One of the high-level administrators of Taft camp was touring the housing unit today. Since the decision makers of this prison spend most of their time at the adjacent institution (where administrative offices are) I don’t see or interact with them too frequently. Today I approached the man and asked him whether Taft Camp would install an email system for prisoners to use.
Many Bureau of Prisons facilities offer email. Prisoners here who’ve transferred in from Victorville, Sheridan, Herlong, Coleman, Maxwell, Terminal Island among others tell me they had access to email in those facilities. Those who used the BOP email system described how much easier it was to maintain contact with their families and support groups. In the past I’ve read BOP communications indicating that all federal prisons would have email access in place for prisoners by March of 2011. That’s only one year from now, and I was hoping that Taft Camp might bring the service in.
About two years ago, when the current warden began his tenure at Taft, I asked whether he would install the email system for prisoners. “Absolutely not,” he told me. “We won’t be making computers available for inmate use as long as I’m warden.” It wasn’t long thereafter that the warden posted a directive prohibiting prisoners from using typewriters for anything besides “legal work.”
Because of that encounter with the warden, I wasn’t overly optimistic that email services would be coming to Taft Camp. But the man in the suit surprised me. He told me that the executive staff of Taft prison was considering various proposals to bring in email.
I don’t know how long it will take before email services arrive, and I don’t know what type of access prisoners will have to send and receive email messages. Perhaps we can begin before the end of this year—or maybe sooner. I’ll use email to keep closer ties with my family, and to continue preparing for my career upon release. Communicating by email will ease some of my tension as I move through the final years of my sentence, and I know it will help other prisoners at Taft Camp as well.
This morning I ran 10 miles and followed with 600 pushups.
[consecutive running log: 3,880 miles over the past 438 days]
[pushups in 2010: 19,200]
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
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