I slept from about 10:15-12:15, 1-4am, 5-6:25 am. Think I get woken mostly by loud toilets. During the night I was wondering if the clocks went back. I did not discuss that with anyone yesterday. Sure enough I am wide awake at 5:30am, so I figured I would write. Several other inmates made the same mistake and I told them before they left for breakfast.
I learned some more things yesterday. If you wear white or black sneakers without an air pocket showing, you can wear them when entering this camp. I wore black shoes, quite beat up and smelly and they seemed hesitant letting me in with those so I just had to toss them. Many folks get a good pair in at the beginning because I hear the sneakers they sell are cheap and don’t last. Typically, the inner back heel wears down from what I have seen. I keep hearing more details of how they shut down when there is too much contraband. TV rooms were shut until a few weeks ago. Gym only opened a week ago. Commissary had a $25/week limit for a while. So you are aware, that is the only way to get soap, shampoo and toothpaste. So I guess with $25 you can get those, but you won’t have any money for non necessities. Inmates are now changing the classroom clocks back right now at 6am. I don’t have a watch, tablet, or alarm clock so when I want to know the time I need to get out of bed. The clock for the other side of the wing doesn’t even work. Luckily I am not on that side.
Mailed my second piece of mail last night. Learned you can get pictures mailed or via services like Shutterfly, freeprints etc. I miss not seeing any pictures of family or friends so I was pushing Patti yesterday to get some sent out. ( Patti edit- I sent him our 2023 family photo calendar from Shutterfly on Nov. 4 and he received it on the 8th-they took out the metal spiral holding it together so he had to use thread from his pants to put it back together)Apparently, sometimes they give you a photocopy of mailed pictures so best to use a third party).
Heard two summers ago the AC didn’t work in this unit and it was terrible. Last summer they had a new AC installed and it was super cold, so that is good news. One reason I decided no to Ft. Dix was the bad reviews on no AC. Met an older guy from Manhattan that went to Otisville (NY) at lunch (chow) yesterday. He was transferred here for RDAP just like many from Ft. Dix (Ft. Dix does have RDAP, but it is at the low and not the camp so guys in the camp that qualify for RDAP are sent to other camps with RDAP rather than moving an inmate up a security level) Apparently the demographics at Otisville are the opposite of here. Probably 70% white collar. Here it’s 70% drugs. Typically when I meet folks we discuss how long they were in, what their sentence is in months and sometimes they just tell me their whole story, sometimes not. I was a little more aggressive asking about their stories the first day or two. I have been told not to share my story with too many folks. I guess if you get labeled it stays with you for your term.
I’ve met all sorts of folks. Lots who have drug charges. Some have weapons charges. There are former prosecutors and lawyers. The guy who helped me my first 24 hours got 24 months for tax evasion. Lots of other charges and guys he talks about, but I’m not going to write their details here. Just know there are so many different reasons the guys are there. Lots of the repeat offenders are drug related because they just can’t stay away from the huge money.
Had my hardest workout so far this morning. Thirty minutes intense ab, back and chest circuit. Then I worked my shoulders and arms with free weights by myself. I was going to practice pool, but my arms were too tired. I forgot to mention yesterday when I was running around the track (Saturday afternoon) I heard a DJ and music coming from beyond the southeastern hill. Must have been an outdoor wedding. It was only around 45-50 degrees. My friend Chuck has an outdoor wedding he is going to in another week just north of here. Not sure I would want to be invited to that with the cold weather. Saw Venus this morning when I awoke. I was thinking about how often I see it from our bedroom or outside by the firepit. Got a little depressed and getting depressed again right now, but figured at least that meant clear skies and a nice sunrise and possibly a sunny day. I have yet to see a forecast or weather info since I have arrived. I guess if I could buy a radio headset tomorrow and go to the tv room I would know more. Saw an update through the window to the tv room about Americans getting out of Gaza. That is my extent with the current news. I saw someone with a USA Today paper at trivia night. Maybe I need to figure out how to get a hold of that. Pretty sure they won’t let me get a daily paper. Sounds like too much work for them. ( Patti edit-Inmates are allowed to get the daily paper).
My goal is to find a job soon, so I keep asking guys about different jobs. Heard the prosecutor worked in landscaping and the CO’s found a box of contraband (cell phones, vapes) in the woods and he was closest to it so he got thrown in the SHU for around 30 days. Apparently, it is solitary confinement and completely sucks. He also surrendered over the weekend and got sent to the SHU until they processed him on Monday. I know there is zero chance he was related to the contraband in the two days I have known him. He leads trivia night and a workout team and seems like he is making the most of this journey. I heard if you piss someone off they can just write a report making you the aggressor and that gets you thrown in the SHU. Apparently, the day after a roommate left a cube his other roommate who he argued with did this to him.
Also there is a bad chest cold going around (inmates call it Covid). They told me don’t go to the health center if I get it. They said just deal with it or else you get thrown in the SHU. Back to jobs…The laundry is the best job as they can help out other inmates. Same with the kitchen or food warehouse. There is also a natural gas power plant where you watch gauges and apparently have lots of free time. There is a garage that maintains the vehicles, trucks etc. This seems a little interesting to me. I was told to meet them Tuesday morning by a neighbor who is a high level diesel mechanic who has the top job at the garage. He said they could use a person with good diagnostic skills. Another job is where you take a van to the neighboring prison, Allenwood. They make all the chairs for the government there. Sounds like office type chairs. To start there I would be loading and unloading trucks. I did that when I was 18-19 so perhaps that would make time go more quickly. The hours are 7-7:30 to 1:30-2. Most jobs are up to 20 hours a week with a long lunch break.
Didn’t eat much for breakfast and lunch. Lunch was brunch eggs, 2 pancakes and some over cooked potatoes. Since I saw a guy playing basketball last night and this morning I decided to practice shooting some hoops by myself. Was horrible at the beginning, but got a little better. Was told to ask someone to get some shoes, but said I will get some tomorrow at the commissary. I walked around the track and then decided to practice horseshoes. I wasn’t as bad as I thought. I found a friend to play with and I won all three short games. Apparently, there is another guy that is good in the other residence. We had fun and plan to do that again tomorrow if the weather is good. As we were walking out to horseshoes he told me he was in here for manslaughter from someone overdosing. Said he would purchase pure heroin for 30K and sell it for 60K. Took them awhile to catch up to him. Doesn’t seem like other folks in here with that background. Just a timid older white guy. He started attending the Spanish Christian service recently and when I asked him if he spoke Spanish he said not much, but all my friends speak Spanish. About 40% of my wing doesn’t speak much English. If I had a need for it I could brush up on my Spanish.
Earlier today at noon I attended a Catholic service. When walking in I recognized the majority of the guys. Two or three I had conversations with or knew. There were only about eight of us there. Since I had my ID I was chosen to go to the Guard (CO) desk to get a lighter, but no guards were around so there were no lit candles on the makeshift altar. The room (chapel) was like a small outdated classroom with a stained carpet and stained ceiling tiles. There was a box chest on one side with books and dvd’s in it and cabinets on the other side. Each cabinet named after a different religion. Two Eucharistic Ministers, an older man and middle aged lady, lead things. Inmates did the readings and the lady did the Gospel and a homily that seemed like it was just a summary from the books. They asked at the beginning for any special intentions to pray for and one guy asked us to pray for his children. We received Communion, but the Eucharist was consecrated elsewhere. We did a St. Michael prayer to end the service. Was a little different, it was much shorter and it didn’t have any music. It was about 15-20 minutes. It was nice, but it made me think about my family attending Mass earlier that day without me making me sad and then right now remembering it.
When I first arrived at the service I met a gentleman I had previously spoken to about getting into RDAP. We spoke about that again and he told me to go to the open house this weekend and let the manager know he referred me to her. Apparently, he and the manager have a good relationship and he did the same for someone else last week and he got a date for an interview. Once you get an interview and qualify you get into the next 90 day cycle. They have 3 groups (maybe he means 4?) and start a new cycle every 90 days. RDAP lasts for 9 months. When you are done you get to start the process back into society-Halfway house(HH) and Home confinement(HC). If you don’t get lost in the system folks who complete RDAP typically are in camp for 30-33% of their sentence. The same gentleman left with an Italian for Dummies book. When the Eucharistic Minister asked about it he said his wife’s family is Italian and that he had been learning the language for two years without telling them. He says it will be a big surprise for them and he will finally know what they are saying at the dinner table.
The chicken alfredo dinner was not as bad as I thought it would be, but the sides sucked. While walking back to the unit my my stomach felt bad, but I am still alive this morning…After dinner I decided to chill in the unit and not go right down to the gym to play pool. Then there was an announcement. After I asked a few people what they said, it was a heads up that they were doing an ad hoc count. So around 6:30pm they came through and they left and I was on my way to go play pool. Someone downstairs said they said to stay in, so apparently they told the downstairs this but not the upstairs. My neighbor was like something is not right. This is not normal. Eventually they called people to go to the 7pm church service, then 7:30pm work.
Bored as F, I decided to look at a stack of books on top of a Scrabble Spanish edition box. A book by Ben Mezrich caught my attention. Rigged-the true story of a Wall Street novice who changed the world of oil forever. Read 54 pages of 288 last night. Seemed interesting enough to continue. Like watching a movie in super slow motion. Having to read the author’s descriptions of the atmosphere and the the thoughts going through the main character’s head seem interesting enough. I will likely finish it in a few days. As I was reading this book I was impressed with the high quality use of words, descriptions, timing etc. I was thinking about how basic of a writer I am. My one pen just started running out of ink so I decided to take a break to ensure it worked for commissary. Turns out my neighbor said the books sucks and stopped around page 80-90. Says nothing happened. I am at page 128 and it’s getting a little more exciting.
Monday November 6, 2023
I got a decent sleep again Sunday night and got up for breakfast at 6am. Decided to take a break from the gym and just read my book. Then I heard I should have gotten my commissary paperwork in ASAP around 8:30am. Just as I was about to go down they called another surprise count delaying commissary and locking everyone down until just before lunch at 10:30am. Lunch was tacos again so that was good. Then I waited from 11-12 just to submit my sheet. Then around 1 my name was called and I finally got my items: Coke Zero, nuts, cereal, chips, granola bars, envelopes, stamps, pens, notepad, shampoo, soap, razor, toothpaste, dental floss, reading glasses, new shower shoes, slides, sneakers, long sleeve shirt, sweatpants, short socks, shorts that are way too big and long. Here’s a pretty current list of what is available and the price for the items at Lewisburg- each prison has a slightly different variety and restrictions on how many of each item you can buy at a time https://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/lew/lew_commlist.pdf . The spending limit each month is $360 and I can shop weekly. I spent $290 and everyone said I should have spent it all since you never know if they will put a $25/week limit on it again. I am in the process of purchasing some extra items for someone new, just like someone did for me. Of course they were out out of some of the items like my size sweatshirt, an alarm clock, watches, etc. I did get some mackerel so I can have some money for the little extra things like tipping the barber.
It was a pretty warm day again so I played some basketball and was horrible. I decided to stop and as I was walking back to the unit I saw three guards walking towards me. They said I decided to try and avoid them and then they had to pat me down and wand me. They asked if I had anything on me and I said no, not even my ID card. They said I can go to the guard station to get a lanyard, but they didn’t have any there. I had heard you don’t need your ID card and that you just need to remember your inmate number which I did, so not sure I should get a lanyard. No one wears them. Guess I shouldn’t have said anything about the card.
Went for another two mile run, showered and shaved-I had gone 3 days and was looking pretty rugged. I was invited to play basketball and declined since I just showered. Asked about horseshoes and got a group of 4 to play horseshoes for 45 minutes just before 4pm count. Another guy in his mid 40’s and myself kicked ass against the 60 year olds. Dinner was pulled pork without BBQ sauce, but with something not too bad. Around 6:15pm my name was called for mail. I actually heard it from my cube. I was surprised since my counselor said I could expect the mail to take 7-10 days. Perhaps that covered the processing time for paper work on his end. Got my release plan mailed Thursday from Patti and 5 books form Amazon- Also a card from my stepmom, Kathleen. Shortly after that someone did not pick up their mail so the guard was pissed he had to walk down to the unit and started searching around. He found a cell phone charger in the cube next to me and the guard seemed to have fun smashing and throwing it as hard as he could against the ground. He said that was easier than paperwork. Then a little later they came back and chased someone into the bathroom and accused him of drinking and yelled at him for touching the guard. Afterwards some folks were bitching about the guards. Read more of my book and went to sleep around 10:30pm.
Tuesday November 7th 2023
I woke up from 2:30-3:30 am and then at 6:25am. I just missed breakfast, but heard it was oatmeal with no milk which I don’t like. I did arms and shoulders at the gym and a Spanish speaking guy was nice enough to give me a milk after I told him I missed “chow.” He also said you were the one with the girl, right? I said yep, my wife of 27 years and we have 5 children. He has 3 children and a unique Spanish name I can’t remember. He told me it was a coat like the guards wear.. Played 2 games of pool against myself. I’m getting better. Just after breakfast at 7:30am I had an interview for the garage job. It was me talking to the manager for 1 minute through his van window. I guess he liked me because he told me to talk to the other guy Thursday in the am. Patti emailed me the forecast and it looked awesome for today, so I’m looking forward to more outdoor activities.
Incredible weather today. Mostly sunny and 60-65 all day. A little breezy for basketball, but I practiced some more on my own. I’m getting better. I played horseshoes with the best guy yesterday and won and then went back to basketball. Some neighbors came down to watch and we got another person. The three of us played Horse and some foul shot game. The guy that joined us is my next door neighbor, an Italian who talks and talks. The definition of a Jersey Shore kinda guy. He was talking so much shit to try and throw us off. He found a watch next to the pole, which was like finding gold. They cost $100 at commissary and they are currently out of them. It was a little beat up, but he put it right on. I decide to run again, but after one lap my knee started hurting. Today I managed to do 9 pull ups (better than the 6 I maxed out on last week). This was the first time I tried the pull up bar outside. Obviously guys are working out so much here. Many are in great shape and others either just got here and are working a lot of weight off and others seem like they are trying to get back in shape before they go home in a few months.
Here’s a little more detail on the layout. There is a main building that contains the guards, the staff, computers to email on and sync devices (tablets) and print emails, the library, the chapel, a classroom, a visitation room, commissary, barber, laundry and dining hall. On one side of the main building there is an RDAP unit and the gym. That side also contains a football field, soccer field and a nice basketball court only for guys in RDAP. They treat guys in RDAP a little better than the regular camp. RDAP guys have a dorm in that area as well. On the other side of the main building are two residence units each housing up to 160 inmates. I’m in the far building which is pretty full. I think the only empty bed is in my cube. The close building has many less inmates in it and I think it is under renovation. There is a large pond with ducks and geese walking around and crapping all over the lawn and pathways and on some of the basketball court. We get about two pieces of bread for lunch and dinner and of course some inmates feed them. Typically right in front of the sign that says “Don’t feed the wildlife.” There is a firepit on the far side of the pond used on Wednesdays. Both residences are on the right and the pond, basketball courts, bocce ball, beach volleyball and some outdoor workout bars are on the left. After all of that is a cinder track with a softball field in the middle and two horseshoe pits on the right. The pits are the nicest I have seen, boxed out with spots to throw from. The softball field also has aluminum bleachers on each side. Today the wind made the horseshoe area smell like a farm. There are lots of fields and farms around here and Bucknell University is probably two miles as the crow flies. We can see the hospital, which is right near the strip mall where I had my last good meal at Chipotle. Last night at sunset we saw 3-4 deer in a field about 25 feet from the horseshoes. Saw my name on the call out sheet to see the Physician’s assistant at 8am tomorrow. There are also about six feral cats that hang out by the doors during meals. One looks like a fat Cosmo (our cat). Went back to play pool again after dinner. Played all of the losers from the other table. Only the bad cue with the weight broken off was available. I held my own, but was a little nervous with a few big dudes watching me for an hour between their weight sets. The biggest guy played me at the end. It was close. There is a Spanish guy that is incredible. He let another guy miss the 8 for like 20 minutes. It was painful to watch. The loser is from the Dominican Republic and I also see him everyday serving us food. Everyone is still very nice to me. We did have 2 guys disagree in our halfwing area, but no physical fights. It’s getting close to 9pm count so I need to wrap this up. The guards grab the outbound mail after this count.
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