item in my file which needed further clarification. Apparently according to the file there is an outstanding charge of Grand Theft filed on July 12, 2006 (my sentencing date) which does not have a disposition. When the counselor brought this up I did not understand what he was talking about because all of my charges have been sentenced. I did ask him to clarify and he told me it “appears” that this outstanding charge has been disposed of but they need to make sure I have no outstanding charges in order to give me “full pack” status. He further clarified that they have to obtain a clearance from the county to ensure there aren’t any additional charges against me. According to him this could take up to 60 days to obtain. This means I have to wait an additional 60 days before I can get on the list for training. As the discussion was going on my head was swimming and I was very nervous. The more I think about it now 7 hours afterward the more I don’t understand why it should take 2 months to obtain this information. In this day and age of electronic files and instant communication I would think this information should be obtained quickly. I don’t know if this is just a paperwork mix-up or someone did not file something properly but whatever the case if there is anything I can do to expedite the situation I will certainly try it. I already telephoned my wife and told her about this and how she should contact my lawyer. Hopefully my attorney can clarify the situation as soon as possible presuming he stops giving my wife the run around.

His information did cause me some turmoil because I am not sure if it does fall into the category of being out of my control. It was certainly no fault of mine yet maybe there is something I can do. I believe the only thing I can do is stay on top of it and if I do get any information to forward it directly to my counselor. I believe this is all I can do and know everything will work out fine.

One of the things my counselor said regarding my case was “this is his first offense and he is 41 years old and I know it is his last offense”. Again, I was very surprised in a pleasant way because he is correct. My counselor seemed to understand my case very well and as soon as I receive notification from the county that there aren’t any outstanding charges against me and I get clearance from medical (yes, I still have to have a physical examination prior to going to fire camp) I will be well on my way to fire camp.

Of course, I was hoping to come out of the hearing being “Full Packed” and fire camp eligible. However, this little glitch will delay me but it won’t prevent me from going to fire camp. When the meeting ended I walked out of the conference room a little confused. I was not exactly happy nor was I sad. I was more perplexed than anything. I will stay on op of this because for every month that I am here (SCC) I am losing 10 days and the longer I stay the longer it is before I can be with my family. I guess it could have gone much worse and the fact that I have gone through classification is a good step in the process. Maybe I should expect the unexpected because by now nothing in my case had gone according to form. Thank God for serenity and peace of mind or I would have gone insane by now! My recovery continues to assist me in so many different ways and I am forever grateful.