Friday, 21 February 2009
I began my morning at 2:30. After reading, I wrote four blog articles. Besides my journal, I enjoy this work of interacting with the students at California State University. They are studying criminal justice, expecting to build careers in law enforcement. Some will work as correctional officers, some will become probation officers, and others will pursue jobs as police officers. I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to their understanding of the system.
As a consequence of the writing I’ve done over the course of my confinement, I’ve been able to communicate with tens of thousands. To me, it feels as if I have a duty to share my observations and experiences. They convince time that we need prison reform to encourage more prisoners to pursue law-abiding lives upon release. I am hopeful that this work I am doing to document the time I’ve served as a prisoner will lead to improvements in America’s prison system, and in the lives of my fellow citizens.
Following my morning writing session, I began my exercise. In early spring-like temperatures I ran 10 miles. The run brought my tally to 639 miles over the past 70 days. I feel strong but I’ve been coughing in the late afternoons. I expect to continue running.
In the early afternoon I began working on a new series I will publish for the prison news blog. This series will offer content on white-collar offenders. I will use the questions professor Jana Schrenkler and her students compiled to guide my interviews with men who serve time for white-collar crimes. This contribution can help professors who teach courses in ethics as I can provide content with will contribute to the educational experiences of future leaders.
In the afternoon, mail was delivered. I received two large envelopes from my wife. They were stuffed with information. I spent two hours going over the papers and realized I needed an outline to guide me through the work load in responding with only a pen and paper to rely upon, I knew that I had more than 40 hours of writing time in the work I received today. I realized the work would carry me through Monday. I hoped I would finish.
In the early evening I edited the manuscript I had been working on as a ghost writer. The manuscript will go to press in early March, and I am in the final stages of work before publication. My work kept me up until 7:00, which was an hour later than usual.
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