I Keep a Journal
For 12 Years...... When I was put away for 12 years, I decided to keep a journal of all that occurred. I figured whether I wrote a book about my experiences or not, I was going to have a unique perspective on life in these places. So, as long as the situation was abnormal to me, I recorded it.
A few snippets are as follows"
Not long after I arrived a guy in the block across from mine set himself and his cellmate on fire. We could see the smoke from our window.
Guy is upset that he isn't given juice for breakfast, causes ruckus, apprehended by staff, and is brought to solitary. It just happens I'm waiting at the gate next to solitary when he starts struggling again and the staff member runs the guy's head into a section of glass next to the gate, breaking it with blood going everywhere. I have been in long enough to know not to react.
Sitting in dayroom waiting for commissary call, one guy runs up and quickly starts stabbing another. You've learned to get up and quickly walk away.
Different institution, sitting on locker box drinking morning tea and waiting for chow call. Men in black(like SWAT for institutions) roll out side door and grab guys in bunk across from me screaming "it's these two." We are immediately locked down and after a significant delay (never should have drank all that tea) we are sent to dayroom, while the MiB tear up the housing area. Come back after lunch to clean up and my bunkmate and my stuff are completely intermixed with the two from next door's stuff. It takes hours to sort out and some things have just disappeared. All because one of them had a cell phone somewhere on the premises.
Saw many more things of this nature, but most of the time it was staving off shear boredom. Truly, NEVER want to experience this again. But I do have most of it in written form even major historical events like 9/11 and the death of Pope John Paul II.
So keeping a journal of certain events in your life is not a bad idea, because it may help you one day to remember exactly what happened previously without the intervening faulty memory.
A few snippets are as follows"
Not long after I arrived a guy in the block across from mine set himself and his cellmate on fire. We could see the smoke from our window.
Guy is upset that he isn't given juice for breakfast, causes ruckus, apprehended by staff, and is brought to solitary. It just happens I'm waiting at the gate next to solitary when he starts struggling again and the staff member runs the guy's head into a section of glass next to the gate, breaking it with blood going everywhere. I have been in long enough to know not to react.
Sitting in dayroom waiting for commissary call, one guy runs up and quickly starts stabbing another. You've learned to get up and quickly walk away.
Different institution, sitting on locker box drinking morning tea and waiting for chow call. Men in black(like SWAT for institutions) roll out side door and grab guys in bunk across from me screaming "it's these two." We are immediately locked down and after a significant delay (never should have drank all that tea) we are sent to dayroom, while the MiB tear up the housing area. Come back after lunch to clean up and my bunkmate and my stuff are completely intermixed with the two from next door's stuff. It takes hours to sort out and some things have just disappeared. All because one of them had a cell phone somewhere on the premises.
Saw many more things of this nature, but most of the time it was staving off shear boredom. Truly, NEVER want to experience this again. But I do have most of it in written form even major historical events like 9/11 and the death of Pope John Paul II.
So keeping a journal of certain events in your life is not a bad idea, because it may help you one day to remember exactly what happened previously without the intervening faulty memory.
51-55, M