January 5, 2015
Keeping in Touch
Many of you have expressed an interest in staying in touch with me while I am serving my sentence at Taft Prison Camp which will begin on January 13, 2015. For most people, snail mail is probably the best option! So when you have time, send me a card or letter. They say letter writing is a long, lost art and here’s your chance to brush up! To send me mail, please address it to:
DAVID APPLEGATE 63423-112
TAFT CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 7001
TAFT, CA 93268
I will do my best to answer as soon as possible! Also, if you write me, please do not enclose any actual stamps. The Bureau of Prisons does not allow stamps to be sent to inmates.
Please do not send me any packages as inmates are not able to receive packages directly from individuals. You CAN send me books via a third party like Amazon. I will post a separate entry on the process for doing that if you are interested.
You can also sign up to send me electronic messages through JPay (https://jpay.com/). However, the reality is that there are only two JPay terminals at Taft for almost 600 inmates. I have been told that inmates are asked to keep their JPay sessions to 20 minutes once per day. That is not very much time! Please do feel free to sign up though to send me “email” but please don’t be hurt if I am not able to respond to your email in a timely manner or if my response is short. The process for signing up is pretty straightforward. It will probably take a week or so for my name and number to be in the system. At that point, you will be able to enter California and my number (63423-112) into the search tool and I should come up. So wait until at least January 20 before registering to send me email. Once you are registered, the most important thing to remember is to purchase and send me at least one “stamp” when you send me an email. The 17¢/hour I will be earning at my prison job just won’t go that far! 🙂 The process for sending email can be found at: http://jpay.com/PEMessages.aspx. It looks like you can even attach a photo when you send an email! So be sure and do that when you send me a message - it will be the next best thing to Facebook!
Of course, I can also have visitors. Visits to inmates at Taft work on a point system. Each inmate receives 20 points per month. Each Saturday visit (whether it’s one or five people) costs 8 points, each Sunday visit costs 6 points and each Friday visit costs 4 points. There are no visits Monday-Thursday. If you would like to visit, please send me your home address, email address and phone number. Once I am at Taft, I will provide them with a list of potential visitors and you will be sent an application including permission to do a background check.
As always, I greatly appreciate your love and support! The 13th is approaching fast. One day at a time!
David I will send you my address etc …..it will be nice to be able to visit you since we (Bill) and I visit families and friends in California often…we now live in Henderson Nevada….
Hey, thanks for the info! It has indeed been a while since I wrote a letter on paper and mailed it. My mom is the only one who writes to me that way, and it only seems right to write back with one of the hundreds of notecards I seem to have accumulated over the years! And I don’t even buy them for myself. I thought of another book you may be interested in, though it’s fiction: The Circle by Dave Eggers. It’s a scathing and even scary commentary on the excesses of the electronic life we all lead, and especially on social media. Well, I have to get to (my electronic) work so talk to you later!
Thanks, Liz. I bet you will be a GREAT letter writer! Thanks for the reco on The Circle. It’s added to my Amazon list!
David,
How often will you be able to use a or your computer to blog,etc.?
The only “computer” is the email terminal, Margie. I will have to email my blog posts to my prison consultant and he will post them on my behalf.
Unfortunately they calculate it at 47 days and not the 54 they claim. That is called BOP math. Stand your ground, run independent and never let them see you sweat. If you decide you can’t stand Taft, you may want to try Lompoc. I have yet to hear anything good on Taft. You are in my prayers. You can email me at robertas333@yahoo.com if you want to.
David,
I hope this finds you in good spirits and doing well. Please post the info on sending you books via Amazon when you get a moment. Said to a man w/excessive time on his hands! Thanks!
We’re working our way through a suspiciously mild winter here just north of Philly. We had a dusting of snow last night, but still no major storms this year. It’s like whistling past the graveyard!
My son, Miles, was 13 on Tuesday. How the hell did that happen??? Seems like just yesterday…
Moral of the story: Time does fly!
Stay well my friend!
Gene