March 13, 2015
Spring Forward in Federal Prison
I forgot that March 8 was the day we set our clocks forward (spring forward). I almost missed the “Morning stand-up count!”. After count, I sat at lunch and overheard yet another depressing prison story about a fellow prisoner.
John: Lee just sits staring at his locker and rocking back and forth all day.
Stan: What’s his problem?
John: He is really struggling with his GED class. He got every math question wrong on the practice test. He just doesn’t get it….also, his feet are bothering him…He has diabetes.
Stan: If He fails to pass the GED exam, I think He loses his salary upgrade at Unicor (prison factory) and programming points?
John: Yeah, that sucks. He also can’t get a hold of the guy He lived with before He was locked up so He is thinking He has no where to live once He is released,.
Stan: No wonder He does not seem to care about his release date.
To summarize, Lee is approximately 50 years old, has diabetes and trouble walking, cannot pass the GED test, and has no place to live once He leaves prison. As a result, He does not care if and when He is released from prison since his life in prison may be better than the life that awaits him on the outside. Once He gets back on the streets, how will he survive? He has no place to live, no real job skills, no education and no healthcare. You can almost bet on Lee returning to prison some day.
I do not know what the answer is to this problem. I do know, after seeing it first hand, it is a serious problem.
You can rest assured that Lee is not “Springing Forward”
Ken Flaska
