Federal Prison Blogging
After my first court proceeding, I decided to begin keeping
a blog, which I published on the Internet. I hoped to provide some insight on
the legal system and my first hand experience. The intent was to continue the
blog once I arrived at Federal Medical Center Devens, MA. Blog entries from
FMC Devens would have made for fantastic reading. The collection of people
alone all but ensured daily drama and amusement, while taking the term
‘melting pot’ to a new level. High flying Manhattan financiers. Italian Mafia.
Inner city crack dealers. International drug smugglers. Former CEO’s and
CFO’s. Pedophiles. Bank robbers. Rapists. Triple murderers. Environmental
Protection Act violators. Probation offenders. Ex-Military. Wannabe cops.
Ex-Cops. Wannabe military. Students just trying to pay their way through
school and lifetime Department of Justice employees.
With little preparation I was thrown into this surreal and
foreign world. While many of my day to day experiences have now been outlined
in Federal Prison- A Comprehensive Guide, upon first being
incarcerated, I quickly realized that keeping quiet and keeping a low profile
would be prudent. After two weeks at FMC Devens I sent one letter to a friend
who uploaded my first and final blog post from behind bars. Reading it puts me
right back in my 8’ x 6’ concrete cube I called home for 180 days. It’s
difficult to imagine that while I have moved on with my life, nearly all the
same characters are still there, repeating the same routine, day after day,
month after month, year after year.
It’s been nearly two years since I
wrote the blog post and over a year since I have read it. I have entered some
comments today written in red.
In the Belly of the Beast
I’ve been here at FMC Devens now for 15 days. I spent the
first nine days in a two man cell, dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit. I was
handcuffed and led to a caged enclosure for one hour a day. Perhaps 20 x 20,
this was considered “recreation”! The official reason I was give for keeping
me in the cell was that they were waiting for a bed to open up in one of the
dormitories. This was obviously a lie as there are a couple hundred beds
currently unoccupied. At any rate, I was told nothing and nothing was
explained to me as the days passed, sitting in a tiny cell, waiting. If you’ve
never been locked up before, the next time you go into your bathroom, imagine
staying there for a week or two. If you don’t remain calm, it’s enough to
drive you crazy. (I later met inmates who had been placed in the hole for
nearly a year. Needless to say, they weren’t very sympathetic to the mental
strain I experienced over my brief stay).
Finally, six days ago I was led to my current home, which
is a 120 man dormitory. There’s two compounds at the FMC Devens. One is a 150
man “camp”. There is no fence and all inmates are of the lowest security
levels. A mile down the road is the main compound. Here, 1,000 men live behind
triple razor wire fences. The government calls it a “Medical Center”. The sign
doesn’t even say “prison”. In truth, the vast majority of inmates are sexual
offenders, sent here for protection and for attempted rehabilitation. (From my
observations and discussions with other inmates, there was little attempt at
rehabilitation). The others, like myself, had some sort of medical issue which
caused them to be placed here. But the medical care here would make many third
world countries proud. (I stick to this statement to this day. They simply
don’t have the budget and this is coupled with the problem that many useful
medications are banned by the BOP).
So here I sit in a dorm with 120 men. The man in the bunk
below me is on his 8th felony. The guy behind me is doing 25 years—something
to do with child sex trafficking. Apparently you can get a good hair cut from
San, who is doing 5 life sentences. And then there’s me. A guy who made false
statements on a student load application and got six months. Truly I am caught
in the system. I saw my Doctor here who refused to give me the prescribed
medicine I take when my back gives me trouble. He said it wasn’t on the
approved medications list. He also let me know that I really shouldn’t be
here.
But it is unlikely that I will be transferred. Too much
paperwork for the government. The most difficult thing is that everyone is so
nice. (The inmates, not the guards). But you know that it is very likely that
they are a sick and twisted person. (There turned out to be a few decent CO’s
and many decent inmates). So one has to be very weary. I have been lucky to
meet a few decent people which I am thankful for.
Anyway, while I am waiting to be assigned a job, I spend my
time reading, watching TV and trying to learn as much as I can as quickly as I
can. One thing that I have learned is that it is best to avoid calling
attention to yourself in a place like this. With that in mind I have decided
not to write anything else until I am no longer under their authority. In May
2007, I’ll write a complete recap of my time here and make it available
online. Until then, keep in mind that you truly do not know what you have
until its gone. So try to appreciate all that you have been given. Until May.
All the best,
Jonathan

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