Tuesday, 24 February 2009
I woke this morning at 2:00. After reading for a bit, I brought my gear to the quiet room where I write. Another prisoner was sitting alone at the adjacent table with playing cards. On some early mornings, he sat at that table practicing a strategy he had for the game of Blackjack. I’ve known many people in prison whose idea of a plan for release was to develop a system for winning in Las Vegas. Some had strategies for winning dice games, for winning poker, and for winning Blackjack. One prisoner I knew convinced himself that he had a sure system for winning one state lottery game a year.
The men were trying to create something in short supply. Hope. With the difficult economy that Americans were suffering through in early 2009, prisoners who were about to release struggled with anxieties about how they could create stability for themselves in society. Unemployment rates were higher than they had been in our lifetime; for those coming out of prison, finding a job seemed an impossibility. That’s why some were trying to devise a life from somehow mastering games of chance.
I am much more inclined to prepare for release by mastering marketable skills and building upon my network of support. Those are the reasons I continue to wake early. Writing every day helps me feel as if I am improving upon my communication skills. I also enjoy the discipline, and the tangible results that come from creating new content about the prison experience.
My expectations are that the content I am creating would help others who are looking for information about how to endure a lengthy prison term. Besides those immediate benefits that come from making contributions to society, I know that a digital library will assist my speaking career in years to come. I will use it to help explain the focused, deliberate strategy I’ve used to thrive through 25 years in prison.
I wrote four blog articles before seven. Then I ran 10 miles in sunny, spring-like temperatures. My tally has lifted to 679 miles over the past 74 consecutive days. I do not know what challenges will confront me upon release, but I intend to conquer them as a consequence of these deliberate adjustment strategies I have made. Chance is not playing a part in my preparations for release.
In the afternoon I began writing the introductory section for a new category I’m creating on ethics. Last week I had a meeting with Professor Jana Schrenkler from St. Mary’s University in Minnesota. She told me about the need for more content in the area of ethical developments. As a consequence of my being incaracerated with so many men who formerly led businesses, I’m in a unique position to gather data that academics and coprorations may use as teaching resources.
In the evening I forced myself to stay awake long enough to listen to President Obama’s speech to the houses of Congress. I felt optimistic about his claim to have identified $2 trillion in wasteful spending on programs that didn’t work. I hoped he identified the absurdity of locking nonviolent offenders in prisons for decades as a waste. He also spoke a lot about reforms and incentives. Those are two concepts I hope leaders will apply to our nation’s prison system.
PDF 
