6/20/15
This past Thursday was my last day of horticulture class. We sat and talked about all the information we had gone over in the past year, and our instructor asked us for any advice on how he could better prepare his next class. It felt great to complete another goal and place it behind me, enabling me to create new goals and find something else productive to do with my time that I used to spend sitting in a classroom. Unfortunately our instructor was unable to find out our test scores before going on his two week vacation, so we’ll just have to wait a little longer to find out. No big deal of course, but I can’t help feeling a little anxious to find out how well I did on something I’ve worked so hard to achieve. As I’ve said in the past, the only reason I’m still here at this level 2, medium security prison is because my horticulture class was holding me as an institutional need until completion of the course. As a result of my good behavior, my security level was dropped to a level 1 very shortly after first starting horticulture last year. On the very same day my class was over with, my unit manager wasted no time calling me down to his office. Of course I had always assumed that I would just be transferred to the level 1 prison next door once class was over with, but to my surprise, the unit manager started asking me about my thoughts on being shipped out to some other honor camps much further up North. I told him that I didn’t want to be shipped out to either of the two prisons that he suggested because they’re just too far away from my family. To my relief, he explained that being transferred to one of the two prisons was voluntary. But he increased my anxiety once again by explaining to me the unknown possibilities of what could happen to me next. He said that a lot of money was just spent on building a second fence around the level 1 prison next door, which is meant for inmates with more severe crimes, longer sentences, or things like an escape or absconding on their record. He explained that it wouldn’t make sense to place me next door and take up space for someone else, when I am only required to be placed behind one fence or even no fence at all. However he did say that there’s a small possibility of being sent next door after all the 2 fence inmates are sent next door and only if there’s available space for me. He again went on to say that I could be shipped out to some other prison at the drop of a hat. If this prison needs to make room for more level 2 inmates, they could ship me out any time they please and without warning. So now there’s the ever apparent anxiety of having to be uprooted from my familiar surroundings without warning. It could happen next week, it could happen in a couple months, or it might not happen at all. At the end of the day, I’m not allowing this new possibility to affect me as much as it would have in the past. I’m very close to coming home, and I couldn’t be more focused on preparing for my release. No matter what happens, I know that God will take care of me, just as He always has…
Steven Dybvad
