July 12, 2007

9:47 pm

The day began with us still under lock down and shock waves went through population when five men were sent to seg. for failing the drug test. After we ate dinner the lock down was lifted and my basketball team, Ohio States, played a game against the Florida Gators. It went just like the NCAA Championship with the Gators winning, our record is 7 and 12- last place of the six teams in our league. I hate losing but it felt wonderful to run up and down the court after two months in jail, this was my second game since getting out.

July 11, 2007

To say that yesterday was eventful would be an understatement. Someone woke me to pass the word that they were shaking down, a “shake down” is when the police search dorms, cells and all other areas of the prison. When they shake down all 114 inmates are sent to the TV room and called out by bed numbers, our bodies are searched as we pass several officers to reach the one or two that are waiting at our beds. This one came with an added bonus of being drug tested and that really had the dorm buzzing because since I’ve been gone the marijuana had flowed. Drugs are always welcome in prison because of the monotony of our lives and the high percentage of junkies inside, but using them comes with a risk of punishment and harassment. Our warden hates drugs as much as we love them, he actually gets offended when his methods of interdiction have been beat.

It took all day for them to search all five dorms and the prison is still locked down, that’s when only the kitchen workers and other essential workers are allowed out of the dorms, everyone else is held in place. All types of contraband are taken as they look for weapons, homemade alcohol and drugs but often have to settle on taking old magazines, extra clothing and other junk. Oh, I forgot to mention that before the real shake down began they primed the dorms with some drug dogs. Two German Shepherds walked through the dorm and found nothing, at least that’s how it appeared from my vantage point.

After it was over we put our belongings back in place because the police leave things in such a mess. The rest of the day was spent contemplating what and who sparked all of this.

July 10, 2007

12:25 am

It's been a full week and everyone has learned what sent me to jail and chastised my mistakes. Some of those opinions actually surprised me because I thought of these men as enlightened and to have them revealing a slave like mentality is new to me. Whatever happens to us standing up for ourselves as black men and/or convicts? Am I supposed to let anyone put their hands on me, especially when there isn't a justified reason?

A day or so after I reached pop. Officer Bennett saw me and wanted to talk, but I was moving too fast to give a damn. The next day he had the "pill call" window and as I got my medicine he went into his stich about he wasn't gonna lie for anyone. He thought that when I called him as a witness for my disciplinary hearings that I wanted him to lie for me. After letting him get it off his chest I did not hesitate to inform Officer Bennett that he was dead wrong, that I only wanted him to tell the truth about what he saw and heard. He kept going about how he doesn't lie for anyone, including his co-workers, and I just looked at him like he was an imbecile. Anyone who knows Bennett should already know that he's a self righteous police, a Bible Thumping Ass kisser of his superiors.

It seems like things have changed since I've been gone, but in reality not much has. I was placed in the same dorm I left, a good thing because I thought I'd have to maneuver to get back here. I had planned for such cause I didn't want to get use to living and sleeping around another 113 men, at least now I'm familiar with the majority of the dorm. I even know most of the new faces in the dorm from seg., the jail birds are flying together again.

Officially I'm still assigned to my job as a law clerk in the law library, but they have hired three new clerks and ever fired one of my co-workers so there isn't a need for me. The supervisor of the law library told me while in seg. that I was going back in there and I said that I wasn't. Why? He hired a guy who's a rat/snitch, snitches are everywhere but having to work with one that runs to the police like a child runs to tell on their siblings is beyond something I can handle. I don't want my name in front of the police like that because they treat us different based on our reputations. Hopefully, the supervisor won't force things, but if he does I believe I can talk my way out of it with the warden because in less than one year I've logged more hours at my job than most others have in five years. Oh, it helps that it was the warden who actually hired me.

Same dorm and same job. But nothing can replace the wasted time and one opportunity that's lost, the leather shop. I'd been waiting for the chance to submit an application to get into the leather shop since I reached pop. in February of 2006 and by going to jail I missed out. Currently I'm begging the officer in charge of the Hobby Craft Program to let me in, something that would be a minor miracle if allowed because you must have a record clear of disciplinary infractions for at least six months and $200. Guess which one I'm lacking. The money is required cause they don't want to approve anyone who can't afford to order supplies, making leather goods takes money but can still be profitable.

July 9, 2007

Greetings from general population! Yes, I've made it out of seg. and resettled into pop.. The following is how it all played out.

As I expected my appeals for help with getting the disciplinaries dismissed were unsuccessful. The Deputy Warden kicked me down and the Warden quickly followed suit, but it wasn't all for nothing. I believe that my efforts earned me the respect of the Deputy Warden, who helped me leave seg. quiches than most others would have in my situation. Besides writing him a very long letter we talked about how things happened when he came through seg. with the weekly Segregation Review Board.

When I got what's known as the "final copy" of the disciplinaries and saw that he'd approved them and not dismissed either I was shocked. Those papers arrived at my door on June 7th, but were supposedly signed on the 22nd of May. Once again they have skirted their own rules and there was nothing I could do about it. The rules state that they have ten working days, not including weekends or holidays, to sign off on this. But somehow they rewrote the rules without adding the changes to the "imamate rule book" and have 30 days to sign off, anything beyond that must be explained.

Once I accepted that there is no escaping my punishments I quickly wrote the Deputy Warden and the Captain over segregation trying to get moved into the doghouse as soon as possible. The reason for that was they were talking about sending me to pop. while waiting for a spot in the doghouse during our chats when they were with the Seg. Board. There plans would've had the punishments hanging over my head for a long time and had me in limbo while in pop. because I would've been unable to tell my mother to visit cause I could've been moved anytime.

On June 12th I was moved into the doghouse and several inmates were pissed off that I was moved ahead of them. When I tried to explain how it happened they still had no understanding. The Deputy Warden and Captain pushed me ahead of them because they are always looking for guys to release into pop. and I fit the bill, when my doghouse days were over with I'd quickly be released into population.

After over 17 1/2 years of imprisonment I've finally experienced the doghouse. During my early years when I had many fights there wasn't a doghouse for death row, now there is one and luckily I’d learned from those early mistakes. When the officer processed me into the New cell they searched my property and took some magazines, batteries, candy, radio and headphones. The cell was as nasty as the others so I spent several hours cleaning it.

The routine while there was the same as in the other cell, expect there wasn't a radio to block out the day and increased things as the weeks went by. My mail was kinda slow so I didn't write much and I neglected the blog because I doubted if it would get built. I'm sorry that doubt took over because Claire has never let me down before, her dedication and love have always shined through.

Being unable to spend money to get the things I was use to having had me eating almost everything on my trays and grateful to get a very thin cigarette (illegal) and one spoon of coffee. It was rough on me, with a life so depriving I hate being denied what's within my reach. The weeks leading up to the doghouse I purchased the necessities, you know soap, deodorant, pens, paper, envelopes, multi-vitamins and candy because I wanted to prepare for not having any snacks. The candy went quickly and I had to swear off candy bars after I ate five in one day.

The guy who had that cell before me was feeding the birds through a hole in the window the size of an ink pen and I wanted to follow suit. It was hard looking at the birds cock their heads to eye me when I'd be in the window and a few times I manages to feed them, but like I said earlier hunger made me eat everything. I needed my bread! :) Other inmates fed them and they'd survive without mans intervention so I managed to still enjoy bird watching without any guilt, actually I'd be in thee window to see the women thanks to a view of the parking lot and would watch the birds during intermissions.

Leaving the doghouse gave me a good feeling and I was put in a cell under someone I'd known for ten years. Jeremiah Jackson got off death row thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Atkins vs. Virginia (2001) that made it illegal to execute the mentally retarded, it's taken him this long to get a State Court to determine that he falls into that category. Jeremiah was excited when he learned I was in seg. and when I left the doghouse he was super excited when I was put under him, nearly talked my ears off. When we are surrounded by people that we don't know it's a pleasure to find a familiar face amongst the crowd.

My stay under Jeremiah didn't last very long because I was let out of the doghouse on June 29th and released into population on July 2nd. He and I knew that we were on the release list, #5 and #9, and couldn't wait for our numbers to be called.

I left seg. around noon and as I headed down the hall a police ran by me and yelling, "Code Red, Code Red in Receiving !" Then another police began yelling, "Clear the hall, Clear the hall. Go to your dorms!" There I am standing in the middle of the hall not knowing what to do cause I don't even have a dorm to report to yet, next thing I know I see is an inmate I barely know bleeding. Yes, violence has reared its head again, he was stabbed/cut by another guy. It turns out that both the victim and the assailant lived in the dorm I was going to, my old dorm, and I was suppose to be on the bunk above the victim. His misfortune got him sent to seg. after a trip to the hospital and gave me the bottom bunk.

The prison was locked down for the rest of the day and I suspect that it was for only one day due to the camera crew being here from MSNBC.