The Snitch. Well, 8:00 PM and things are tweaking here. One older guy was just carted out on a stretcher after slipping in his cell. Could he have busted a hip?

Now the snitch in cell 36 (two doors down from me) is talking shit while he’s locked in, and one of the four guys out for their Rec is playing tough guy on the outside of his bars.

They shut the TV’s off when the guy fell and they are still off. I thought there may have been a shot at seeing the rebroadcast of the two-hour season premiere of LOST per your good reviews, but no such luck.

So no mail again today and my attempt to call Mom and Dad was met by the answering machine. So no contact with the outside. I doubt I will go out tomorrow, but then again stranger things have happened. The wheels of the criminal justice system move in very strange and unusual ways.

I was thinking again about the various stupid ways in which the prison system operates. Two examples here are the TV’s and the peanut butter and jelly (PB&J).

The TV’s are in the outer walkway about five feet from the "Day Area." Being the creative people that prison inmates are, they make remote controls out of newspaper, rolled tightly to form a four-foot long "stick". Labels from cosmetic bottles are used as tape to hold them together. They are used to reach through the bars and change channels and volume. But every time there is a shakedown or if a CO sees it, they take it.

The peanut butter and jelly works as follows: Each morning the breakfast cart comes with three bowls of peanut butter and three of jelly. They also send three loaves of bread. So, one gets to "load up" once every three or four days and then has something to eat when hunger strikes. Picture twenty different guys making PB&J sandwiches at 5:30 AM, each with a dirty spoon, etc.

The snitch thing is blowing up, and the outside gangster is threatening his life. Now the CO is talking shit to him. Telling him to shut up and get lost. Life is tough in jail.

The point is, even with "supervision," shit still happens. Now the CO is telling the outside gangster to stay away, followed by a remark to the guy in the cell, "You deserve everything you get!" Talk about mixed messages.

Well, someday this will be all behind me. The book should be fun to write.

This all is allowed to exist only because very few people want to know. I am not saying some of us do not deserve jail time but must we also be forced to risk life, limb, and long term health due to unhealthy conditions? Then again, this is my world and welcome to it.

It is really hard for me to sit idly by and watch man’s inhumanity to man. At least I have learned enough to know to keep my mouth shut and not try to be a peace keeper. Of course that points to the problem. Once one goes through the experience of jail or prison and experiences the changes, i.e. different life coping skills, how can one go on to function in the real world?

On the lighter side, dinner tonight was actually pretty tasty, four large stuffed shells. I drained the oil off the mackerel and spread it on top of the shells. I am well stuffed but I will probably still have a PB&J with the milk I saved from lunch.

Comfort food. I have actually been nibbling on the M&M pack since 4:00 PM. Big deal after eating four packs yesterday (two M&Ms and two Kit Kats).

I will probably hold off till tomorrow to mail this. I am going to try and do some reading now.
  ¶ 11:16 AM