Prison fosters a training ground for learning how to be content. Incarceration requires experiencing concepts we know to be true, even if they are challenging to live by. I’ve written before on how happiness is this vague concept that people spend a lot of time chasing and, in the act of pursuing, find they can’t …
You don’t throw things away in prison, and you definitely don’t take them home with you. So what happens with everything you have when it’s time to leave? The bidding begins. When someone asks if they can put a bid on something what they’re really saying is “can I have that when you leave?” If …
Every night around 9:55pm a red light comes on, indicating that it’s time to head to your bunk for standing count. We’re counted multiple times each day. At 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 10pm and throughout the evenings at midnight, 3am and 5am. However, for the 4pm and 10pm count, we’re standing at our bunks. All other …
Before coming here I rarely read books. I didn’t make the time, or if I had time, I turned on Netflix. I also had littleinterest in fiction, feeling that if I was going to spend time reading, I should be learning. However, we watch TVand learn little to nothing. I regularly choose music over podcasts, …
When Artificial Intelligence Collides With Writing Read More »
At the time, it didn’t feel like the right move. In the end, I think it was. In reality, it was out of my hands. Into my second month here I enrolled in classes through the education department. My family and the coordinator helped chase down high school and college transcripts. Paperwork and enrollment applications …
Another common conversation: “I want to lose more weight but my bench press will suffer.” Well bud, no one cares how much you can bench and it’s not going to help you once you leave. What I care about is longevity. How can I continue grow stronger while increasing my mobility, speed and endurance along …
I recently picked up on the technical meaning of the numbers following the acronym SPF – Sun Protective Factor. An SPF of 15 would imply that the sunscreen provides protection for 15 times longer than going without. If your skin could last ten minutes in direct sunlight before burning, now you can go one hundred …
Mackerel as a Means of Currency Among the Incarcerated: A Retrospective Analysis Inmates are never short on creative ideas and they’ve created many solutions to the lack of cash in prison. Most compounds use stamps as a form of currency. Universally accepted, inflation protected, and easy to store and transport. Inmates at Yankton use mackerel. …
Spare the last month, the softball field has been closed for the entire time I’ve been here due to Covid imposed restrictions. Even with the closure, I heard the lore from other inmates – softball in Federal Prison is a huge deal. One guy half-joking/half-serious actually said that when he caught his second case he …
Seneca phrased it best when he eloquently wrote “work nourishes noble minds.” If everyone sat around every day, in prison or outside of it, not only would nothing get done, a lethargy would take over our souls. We’re meant to put our minds and bodies to use. Without inmates working, a prison ceases to function. …