Prison Life (A small snapshot of a Modern Prison) by Geo (#1)
I am the man in the box, paying for my sins. I live out of a box. The rules say that everything I own must be capable of being stored in the standard foot locker that is found in every Prison cell in the State. That foot locker measures 22 x 16 inches and is about 10 inches in depth. Plenty of room to store a life.
Inside my box is a stack of paperwork, in folders, I consider essential. Assorted handwritten notes on legal issues pertaining to myself; receipts for personal property which I must be able to produce on demand that lists my General Education Diploma; Graduate certificates from Southern Career Institute; The National Institute for Paralegal Arts and Sciences, all studies excluding the General Education Diploma, I paid for and completed, on my own accord via mail correspondence. On top of that stack of paperwork is a stack of letters I’ve saved from Lynie’s hand, the ones I cherish the most. I could not save them all else there would be room for nothing else. Sometimes, when I am feeling down, or neglected, I spread all of her letters out on the bed and read them until I go to sleep. I sleep with them, and my mind is comforted. I sleep so peacefully with her words around me.
Also in the box is my Bible and several books I keep to read from occasionally. My hygiene items; canteen soap, shampoo, antiperspirant, Dial lotion, shaving cream and razor, toothpaste and toothbrush, foot powder and sunblock. There sits my Sony digital radio and earbuds. The earbuds have been repaired so many times they look dangerous, but in Prison when your radio or headphones or earbuds develop a short or break, you don’t throw them away and buy new ones – unless you are rich – you take it to the radio man in your dorm and get it fixed. Every dorm has at least one ‘Radio Shack’ man, and his payment is bartered from canteen items.
The remaining room in my box contains a single sweatshirt I keep for cold weather, and whatever food items I have left over from my latest trip to the canteen or my last tattoo job payment. Canteen food is my dietary staple, because Chow Hall food is bad. It is prepared bad, it is served on filthy trays, and it tastes bad. There are very few Chow Hall meals I consider acceptable. I do however go to breakfast because it’s hard to mess up potatoes and grits. Its really hard to mess up biscuits. The rest of the day the food is generally bad because almost every meal served is made with a type of meat substitute that comes in big tubes. It’s mostly textured vegetable protein (TVP) or soy mixed with chicken tripe and mechanically separated meat, e.g. scraps of cartilage, skin, organs, etc. that there is no other market for. The Media called it “Red Slime”, and it was in the Media only because a couple of years ago the School Districts started using it and the children and parents were outraged. There was all kinds of Media attention here in Florida and though it was taken out of the School District Kitchens, there has been no public outrage due to feeding prisoners. They’re still using red slime in 90% of the meals. The casseroles, spaghetti, chili conquistador, etc., all are made with the red slime meat.
Every now and then it is served spoiled, and it causes projectile diarrhea. Some times its mild, sometimes is real bad. I have seen the entire compound under quarantine, with phones turned off to prevent the news from reaching inmate’s families, while literally hundreds of inmates are lined up at trashcans five deep to empty their bowels all over the compound. Squatting in the grass on the Rec Yard and between dormitories with the Hershey squirts. There are 100 Institutions in this State and everyone of them has seen that at least once. But they still serve us the tube meat, and I only eat it when I am broke, hungry and have no choice. Woe is me.
The Canteen, on the other hand, taxes us on every corner with inflated prices. Ramen soups, for example are .69 a piece and Ramen soups on most compounds are a big seller. Lynie said she’s purchased five Ramen soups for a dollar many times. We’ve always known everything is just slightly higher in Prison than free world prices. But I would rather buy a Ramen soup for .69 than eat red slime in a casserole.
Until next time…
Lynie Tru Vinyard with Bring In Light’s Inmate Art, Stories and Issues
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