February/March
Hello my Beloved,
Once again, I am in catch up mode. I am still frustrated by what Sgt. Watkins and the Commissary employees did to me in January. In February I had another interesting encounter with the Sgt. I had gone to property to pick up a few things that I had ordered, including a new pair of headphones. After collecting then I started to walk away when the Sgt. called me ever to his desk. He held up pair of expensive headphones and asked me if I had forgotten to pick them up. I had already checked my receipt and know I had only ordered I pair, I politely told him no, I had already received the ones that I had ordered. He shoved the headphones towards me and said I should take them because I had to have ordered them. I again politely told him no and said that I would be stealing if I did. His smile quickly turned to an angry scowl and he put them in his pocket; I thanked him and walked away. As I did, I thought I saw his personal camera had been turned on. It was then that it occurred to me that the whole thing could have been a set up to charge me with theft from DOC. I still don’t know. Maybe he just felt bad and it was his way of saying sorry. It’s so had to be objective when thinking about people that have gone out of the way to hurt you.
Our early morning shower routine came to an end in early February. Two gang members decided to ignore the early morning shower line and jumped in front of a lot of guys. That was bad enough, but they then hung a shirt up over the entrance so that the guards in the booth wouldn’t see what they were doing during their individual showers. The guard in the booth continually told then to take it
1.
down but they just laughed at her, yelling threats the whole time. The guard then announced that early morning showers were a privilege because official showers shouldn’t begin until 6:30 am. The guys laughed it off. Most of them have already lost all of their good time and don’t have any jobs they could lose by getting charges. It’s very frustrating being locked in with people like that.
On a more positive note, a young gang member called KP began to ask me about my Critical Thinking class. I began teaching him Tactics from Koukl. He claims to be a Christian. I showed him how Tactics cannot only be used when engaging other people but it helps to develop wisdom when applied to our own internal thought processes.
It was cool to have snow the week before my birthday. The guys gave me 2 great birthday cards. St Brides also gave me a present by lacking our dorm down for a few days because one of the new additions to our dorm got stabbed in the face while I was in Carpentry class. He will live but he got a lot of stitches. The geniuses that stabbed him tried to cover it up by bandaging his wounds. I passed him when I came in from class just before the guards noticed that his face was wrapped up like a mummy. We also got locked down earlier in February when there was yet another 4 on 1 fight in the bathroom. Thankfully they didn’t catch 2 other fights that month or we would have been locked down even more.
I continue to wait to see the dentist for my tooth and mouth guard. Every time I sleep, I continue to grind my teeth. The 25th of February I fractured even more of the tooth that had a missing filling, I had to get some sandpaper in Carpentry and sand the edges of
2.
the tooth down because it was lacerating the inside of my cheek. February ended on a high note. Richard decided to get baptized during a big ceremony that Chaplin Corbett arranged. He asked the Chaplain if it was okay if I was the one that baptized him. The Chaplain said yes. It was such an honor to baptize Richard. 😊
March was eventful as well. First of all, I accidently saw on Monday the 3rd that I was on the Master Pass list for an interview with Prison Fellowship the next day. So much for them keeping us up to date on our appointments. As a matter of fact, DOC handed me a notice on the 5th that I had an interview with Prison Fellowship on the 4th. All I can say is that apathy, immorality, and incompetence continue to be the 3 best words to describe the vast majority of employees here. The Prison Fellowship interview was short. I shared with the 2 men why I believed in Prison fellowship. I also shared with them that I had attended several teaching sessions by Prison Fellowships founder, Chuck Colson and that both he and I were passionate about the same things, especially the equipping of Christians with a solid Christian worldview and giving them the tools to effectively live it out.
My Carpentry teacher has become really frustrated with the administration for leaving me in the drug dorm. I have missed a lot of time from class because of our dorm being locked down because of fights, stabbings on drugs. Evidently, he pulled the right strings because on March 14th they moved me to the kitchen workers dorm, 300A. Wow! What a change! It was so quiet in there! And so clean. Everyone was so nice, I was swamped when I walked through the door with my stuff. So many people
3.
started to ask me when I was going to start teaching on various topics. I was sad to leave Adam in 350B. Friday, March 7th I had just gotten him to teach his first Bible study. He did pretty good.
Even though 300A a was a definite upgrade for me, I now was faced with a new problem, they put me on a top bunk for the first time since I started my time with the DOC. I immediately went to the counselor and asked not to be put a top bunk because of my knees and shoulder. He told me that unless Medical had classified me as needing a bottom bunk, I could be assigned any bunk. I explained to him that the doctor was trying to determine now it I had a torn rotator cuff or if my shoulder was dislocated. He also knew I had knee problems. But, because I had always been on a bottom bunk since being in the DOC, I never thought to request that status.
The counselor told me that there was nothing he could do for that day but he promised me that I would get the next open bottom bunk. 3 days later a bottom bunk came open so I went to his office and asked if it was okay for me to move. He said no, he decided to move someone else there. Over the next few weeks, the bottom bunk 2 bunks over became available, he said no. The bunk underneath me became open twice, each time he said no. My knee and my right shoulder have really begun to hurt me. It’s starting to affect my job in Carpentry because I can no longer lift boards above my head. The immorality, apathy, and incompetence of the employee’s here continue to amaze me.
On a good note, I began teaching my Christian Prolegomena
4.
lessons to many of the guys in 330A, they love it. I even have a few non-Christians attending. One of my new students is Kimble. He is an interesting guy. He is in his early 50’s, has a long salt and peppered beard, a short stout body, a sharp mind and a creative imagination. He Is also so crushed by the sin that put him in prison that he can’t even think or talk about it without falling apart. My heart breaks for him. Another one of my students is named Adam. Adam is clearly on the spectrum, even more so than the Adam that I left in 350B. This Adam is a military vet in his late 30s that suffers from multiple mental issues. At heart he reminds me of a 13 yo. He is super friendly but always looking for a chance to top anyone’s story with one of his ‘that ain’t nothing’ story.
One of the guys that attends my class is a non-Christian named Nick. Nick is in his early 40s and has a Master’s degree in mathematics. He also has a disdain for Christianity because of its intolerance and shallow thinking, at least according to him. Early on I asked him what he meant when he said we were intolerant. He said that we were always telling other people that their morality was wrong and that was wrong for us to do. I smiled and asked him why was it wrong for me to tell other people that their moral positions were wrong but it was ok for him to tell and that my moral position on correcting people was wrong, aren’t you doing the same thing that you are telling me not to do? He got funny look on his face. I could see the wheels turning. A guilty smile spread across his face and he weakly said ‘oh.’ I explained to him that his reasoning was flawed because he was committing a logical
5.
fallacy, his position was Self Defeating. I also explained to him that he had an even greater problem. I asked him if he thought that burning children for fun was wrong, He quickly said yes. I agreed and told him that I would stop anyone I saw doing such a vile thing. I asked him if he would do the same. Again, he quickly said yes. I then asked him why he was correcting someone else’s morality. He said because they are hurting an innocent person. I explained that it was only his private moral position that hurting innocent people for fun was wrong, there are other people in this world that think it is morally acceptable. His position though, never correcting someone else’s morality, forbids him from ever engaging the person to stop them. He can’t even criticize the person or say they are wrong. The best he could do was say he didn’t like it. Nick deflated. Romans 2:14-15 speaks of the Law of God being written on people’s hearts. As Christians, we can use this to our advantage with most people by applying their logical moral framework to a situation that will bring that Law to the surface. It’s a powerful tool to have if we are to ‘demolish arguments’ as Paul commands us to do in 2 Corinthians 10:15.
Mr. Allan has also joined my class. He is head of the Messianic Jewish group here at St Brides. He is a short white-haired version of Mr. Whitaker on Adventures in Odyssey, but with a thick Jewish accent. He is very smart. He goes home in a few weeks and he wants me to help train him and recommend material that he can
6.
use to train others in a project he is putting together for when he gets out. He has been in prison over 30 years.
Another inmate that his asked me to mentor him on critical thinking in private is named Stokes. Stokes also has been in prison for a while and is seen by some as the wise one in the down. His stories of his younger years broke my heart. He made me cry when he said that if he had had me as his Dad he would have never come to prison and been a completely different person. ☹ He also told me that learning to think correctly for the first time in his life gave him a high that was for greater than any he got from the drugs he used to take.
On March 7th they called me to Medical to do some blood work. They said it was routine and they would get back to me with the results. I will let you know if they find anything.
Thank you again for all that you do my Beloved. Please tell the guys that help with the emails that I said thank you. They may never know on this side of Heaven whose life they saved or who has accepted Christ. Remind them of Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:31-46 about their service to Him by emailing God’s word and encouragement to those in prison, “Truly, I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” I love you so much
my Beloved!
Love Always,
Me
SCRAP!
GELPOY!
ILYSOOOM!
LAFF!
7.