Love Seat

I have an appointment today to send my excessive personal property home.  Any prison I have been to offers an option for you to send your property home with a visitor.  You let your visitor take the property when they come to see you and avoid paying the price to mail.

This camp does not offer that option.  Instead, you must use stamps and pay to send your package through mail.  I am scheduled to take this very option and send home a very large stack of pictures and an even larger stack of mail.

When someone takes the time to sit and write their thoughts to me, I'm touched.  I'm also quite anal and won't through out these letters.  I have all my birthday cards since I was a kid.  One day perhaps I could shred all these letters and cards and stuff a couch with the shreddings.  Then I could call it my love seat.

Well....a lot of love went into all those letters.  Hence the love seat.

How much love is in a store-bought seat anyway?  I'm just sayin'.....

They coined the phrase "spring cleaning" because of all the junk we acquire over time.  The stuff the kids outgrow.  Items that break and we have every intention of fixing, yet two years later they are still broke, hanging in the garage.  Baggage.  Junk.  So spring rolls around and we clean out our junk.  Then drag it into the yard, stab a sign into the curb and declare our junk pile a yard sale.  Someone comes along and rushes to claim these new treasures.

When you are a prisoner you have limited space for personal items.  One morning they wake you up, tell you to pack your personal items and prepare to transfer.  You begin to bag all your stuff and realize you have a pile of stuff.  Your expected to carry all those bags, while handcuffed onto a bus.  And repeat this process throughout the day.  Hard to carry all that stuff in handcuffs.

So, I'm trying to eliminate my property and send some home.  As a prisoner you never know when they'll come along and tell you to pack your stuff.

Another side effect is shake downs.  When they come in to search they go through all your personal items.  The more shit you have, the longer they stay at your house.  Personally, I'm a fan of them being in and out.  Then you run into the fact that they won't respect all your personal property the way that you do either.  Your things will end up in a pile on the floor.

I'm able to pay for shipping with stamps.  A dollar amount is placed on the package your mailing.  You then add the required number of stamps for postage.  Today I used 26 first-class stamps on my package.  Two years worth of mail and photos was placed into a box and mailed home.  By the time I am free, I will have a nice love seat.

I walk through this life here and remind myself that I'm just passing through.  The time I miss behind these bars will be made up for once I'm out.  I lived pretty hard before prison, but I'll never take even one moment for granted.

A country song asks a man what he did when he learned he was dying....he states he went sky diving, Rocky Mountain climbing, and rode a bull named Foo-Man-Choo.

Sky diving may cause my heart to explode.  I'll ride a bull though.  And I want to go up in a hot air balloon.  That will be my substitute for jumping out of an airplane.

We should all live life as if tomorrow may never come.  What have you done to make a memory?  Why don't you start by throwing a ball with your boy.  Have a father/daughter date.  Kiss your spouse and use some tongue.  Step outside the parameters of your comfort zone and live my friends. 

Chapter 33 vs. Mail Room

Chapter 33 is the title given to the handbook of rules for both inmate and officer conduct.

Since coming to prison, I have never seen Chapter 33 enforced on an officer.  Only inmates.  Prison is a one-way street with the men in blue always dead wrong.  There are specification for the length of your hair, your fingernails and the slack in your belt.  None of these have bothered me.  It's the way prison rolls.  But everybody has to report to somebody.  And sometimes some people needed to be reminded of that.

Chapter 33 covers dress code to visiting privileges.  Basically every point in between.  The rules are ever changing and added to and even manipulated to fit the special need of the current situation.  Even if you are right according to Chapter 33, there is one final clause in the rule book: "The verbal order of a superior officer is to be followed at all times."

That is a charge...disobeying a verbal order...which carries loss of gain time (inmates earn time that will taken off their sentence for behaving; that is called gain time), a possible D.R. (disciplinary report, which is a write up when you have broken a rule and again lose gain time or pull a potential transfer, etc) and even confinement time (or "the box").

Most recently the problems I have encountered have been with the prison's mail room.  The people sorting mail are given the job of a mail handler.  They are to scan read your outgoing and incoming mail to make sure there are no security risks present.  What exactly is a security risk you ask?  Good question....

Obviously, my lady in a bathing suit has been branded a security threat to the well being of this establishment. And not only my lady, but the lady of nearly every man at this institution.  When your lady chooses to send you a spicy picture of herself, it will most certainly be rejected by this prisons mail room.

If there were men in the mail room sorting, these letters would come in without delay.  No doubt.  However, Marion's mail room is operated by women.

Currently I have one or more packages rejected each week by this prison's mail room.  I don't believe my lady in her bikini is a threat to the security of this prison.  I may give myself a heart attack, but that's not the point here.  These packages are being rejected according to Chapter 33.  How?  Again, good question...by using the rule that states: "No nudity allowed.  A fully opaque covering must cover all genitalia.  Nothing may suggest that sexual contact is imminent."   

Somehow, my lady holding a volleyball on the beach in a conservative swimsuit met resistance to this rule and was rejected.  In fact, the resistance my mail is hitting is this mail room.  Bending Chapter 33 to fit their need.

Lately, it's been my art.  I'm an artist.  For years I have mailed out and received pieces of art.  Recently all my art is being rejected.  You ask why?  Chapter 33 of course!  "Art is of size and clarity to possibly be used for tattoo patterns."

Yeah....really!  My own art that I drew.  Taken from my gallery and mailed back to me so I can review my art over the years.  Rejected.

Along with this update, I am currently preparing grievances to file against the mail room personnel of this prison. Sure there must be rules, but they need to be enforced both ways.

If you chain up your dog in the sun with no food and water, then poke it with a stick?  You are breaking the law.  Not to mention, you're an asshole.

Mail is considered federal property.  Tampering with it is a federal offense.  So quit poking us with a stick!  Damn Yankees said it best.....

Don't tread on me.      

Hello, My Name Is.....

Brooke. 

I work, pay bills, run errands, and....put on my pants the same you do.  There is nothing extraordinarily special about me.  I am a loyal friend, a loving sister and a mother of two beautiful children.  I am a childhood friend of J.J. and now a proud blogger.  Or....typist...that seems more appropriate being that these posts are J.J.'s thoughts.  Not mine.

Let me take you for a fast ride down memory lane.  20 years ago, I use to run through the woods with J.J. after church.  Engage in snowball fights, build forts, play tag and take dog sled rides with my friend, who now calls himself J.J.  Today, we write.

Many, many years went by since we have talked.  I heard stories about J.J.  Living a colorful life.  Living big.  Living on the edge.  But, through all the years, I have always considered him my friend.  I have always kept him in my prayers.  Then, one year ago I heard about a blog named Judicious Jailbird.

I checked it out.  Like J.J., I grew up in a conservative Christian home.  Unlike, J.J. I never dreamed of trying the things he did.  I remember thinking, "Really? You turned your closet into a grow room?"  when I read Growing Up.  I remember holding my breath when I read the series My Life.  I remember my heart sinking when I read Dark Days.

Last summer, once I caught up on my friend's life, we started to write.  We have laughed about childhood memories.  We share our ups and downs.  We travel the world together as we write about the adventures we hope to experience one day.  And, we challenge each other to new thoughts and opinions.

Last summer, I was also surprised by a news story that explained the Muskegon County Jail (in West Michigan) was changing the inmate mail policy.  The new policy outlines that inmates can no longer receive incoming letters, but are now restricted to postcards from their loved ones.  I read strings of comments in support of the new policy.  Some comparing the jail/prison system to summer camps.  I have never been to jail/prison, but I am pretty sure that they do not have canoe trips, campfires with S'mores, and sing Kumbaya.  I thought about my friend J.J.  I thought about the people he writes, and how he feels a part of their lives.  I thought about the time he spends writing posts and drawing art for this project, and how this helps him do his time in a positive and productive way.  I thought about how incredibly important these things are to J.J. as he spends his time bettering himself.  I was disappointed to read what others wrote in support of taking away inmate's mail.  I am disappointed in society's harsh judgements.  Inmates are already being punished. Who are we to continue to punish them?

Moved by my disappointment, I wrote to J.J. and told him that I would be happy to help him if I could.  Now, I am proud to be the childhood friend that shares J.J.'s stories and talents with you.

I believe that it is important for inmates to stay connected to life on the other side of the fence.  It is important for them to stay in contact with family and friends.  And, I believe that this is a positive and productive project for J.J. to have in his life.  (Right, I know.  You may read some things and think "Productive?"  But c'mon.....think about it......he is hanging on his bunk writing and drawing rather than gambling or doing drugs, among many other choices that are presented on a daily basis.) 

Prison doesn't rehabilitate inmates.  Inmates choose to rehabilitate themselves.  I believe that J.J. has chosen to better himself.  And, I know that this project plays a large role in his quest for a better life.

It is quite likely that you do not always agree with him.  That's OK.  I don't either.  I am not here because these are my opinions or thoughts.  I am here because he is my friend.