April/May 2025
Hello my Beloved,
Spring continues to bring both ‘more of the same’ and a lot of change here at St. Brides. First of all, I was chosen to attend Prison Fellowship Academy. We had week of orientation in mid-April. The regular classes won’t begin until May. I am still not sure what happened with the previous Prison Fellowship. I do know that the new instructors, Doxey and Williams seem to have a negative view of Coach and Lenny and a very positive view of the St. Brides administration. They sing their praises every chance they get.
I was officially recognized as an Instructor Aide in Carpentry. It only took 3 different applications. I put in for it around New Years. The counselor ‘lost’ my application. During that time, she tried to coax me to take the job a pod mentor, which I flatly turned down, if you remember. As I said back in January, I have serious reservations about working for an administration that is as corrupt as St. Brides, especially doing what I would normally do as a pastor and an instructor, mentoring people. By the time the counselor ‘found’ my application and signed it and turned it in, it was rejected for not being turned in on time. My Carpentry Instructor, Thorne, got me to fill out a second one and turn it in to the counselor, which I did. Since then, I was moved to 330A. For several more months Thorne kept pushing the Education department here to approve my application, they said they hadn’t received it yet. Finally, Thorne got me to fill a third application and personally got it signed and delivered to the Education department here, they quickly approved it.
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Not much will change for me in Carpentry. I have been doing the job since last fall. I only asked to make it official because I heard that having job on my DOC record will help to shorten my probation once I get out. The bump in pay is appreciated but not life changing. Though, going from .23 an hour to .45 an hour will help offset the cost of new shoes. Especially since the average lifespan of the cheap new shoes they sell here at St. Brides is 3-6 months.
My eye swelled up again on April 5th. I am supposed to be looking for a common factor in the swelling. I did start using a new type of soap, but I don’t think that’s the cause. I also continue put in requests from bottom bunk, including to Unit Manager Davis. Each day my knee and shoulder get worse.
On April 11th I had another interesting encounter with Freeman. He pulled me aside and told me that he was very concerned for me. He wanted to know who I thought I was teaching people how to think and what to think. That wasn’t my job, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. When he did this, I was in the middle of teaching my Critical Thinking class. I saw a good opportunity to both help Freeman, and teach my class using a real live situation. I asked Freeman what he meant by ‘teaching’ people. (First Columbo Question in Tactics). He explained that teaching people meant giving them information that I thought was right and telling them that their information was wrong. Only the Holy Spirit should do that. I pointed out that he was telling me what he thought was right in order to correct the position I held to, because I was wrong. I asked him why he didn’t let the Holy Spirit do that if the
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Bible said that only the Holy spirit should do it. He looked confused. He tried to deny that he was trying to correct me or that he was telling me that my beliefs were wrong but my students chimed in and reminded him of what he said. He finally relented. Later that evening he came back and apologized, thanking me for what I do. I also thanked him for trying to correct me. In doing so he was fulfilling Mark 12:28-31 by loving me enough to share what he thought was the truth, as well as 2 Timothy 2:23-26 when he attempted to correct me.
I really enjoy having Mr. Allen in my class. For the Easter season he invited me to a private Passover celebration. Being a Messianic Jewish practitioner for a very long time, he is very familiar with Jewish customs. It was a very beautiful ceremony which involved several items, including horseradish, a type of green and Matzhah bread (crackers). He did his readings and his prayers in both English and Hebrew. I made him promise to come to our farm and administer a fall Passover celebration for us and our friends.
A new trend is starting to develop when it comes to receiving Commissary. Because I am an all-day worker, I am supposed to go to the Commissary window on Friday to get what I ordered. I skip class to stay and get my commissary on Tuesday when I am supposed to receive it, like the rest of the dorm, I could get a charge. Several times they have ‘forgotten’ to call us on Fridays to pick up our Commissary. They then smile and say ‘Don’t worry, you can come and get it Monday. We reminded her that the reason that we were getting Commissary on Friday in the first place was because
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we worked all day long Monday-Thursday. She didn’t even blink when she told us we would have to wait another week to receive our Commissary. Yet again St. Brides looks at those that work hard at school and jobs, obey the rules on not skipping school or work to get our Commissary, and punishes then while those that skip, or refuse to work or go to school, get their Commissary. It’s almost like the ‘Correction’ in St. Brides Correctional Center means to correct people by motivating those that do good to a position that they now do bad.
Another frustrating thing that happened is on April 22, Catholic Mike was jumped in 360B by as many as 7 guys I heard they broke his ribs and sent him to the Emergency Room. That makes me so mad! Mike is in his 70’s and weighs 140 lbs soaking wet. The fact that so many guys jumped him shows what kind of people are here. They are cowards of the worst kind. They are the ‘unreasoning’ animals that Jude10-16 and 2 Peter2:12-22 speak of. Again, I don’t fear being jumped like that, I fear being leveled up for the manner in which I would have to defend myself. St. Bridles wouldn’t care. To them, I would just be another person breaking the no fighting rule.
I found out on April 28th I would be moved to 330B for Prison Fellowship. I once again reached out to the counselor in 330A and asked him if he could move me to a bottom bunk when they moved me. He just said okay. Yet again, when I got next door, I was assigned
66 Top. Wow. This dorm was definitely a downgrade from 330A. The phones are being used almost all day long. It’s also a lot louder. There does seem to be a good Bible Study though.
Richard got moved in here for Prison Fellowship as well. It’s so good to see him on a regular basis again. He is excited to
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continue his training in Theology, Apologetics, and Philosophy. I am a little nervous though, just before our move he confessed to me he had briefly fallen of the wagon with his addiction. I am hoping his close call with being caught will motivate him to make better choices and surround himself with better people. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in our new dorm that will be more than happy to provide him with what he needs. ☹
There are a lot of people in 330B that want me to start teaching. They are especially excited about the Critical Thinking class. The white board in 330B is being used the same way the one in 330A is, the pod mentor writes the word of the day (and its definition) and the quote of the day that the St. Brides staff gives him. This only takes up about 40% of the board leaving just over half the board free. I only had minor problems using the white board in 330A. The counselor had already told me he didn’t mind me using it. The pod mentor apparently did because the word of the day and the quote of the day went from being written with letters 2” high to being written with letters 6” high, thus using 80% on the white board. He then complained that he still didn’t have enough space to write. I continued to be content with the small space I had. In 330B though, I decided to make sure I wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes by writing on the board, so I asked the counselor in 330B if it was okay for me to use the board to teach my Critical Thinking and Worldviews Analysis and Construction classes. She immediately jumped on me, angrily asking me who did I think I was. She also asked me what qualified me to teach those topics. I told her that much of my undergrad and graduate work
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was in the area and that both the counselor and the previous head of mental health at St. Brides had been over joyed to have me teach because of the effect that it had on the dorm, they had even helped me get resources to teach the classes.
The counselor huffed and glared at me. For a minute she was silent. Exasperated she said that if unit manager David was ok with it then she would be ok. I cleared it with David (who was very happy to have me teach) and even went to the pod mentor and asked his permission, he gladly gave it.
May also has been filled with ‘interesting’ events. The new Lieutenant for the 330 dorms has hit the ground running. She banned all Muslims from praying in the day room. That immediately made them turn on all the Christians that had Bible studies in the day room and demanded that they be banned as well. So much for not ‘snitching’ on other people. The It. banned all Bible studies in the day room. After the Bible studies were banned then they demanded my Critical Thinking Class be banned as well. I began to reason with some of them about their position. I pointed out that my classes were not religious in nature and arguing that people could not sit around a table and discuss logic and reason would also lead to people not being able to sit around a table and talk about their favorite sports teams, politics, movies, or families. Thankfully they conceded. Even Prison fellowship was drawn into the argument. We were told by the instructors that we had to meet together as a group in the dorm and discuss that week’s lessons. The Lt. told us we could not, even though this was a special dorm set aside for Prison Fellowship. The PF instructors then
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folded up and told us we had to just study alone at our bunks.
I am very happy to be in Prison Fellowship. I am still getting to know the instructors, Doxey and Williams. Dr Williams seems to be very liberal. In our first week in class, he announced that all religion’s worship the same God. This goes directly against what Chuck Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship believed. His statement causes me to be concerned about how the rest of the semester will go.
I continue to put in requests for a bottom bunk, one to the 330B counselor and one to medical. My knee continues to get worse. My knee brace is starting to fall apart because of constant contact with the side of my bunk as I climb up into it.
At the end of May we had yet more excitement. One of the top drug makers (and users) in the dorm flipped out and started screaming and fighting invisible people before collapsing into a twitching heap on the ground. They brought medical in and took
him away on a stretcher and then cleaned his cut out. (A cut is the space between bunks where the bunk user can sit in his chair.) My brain still struggles to process why people continue to engage in something that is so devastating and enslaving.
Thank you again for all that you and the others do to continue
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to be salt and light in such an incredibly dark place. It’s easy to be salt and light in an already well-lit and salted area. I believe that Jesus called those that are mature to bring light to the darker places in this world and that can be uncomfortable and even dangerous.
I continue to remember Jesus words to Peter in Matthew 16:18 where He said that the Gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church. We need more of the Church to be willing to march through those gates and set free those held captive behind them. Thank you for being one of those at the tip of the spear that has gone deep into that darkness.
I love you so very much my Beloved. I continue to pray for you, our family and friends, and those we continue to minister to. Love you!!
SCRAP!
GELPOY!
ILYSOOOM!
LAAF!