October 19, 2014
I’ve been trying so hard to hold on to hope and faith that justice will prevail over the false accusations of an incorrect drug screening on my behalf, but each day that passes feels less likely. I’m trapped in the clutches of a one sided justice system. State prisons have their own set of laws, a government within the government, they create their own rules and hand out their own personal brand of punishments, as judges and jury, with no one else to hold them accountable for their own actions, mistakes or poor decisions they’re destined to repeat them. Every once in a blue moon the warden goes from unit to unit, checking in on her prison staff and inmates. Every time I’ve seen her, the inmates hover around, lined up to ask her questions and present her with their problems. I never wanted a thing to do with talking to her or bothering her until now. Just yesterday she walked into the cell isolation unit I currently reside in during our one hour out of our cells, this was my one and only opportunity to confront her with my predicament, so I took action, I approached the warden, cutting right to the chase, telling her I haven’t used a narcotic in years and yet here I sit, receiving sanctions for a false urine screen without a fair chance to prove my innocence. I told the warden how my attorney said he came up here to speak with her about this, but she cut me off, saying it wasn’t her that the attorney talked to and it must have been one of her staff members. She looked at my id badge and said she would look into it for me. I have no doubt she was probably just blowing me off, but I persisted, continuing to ask more questions and pry more answers from her, she looked very annoyed by me and simply said that she would look into it. Finally she got a pen and paper out of her pocket and wrote my name and prison id number down, then started to walk away. Frustrated at this whole situation, not really caring how much she was annoyed by me, I asked her as she was walking away just what kind of test they were running this time and whether it was going to be a full analysis or just the same old dipstick test like before. She said it would probably be the same test as before. This is really upsetting to me because I know what my situation is. If the medicine that I take every day is causing a false reading for T.H.C., then it’s just going to do the same thing on the same old test. My urine sample needs to be run through a test that breaks down all the substances, showing that the only drugs in my body are the non-narcotic ones prescribed for me to take each day. So I guess I just have to go through the rest of my sentence labeled as a continued drug abuser, harassed and hassled by guards, having to face a parole officer after my release and attempt to explain to her what’s going on in hopes that the officer won’t send me back to prison for the same problem with my medicine when the officer gives me a drug test on the street. I couldn’t possibly be any more stressed out than I am right now.
Steven Dybvad
