As for the latest news, 43-year-old April was transported out Wednesday for a hysterectomy, but before surgery, thankfully, the hospital staff discovered that her painful tumor is actually a baby. I wonder if she'll name him "Tooma".
The canteen is now selling us men's athletic shoes for $13-something a pair, and they are so cheaply made that there's no brand name. The sign simply reads, "SHOE". What kind of shoe has no brand? And if they are selling them to us for that price, they must cost the canteen a buck 92 a pair. They will last a gal about a week on these rough sidewalks. I bet the right and left are identical, so that they can begin selling the shoes separately for $8 each or more in case just one falls apart first. Cha-ching.
Oh, the canteen is now selling us state toilet paper for sixty-three cents a roll. They have none to freely issue. They only have extras to sell to people who are making between $7.50 and $8.50 a month. I smell the acrid stench of exploitation in the air. Cha-ching, again!
The canteen sells us packaged food that must be cooked like rice in a bag, but they no longer sell the microwave bowls to cook in. They now only sell think plastic cereal bowls that can't take heat. I'm curious to see how the girls boil up mac'n cheese in the cardboard box.
We only get ice once a day—at around 8:30 at night. The poor fools who want a cold drink at a reasonable hour, say after work at 4, are out-of-luck. We used to get ice three times a day, but that privilege died away with the budget cuts. Can't afford to repair the ice machines.
The two most disgusting modern words are "budget cuts". (I'm sure free people feel the same way.) Our food is slop because of budget cuts. Can't have enough toilet paper for the same reason. Can't have special programs to help rehabilitate prisoners because of budget cuts. No ice water in Hell. Our uniforms are frayed and torn. (The visiting room uniforms are so bad that my mother once asked if I needed money to replace my shirt! She's clueless. One Christmas I folded her an origami bird, and she asked if I bought it at the prison "gift shop".) The plumbing is crumbling. Slave wages for workers. No raises or incentive pay. No Pell Grants so prisoners can continue their education. You get the picture.
I really realize that I've tumbled down the rabbit hole when I hear insane policies like the "work release" qualifications. To explain work release, there are crews of gals who leave the prison grounds (without chains and shackles and handcuffs) to mow grass, clean up the highways, weed eat, etc. We also have the nursing home gals who take all the jobs that free people don't want in a local nursing home. I've heard such great stories about our gals who make it their business to keep the clients happy and clean. They are angelic orderlies—probably because a nursing home is very similar to a prison, and the inmates have compassion for the elderly whose only crime is not dying sooner.
Even if we get to be less than five years from freedom, by policy we are not qualified for work release eligibility if we have a "first-degree" crime. So when Janiece and Kris are within five years of parole, only Kris can go to work release. Janiece has a first-degree assault conviction—25 years with an 85% mandatory minimum. No one was killed, but a young woman was hurt—and Janiece was convicted even though she wasn't even at the scene of the crime. (BUT the crime scene was in her house.) Kris, on the other hand, is serving 25 years with an 85% mandatory minimum for second-degree murder for taking the life of her abusive beau, while saving her own. But still… Someone died. Which is more severe? Assault or death? But the policy is clearly written to preclude first-degree crimes.
In a decade or so when Janiece is within five years of leaving prison, I bet she begins the grievance procedure and fights this policy. But till then, a murderer can go to work release but an assaulter cannot, although I think each candidate should be examined on a case-by-case basis—not that anyone who wears a suit care what I think. It's my understanding that this policy comes from Central Office and was not designed here—only implemented. I'd have more to say about this and other issues, but I'm still locked up. I tip toe on the edge of danger as it is with my candid reporting.
I gotta run and teach aerobics! I'm doing a "weight-less" class today (with no hand weights) for weight loss. I can't wait. (Why am I such a sucker for puns?)
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