Prison Strike? Where to start? My life of late has been a series of depressing events, and it is just getting so hard to find anything to latch onto that can lift me up.

The one consistent thing in my life at this point is your letters and for some unknown reason they seem to be having a tough time making it over the razor wire. Your latest letter arrived today. Better than the week or so the last few letters have taken but still not back to the two-day delivery it should be.

I am very grateful for the latest letter and that it did arrive today as for some unknown reason, the Friday and Saturday New York Times did not show up today. Your letter was the only mail I received and it is always nice to get anything in Monday's mail to start off the week.

Okay it is really nice to get mail each and every day. Alas as things are at present, with the exception of your letters the only other consistent mail I get is the stuff I pay for (or more accurately Mom and Dad pay for).

Depressing events. It is not really any particular event or events that I could create an itemized list of. The feeling is somewhat akin to me knowing when it was three weeks since my last appointment with the psychologist while I was in Club Fed.

Like a gas tank getting low on fuel and you hope the fumes will carry you to the next station. The psychologist would fill my tank up, give me the ability to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and off I would go for another twenty-one days or so. Here not only is there no live person that can offer me any gas for my tank, but the system is such that it makes sure it takes any “up” feeling you may have and stomps on it.

When I came back from work today, the old man I have mentioned a few times (the one I share the fried chicken with) pulled me aside and told me that I had better be prepared for a prison strike on Thursday. He said that the inmates were talking about stabbing me, and others that work in maintenance, if we dared to go to work on Thursday!

This is the first I have heard about this strike. The good news is that by the time you are reading this, whatever is going to happen will have already occurred. I suppose I could sign up for sick call Wednesday evening and go to sick call on Thursday morning (before work) complaining about my back and seek an excuse from work.

I am not at all sure how serious this whole strike thing is and frankly can not see all the kids here actually working together along those lines. But time will tell. Maybe I will be pulled out for a medical trip and that will solve my problem.

One last “is it fair?” comment. Just keep in mind that while there is certainly a rational argument that can be made, be careful because if you have not learned anything else from all my ranting, is that once one is caught in the web that we call our justice system, it and not you gets to decide where your particular infraction falls.

True you might be able to get some community support on your side, but that also does not always have any positive effect on the outcome. Certainly the lack of any type of support while I wasted away in the County Jail for sixteen months added to the ability of the court to pile the time on me, but again I have seen way too many cases where the time given does not match the crime in relation to what others have gotten.

The recent drunk driver case in Suffolk will be interesting to watch in relation to the plea deal that lawyer got. And yes remember he killed one person in the car he hit and seriously injured one of the others.

Enough woe is me for now.  ¶ 12:04 PM