PART THREE

We can maintain our own self-respect and sense of goodness without having to feel that God has judged us and condemmed us. We can be angry at what has happen to us, Without feeling that we are angry at God.When tragedy is inflicted these events do not reflect Gods choices, They happen at ramdom,but evil nonetheless because by causing tragedies at ramdom, it prevents people from believing in Gods goodness.

TIPS FOR A BETTER LIFE

1) Take a 10 minute walk everyday;  Smile
2) Sit in silence for at least 5 minutes
3) Sleep for 7 hours
4) Live with energy enthusiasm and empathy
5) Play more games, Surf
6) Read more books
7) Practice Meditation, Yoga and Pray
 Dream while you are awake
9) Eat foods that grow
10) Drink more water
11) Make 3 people smile
12) Don't waste precious energy on gossip
13) Forget past issues
14) Don't have negative thoughts, stay present, it's all about NOW
15) Life is a school; learn
16) Smile and laugh
17) Don't hate others
18) Don't take yourself or anyone else to seriously
19) Agree to disagree
20) Make peace with your past
21) Don't compare your past to others'
22) No one except you is in charge of your happness
23) Forgive everyone for everything
24) What others think of you is none of your business
25) However good or bad a situation is it will change
26) Envy is a waste of time; you have everything you need
27) The best is yet to come
28) No matter how you feel get up, dress up, and show up
29) Do the Right thing
30) Your inner most self is always happy so be happy
31) Call your family often
32) Each day give something good to others
33) Don't over do it; you know your limits
34) Know yourself
35) Dream Big; the only limitations are those you place upon yourself
36) Share all this with someone else; pass it on

SUMPTUOUS LIFE

My experience is more complex, if perhaps less unsavoury.Milieus taught me to be more polite to everyone,reveal nothing to anyone,outwardly respect the authorities,and give no hint of self-importance nor self-consciousness at the temporary loss of my surfing status,I regard my confinement,though not voluntarily assumed like an abrasive but bearable reminder of my imperfections.It was also reassuring to confirm that i could equably forgo all luxury and revert to a less sumptuous life.
Martin

You make it what it is

As far as iam concerned,you are the maker of your own destiny,You can lead follow or get out of the way,As they say,But  one thing you should never do is feel sorry for yourself,And your predicament.Accept responibility where it is appropriate to do so and move on with your life.Whether in the street or in prison,You make it what it is,And whether your in for a year or 20 years there is always light at the end of the tunnel. There is truly a siliver lining behind that black cloud that is presently overwhelming you .Its all about your attitude.But rest assured,the experience will only exacerbate  my drive for the future.There is a subtext of humility,fallibility,loss and perseverance in this scenario that we can all learn a lesson.Life is to short ENJOY every minute,So many people take life and people for granted!!!!


Martin.....

For such an advanced and brilliantly innovative country, it is an amazingly clumsy, unjust, and corrupt desecration of the nation's ideals and squandering of its human resources.
The country's incarceration policy has the benefit to the government of removing almost a million unemployed African American and at least half a million ethnically diverse correctional officers from unemployment statistics.
Treating white collar crime like violent crime appeases the left and slightly balances the racial numbers in the prison system. The percentage of African Americans in the prison system is more than 4 times that in the entire population and there are 4 times more African Americans in prison than in higher education.  More than 5 million African Americans have been disenfranchised because of their legal records and we are now getting back to the level of black disenfranchisement. The per-capita number of blacks to whites in prison is nine times greater, nearly half of American Black males between twenty and twenty-mine are under some form of criminal justice supervision.
In practice, where it is decided whether indicted offenders will be streamed through federal or state courts to prison.  The African Americans are almost invariably fed in overwhelming numbers to the harsher federal system.  no one audible seems to take it amiss.
It is indicative of official American arrogance at its most inflated and obtuse that instead of suppressing drug appetites among it dilettantish bourgeois youth and degraded underclass, or using its immense military strength to secure its borders without strangling legitimate commerce and tourism.
The drug war has been a perfect illustration of the strength of supply-side economics, as the price has come generally down through greater supply, improved product quality, and rising demand, despite the imprisonment of more than one million small fry which are easily replaced by the drug trade kingpins. The War on Drugs has cost $1 trillion, and within America, has almost nothing to do with violence.  Drugs are involved in 1/3 of property crimes but only 5% of violent crimes.
People growing 1000 marijuana plants get mandatory 10 years, alternative policy options will have to be considered.C.Black

the shu

The SHU here in coleman medium holds about 150people,coleman is the largest prison in the U.S at any given time,there is 7.500 to 8.500 inmates here,It is a city within a city,They have a camp for women,and NO I CAN NOT SEE THEM OR HAVE ANY CONTACT WITH THEM,They have a low for men,a medium where iam at and penitentiary 1 and a penitentiary 2,in each prison has a SHU.
As i said before Coleman is a nice place to do time,But they are very petty here,they can and will put you in the SHU for having banana's in your locker or for having any vegrtables,The warden,put an inmate in the SHU for having 3 banans that he had in his locker,Imagine going to solitary confinement for an undertermined amount of time for 3 banana's or for a1/4 of a head of lettuce,THATS CRAZY,They can also put you in the SHU for 6 months for investgation for whatever reason,If they even think your doing something wrong!!

THE CRUELEST PUNISHMENT

Excerpts from an Article in: The Week Magazine, in the "Last Word" section was the following article:
THE CRUELEST PUNISHMENT
Solitary confinement in Iran nearly broke my spirit, says Shane Bauer; America's prisons are even worse!
By: Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal
Once inside a SHU, work, drug treatment programs, or religious services are not permitted. SHU prisoners are not allowed phone calls (except in approved emergencies) or contact visits. Clocks, photo albums, food condiments containing sugar, playing cards, and chessboards are all banned. they are let out to the dog run, where they exercise for an hour a day, alone. They don't leave the cell to eat. If they ever leave the pod, they have to strip naked, pass their hands through a food slot to be handcuffed, then wait for the door to open and be bellycuffed...
The decision to put a man in solitary indefinitely is made at internal hearings that last, prisoners say, about 20 minutes. They are closed-door affairs. An inmate facing the worst punishment our penal system has to offer short of death can't even have a lawyer in the room. He can't gather or present evidence in his defense. He can't call witnesses. Much of the evidence--anything provided by informants--is confidential and thus impossible to refute....
How does someone get out of the SHU, then? Officially, there are two ways. One is to be declared an "inactive" gang member or associate, which doesn't happen  very often. The other way out is to debrief--to divulge everything an inmate knows about a gang, which a prisoner can do at any time. An average of 108 do it every year, even though among prisoners snitching can carry the death penalty.
More to follow......