First Weeks in Prison

  Prison has definitely been an interesting experience so far. I was transferred on October 12 to the Central Florida Reception Center (main unit). I stayed there 2 weeks then was transferred to the East Unit. The East Unit is a little better than the Main Unit. I am in a open bay dorm of approx 70 guys. It’s a small room packed with bunks throughout the room. There is an open bathroom for everyone to use. We also get to go to the rec yard a couple times a day depending on the weather. In the main unit we could only go to the rec yard in the morning, the rest of the day we were locked in our dorm unless there was chapel.

  Another good thing about prison verses county jail is we get to walk outside to the chow hall. In county jail they serve us food inside our dorm so we were in that same room 24/7. Here in prison we walk to everything (chapel, chow, rec yard, canteen). It’s a lot easier to get canteen here in the east unit verses the main unit. I would wait in line for hours at the main unit and never even get to the window. People were always cutting the line and selling multiple spots in line. I saw one guy cut in line and another guy said “Man, I have a life sentence, you better get out of line before I get another life sentence”.

  That is the scary part about this reception center. I’m in here with people doing life in prison. They have nothing to lose by messing with someone like myself.

  I am hoping to get transferred any day now. I’ve done all my orientation and my custody status was just set yesterday to minimum. I also was able to call Allison for the first time in almost 3 weeks. I was very happy to hear her voice. I am still waiting to talk to Chloe. The days here have been up and down. The first week was the toughest because I wasn’t getting any mail. It was a terrible feeling because it felt like I had lost everything (my family and friends). Allison mailed me a letter the day I was transferred but it took a week to get to me. Her letter helped me a lot emotionally and mentally. I was told that getting mail in here is like Christmas morning for a child and it’s definitely true. I love getting mail, so I encourage everyone reading this to send me a card or letter. It helps me make it day to day. I want to thank all my friends and family for the letters they’ve sent so far. They have been very much appreciated!

  My little sister Jennifer had her baby on Friday 10/28. She had an 8lb little girl named Ella Jane. I can’t wait to meet her!

  Thanks again for everyone’s love, support, and prayers! Thanks for reading and keep checking back for updates.
Jeffrey

Friday, October 7th

It’s Friday night 10/7 around 8pm. I just had a visitation with Allison and Chloe. That was Allison’s 5th time visiting me since last Friday. Sorry Camille, but Allison beat your record last week of 4 visits.

I did get a surprise visit from my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve. It was unexpected and a very nice surprise. I also received some more postcards this week from my Aunt Gladys, Aunt Doris , and two of Doris’s friends Patsy and Obera from South Carolina. Thank you for the postcards! It’s an amazing feeling knowing others are thinking about you.
The breakfast food here has changed a little over the last week. The rumor is the jail is trying to cut costs so they have done away with hot breakfast. We usually get some grits for the hot breakfast. Now they are giving us some cereal. I opened the little cereal package and it tasted stale. I checked the expiration date on the box and it said November 2009. Two years expired! Obviously I didn’t eat it but I’m sure it wouldn’t have hurt me too bad. I guess I can’t expect much better from jail food. We did check the milk expiration date and that was ok.
I lost a roommate this morning. He was a young man from Mexico. He’s been in the US since he was 16, about 7 years. He left Mexico to come to the US for a better life. He met a girl shortly after getting to Florida and they have a 5 year old daughter together. He went to court two days ago and the judge told him that he had 30 more days to do then he would be released. He barely speaks English so we have a little language barrier but I could see he was extremely happy to be free and back with his girlfriend and daughter in a month. This morning he was woken up at 4am to a guard telling him to pack his stuff and he was leaving. That was not a good wakeup call and we all knew it. He was getting deported to Mexico and ICE was waiting to pick him up. You could see the worry on his face. He was going to get out in 30 days and surprise his girlfriend and daughter when he got out. I felt so bad for him because I knew he was a nervous wreck wondering how long it would be before he gets to see them again. He was always trying to get me to workout with him. He was a little guy about 5’4″ and 130 lbs but he was always flexing his muscles around me. He always made me laugh and I will definitely miss him being around.

I really appreciate everyone’s support through this difficult part of my life.

Jeffrey

As of October 12 Jeffrey has been transferred to the Central Florida Reception Center in Orlando. At this point all I know is that he was woken up around 2:30am to be booked out of Manatee County Jail. One of his roommates called me that morning to let me know. The last time I talked to Jeffrey was Tuesday night. He was not feeling well at the time so I’m hoping he is much better now.

Now that he is in Orlando I will not be able to talk to him for at least 2 weeks, maybe longer. And it will be a couple months before we get to visit. I have taken Chloe to see her daddy at least once a week and she was getting to talk to him everyday. I was going a few times a week to see him (every chance I would get). This is going to be the hardest part for Chloe and I. Before I was getting to talk to him at least 2 times a day. I’m hoping to get a letter from him soon. We were told that we can’t send him mail until he  writes me to tell me the exact location to send it. Once I get that from him I will pass on the information to all of you. He will be able to receive letters at that point. Thank you all for your continued love and support! I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be hard for all of us so your prayers are greatly appreciated!

Allison