Day Before Christmas 2006

Once I finally fell asleep it was time to wake up. As I was listening to the radio there was a report about the transferring of prisoners to other states. According to the report “Powerful Prison Gangs” are preventing inmates from volunteering to be sent to other states in order to reduce the overcrowding situation. According to the report they are putting pressure on members not to go so their numbers stay strong. I do know there are 33 prisons in this state and I reside in only one of them, and fortunately I have not seen what this report is stating. This doesn’t mean that the report is inaccurate. I’m very happy that there are no gangs in this prison, at least none that I am aware of. There has been a great deal of conversation relating to the transfer of inmates and it is the consensus that none of the inmates here want to be transferred because they don’t see the advantage. Many of the inmates believe agreeing to be transferred to an out of state prison is tantamount to siding with the enemy. They don’t want to give in to the system and hold fast to other potential alternatives to the overcrowding. Many of the inmates believe there will be early releases due to the overcrowding. In a way, this is wishful thinking but based on all the reports, I have seen that something has to give in the next 6 months.

After breakfast my neighbor and I put back another clothesline - made out of a garbage bag - on his bunk and on mine. I must admit the inmates who have served multiple terms are very resourceful. Many of these inmates would give McGyver a run for his money! All is good until the next time when a CO cuts down the line but now at least I know how to make one.

I had two things that I needed to do in the afternoon yard and there was a question as to whether I would accomplish this or not. I needed to secure a telephone sign up for Christmas Day and I drafted one of my fellow instructors to help me since there were so many sign ups. I had him place his ID card in the box so that I could have two chances to sign up. The CO started calling name after name and the slots were filling up fast. He finally called my fellow instructor who secured a 1:15 pm time slot. My name was finally called for the same telephone at 1:00 pm. This meant I would be having 30 minutes of telephone time as opposed to 15 minutes and I would be able to talk to my family as well as my mother. Of course there is always the possibility the yard won’t open and any sign up times would disappear. Right now I am ecstatic to be able to talk to my family. By the way I planned on giving my fellow instructor 3 soups for helping me out if I were to accomplish my next task.

This task was going to the store which is actually a window overlooking the yard where the CO’s put the items out through a small slot. I approached the CO who was in charge of the store and asked if I may be able to get my items since I was shut out last week and haven’t been able to purchase anything since I arrived here. After telling me to wait several times, he finally called my name and told me to step in the cage. This meant I would be able to finally buy items from the store. I was so excited!

While I was waiting to get my items, a fellow inmate, who I have known since the reception center tried to get my attention. At first I tried to ignore him because I knew he wanted me to buy him something. He’s a few years older than me but looks like he’s 60 and has a reputation for hitting up anyone who is going to the store. I do have patience, but some reason when it comes to this particular person, I have very little patience. The unfortunate part about him is he is a homeless person outside of prison and lives the same way in here. It is truly sad that he doesn’t seem to be getting any better, but on the other hand there is no rehabilitation provided by the prison to help this person. No matter, I do know my limited patience with him is one of my character defects and certainly something I need to work on. He got my attention and asked for something sweet. My response to him was not exactly polite as I said, “If I get you something what about the other 1400 inmates on this yard. I would have to get everyone else something as well!” After I said this, I felt badly but really not that bad and continued to wait in line at the window. Since I submitted my store list, I couldn’t make any modifications. I order 20 tootsie pops for some of my dorm mates, a snickers for an inmate friend, and the milky way for one of the instructors.

My order of $140.00 was processed which basically included soups, tuna, rice, and beans. I ordered other items such as shampoo, crackers, laundry detergent, batteries, hot sauce, and tortillas. I am not sure how this amounted to $140 because the most expensive item was oatmeal which was $2.45 but the items did fill up 3 laundry bags. On the way back to the dorm, I stopped at the “homeless” inmate and gave him a tootsie pop and milky way and wished him Merry Christmas. I’m not sure if he thanked me but it didn’t matter and I went back to the dorm. I paid back some of the inmates who have helped me out with soups and snicker bars.