Driving Straight Down a Curvy Road

  I guess today is a three cup morning, seems that the coffee isn't quite clearing the fog out of my head. I suppose a fourth is in order. Ironic. Considering as the sky lightens outside my window I can see that I'm not the only one having trouble clearing things away. I see the mottled sky - light trying to break through the fog outside my window. Fog thick as the steel door to my cell. I can't help but think of the old cliche' - fog so thick you can cut it with a knife; or - thick as soup. I remember as a small child actually trying to cut thru some fog once with a butter knife... just to see, ya know! It didn't work... nor could I spoon it like soup. I still remember wondering if it would taste like my favorite - pea soup. I like days like this. Barbed wire and chain link fences not the first things I see. The fog blocking the negative reality that is mine and allowing me to think of life in the world outside. As a bonus, the murder of crows i've become famil...

I've shared a little insight into what goes on in prison but I haven't given you a glimpse of who i am and how I came to be here. As you know I'm 42, almost 43, but gripping onto 42 like a fat kid grips an Eskimo Pie! Divorced father of two wonderful children. I am the oldest of four boys. My father is a pastor and has been since I can remember. My immediate family is deeply entrenched in the Christian Community. My Grandmother and one uncle were pastors and numerous other family members were Sunday School teachers and ministers. My extended family is quite large. My Grandfather had 21 siblings and the last tally I saw revealed around 178 cousins! My cousins were the ones I gravitated towards. Their lives were the complete opposite of mine. When I was around them I found a freedom i wasn't accustomed to. They were more - colorful - to say the least. My Grandmother called them the "outlaws" because many of them were moonshiners and grew a little weed. They were...

Another gang fight over access to the phones!  It's times like these that I understand just how animalistic men can become and how easily we can not only succumb to this arcane behavior but the easier justification we can as quickly relent. I see how astonishingly uncaring men can be with a marked lack of empathy, especially when it comes to violence, but also find no surprise when thinking about the popularity of spectator sports such as boxing, martial arts and MMA fights. I guess being in here is no different except here I have ring-side seats and the unfortunate opportunity at times to have been the main event... The majority of prison violence is centered around one of a few main things. The phones are by far the predominant catalyst. It wasn't always that way. Not so long ago, maybe seven years, calls were expensive. $7.00 for a local call. This kept most guys from making calls. Around that time a class-action lawsuit was won on behalf of prisoners and inmates across the ...