Prison Talk

Time to Feature a New Inmate

2009-07-25T01:14:00.002-05:00

Hey all!!!! The time has come to feature a new inmate on this page... I am looking for one or more male or female inmates in either state or federal prisons who are willing to share their lives with us and give America a glimpse of what prison life truly is like. Please email me if you know anyone who may be interested in featuring themselves online as done with Yraida through her release (who is, btw, doing quite well from what I have been told). An inmate can write me at my email if they have access, and I can post their letters, such as Yraida did, or they can write me at my snail mail address and I can either retype their letters, or scan them in their own writing to post. You can email me at sneservices@live.com or steffimarie79@msn.com. Let's get this blog back up and running again!

Steffi

Website Run By Family Of Inmate

2009-04-22T23:46:00.002-05:00

This website is a great site with many items to offer. I am helping the person who runs this site, who is the mother of an inmate in Indiana. Let's offer them our support by checking out what they have to offer. Soon, there will be an area of this site that offers offenders the opportunity to buy gifts and items for their loved ones on the outside at affordable prices. We are working on this feature. We will also have a catalog available for offenders to order from, and they can either mail us their order or email it, whichever is preferred, and we will accept checks cut from the department of corrections. They really have some great things in here at some great prices... check it out! http://www.jdsmithenterprise.com/default.asp?ref_sid=af4a0d25878a4841b9a785843803dae1&ref_uid=pto

Steffi

Yraida's Victory!

2009-04-22T23:31:00.002-05:00

Many of you are well aware that after Yraida's release, she was working as a paralegal for a law office, and her parole officer made her stop because "she would come in contact with criminals" through her work, therefore breaking her parole.... she has appealed this and won! Score one for the good guys!! Please read her latest endeavors....

Post from July 17. 2007:

My Dear Friends,

I promised that I was going to tell all of you about my new job. There is a lot to talk about it. However, I want to share with you for what I am amazingly grateful about my new job, so you can share it with my fellow prisoners and with friends (society). Prisoners can survive in the society if we all do our part.

1. The trust that my boss have bestowed on me. After I was release from prison I thought that nobody will ever trust me again and that no employer will ever trust me to that extent. He not only have trust me as an employee by giving me a password to access the pay legal web-sides; he have also send me to perform business duties in his behalf. Further He also allowed me to accompanied him to a mediation meeting in a discrimination case.Furthermore he have trust me in his personal life too; by allowing me in his home and share with his wife and children, specially with his beautiful little daughter.

2. Work environment. My boss said the other day:" I have former prosecutors and former prisoners working together." Unbelievable but it is true, I work side by side with a soon to be a lawyer that previously worked in the state attorney office. I not only share with her the office, we also are working together in some cases. Everything is possible if we put our differences asides and work together for the good of our society.

3. What I do. I am presently working on cases about human rights and constitutional rights violations which is my passion. I am also learning about state laws and procedures. Some of you know that I have problems with English grammar but I am surviving by using my other traits.

I am sending you this e-mail from my work e-mail address(authorized by my boss) so you can learn more about the law firms that I work for. The law firm specialize in the following fields: Criminal Law (State & Federal); Asset Protection; Corporate Law; DUI & Traffic; Health Care Law; Malpractice; Real Estate; Collections: Estate Planning; Immigration; Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect; Social Security Benefits; Condominium Owners Association; Defective Products; Family Law; Insurance Law; Personal Injury; Workers Comp; Prisoners' constitutional rights violations (on contingency basis) human rights violations and more. Visit our web-site at www.kabalaw.com . If you, family or friend need a lawyer in Florida and/or you know a counsel that needs to co-counsel a case in Florida, feel free to contact my boss at moiseskaba@kabalaw.com. I truly recommends him not only as a professional but also as a very compassionate person.

Thanks and I love you all.

Post from October 7. 2007:

Dear Friends:

It has been a while since I posted the last PIT, which was titled "My New Job". Everything was so wonderful, I was proud of my job and I was learning a lot.

One of the job duties was to assist the attorney in the preparation of the case from the beginning to the end. It required me to call prosecutors, agents, judicial assistant, court's employee and every party involved in the case under the attorney's instructions.

I was thrilled with the experience that I was receiving, however the probation office supervisor was not so thrilled. With the blink of an eye she snatched my future, my salary, my joy and my tranquility when she denied me to work as a paralegal.

With no more reason than "prosecutors, judges and agents are not going to feel comfortable knowing that they are talking with a criminal", the supervisor of the probation office decided that they would not allow me to work as a Legal Assistant or Paralegal.

I am still in shock, and of course in tears (tears are my relief from frustration). I just can not believe it! If I continue working as a Paralegal they will violate me and send me back to prison. Go back to prison for having a lawful and good paying job?.

My crime (drug trafficking) does not have anything to do with my present job detail, there is no special condition of supervised release in my judgment.(See US v. Yraida L. Guanipa. Southern District of Florida. Case No.: 96-Cr-222). What really astonished me was the fact that the probation office filed a confidential memorandum regarding the denial of my employment. The Judge issued an order agreeing with the probation office to denied my employment. Further, I was not allowed, neither my attorney to read it or even have a copy of the memorandum. And guess what? There is not even a record in the court of such memorandum being filed. Can we call this Democracy?.

Nevertheless my attorney filed a Motion to Clarified the conditions of supervised release. The motion was denied within a few days with a simple statement "Denied".

Dear friends, I would like to hear your opinion, because I do not comprehend this. I do not have words to explain to you how I feel. I thought that my litigation with the Federal Government was over after I was released from prison, but the reality is that the punishment never ends when you are convicted of a crime in this country of so called liberty and freedom. Thanks and I love you all.

Yraida l. Guanipa

Posted 4/13/09:
Dear Friends:

Happy Holidays, Passover and Easter for all of you. Even thought I had not written a PITO (Prison Issues Talk Online) for a while, a was still writing, only that this time I was concentrated writing the appellant brief and reply brief of my last appeal about the fact that the probation officer did not allowed me to work as a Paralegal; and I want to share with allof you the victory.

I am grateful to Randy Murrell, Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Florida who guided me in this appeal, he patiently listened my opininons and shared my tears from my furstation and impotency while I went tru the process, I could not find any lawyer, nor a paralegal who believed in my claims to be presented to the eleventh circuit court of appeals, only he, He supported and guided me to the process of filing and writing the appeal as Pro Se. I share this victory with him.

Find attached the ruling form the elventh circuit court of appeals, share it with all your friends and I would love to hear your opinion.

*****BECAUSE THIS WAS A PDF FILE, I AM SIMPLY CUTTING AND PASTING IT HERE FOR EASY VIEWING... ANYONE WHO WOULD LIKE A COPY OF THE ACTUAL FILE, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT STEFFIMARIE79@MSN.COM.... THANKS, STEFFI

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 07-14764
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 96-00222-CR-FAM
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
YRAIDA LEONIDES GUANIPA,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
_________________________
(April 8, 2009)
Before DUBINA, CARNES and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Appellant Yraida Leonides Guanipa, a federal prisoner convicted of
attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine, appeals the district court’s
summary denial of her motion to clarify the conditions of her supervised released
that was filed after the probation officer denied her authority to work as a legal
assistant.
We review the district court's application of the law to sentencing issues de
novo. United States v. Campa, 529 F.3d 980, 992 (11th Cir. 2008), petition for
cert. filed, Jan. 20, 2009 (No. 08-987). “We review the terms of supervised release
for abuse of discretion.” See United States v. Dodge, 554 F.3d 1357, 1360 (11th
Cir. 2009). A remand is necessary when the record on appeal is insufficient to
enable meaningful review. See United States v. Campbell, 473 F.3d 1345, 1347
(11th Cir. 2007).
A probation officer may “use all suitable methods, not inconsistent with the
conditions specified by the court, to aid a probationer or a person on supervised
release who is under his supervision, and to bring about improvements in his
conduct and condition.” 18 U.S.C. § 3603(3). However, under 18 U.S.C. § 3583,
district courts retain the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that a defendant has
complied with the conditions of her supervised release. See Gozlon-Peretz v.
United States, 498 U.S. 395, 400–01, 111 S. Ct. 840, 844–45, 112 L. Ed. 2d 919,
(1991) (noting that, with § 3583, Congress placed responsibility for overseeing a
defendant's post-confinement monitoring with the sentencing court). Additionally,
under § 3583, a district court may modify the conditions of supervised release, but,
under Fed.R.Crim.P. 32.1(c), before modifying the conditions of supervised
release, the court must hold a hearing, “at which the person has the right to counsel
and an opportunity to make a statement and present any information in mitigation.”
Fed.R.Crim.P. 32.1(c).
In United States v. Dempsey, 180 F.3d 1325, 13226 (11th Cir. 1999), we
held that district courts are exclusively authorized with imposing occupational
restrictions as a condition of supervised release, and that probation officers lack
such authority. In so holding, we further reasoned that U.S.S.G. § 5F1.5, which
implements 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d), “authorizes only a court to impose occupational
restrictions and restricts its authority to do so to those instances where the court
specifically finds (1) a reasonably direct relationship between the occupational
restriction and the conduct relevant to the defendant’s offense and (2) the
restriction is reasonably necessary to protect the public from the possibility the
defendant will continue to engage in unlawful conduct similar to that for which he
was convicted.” Dempsey, 180 F.3d at 1326 (quoting U.S.S.G. § 5F1.5).
Moreover, the Supreme Court has noted that associational conditions do not extend
to casual or chance meetings, and an “occupational association, standing alone,”
does not provide sufficient evidence of a violation of a supervised release
restriction. See Arciniega v. Freeman, 404 U.S. 4, 4, 92 S. Ct. 22, 22, 30 L. Ed. 2d
126 (1971).
Lastly, courts sometimes may use categorical terms to outline the contours
of supervised release conditions, and such categorical terms generally provide
sufficient notice of prohibited conduct when there is a plain understanding of what
activities those categories cover. United States v. Taylor, 338 F.3d 1280, 1286
(11th Cir. 2003).
However, the committee notes to Fed.R.Crim.P. 32.1(b) state specifically
that a defendant should have an opportunity to obtain clarification of a term or
condition of supervised release so that the defendant may have an opportunity to
comply with the court's order without first having to violate it, and caselaw
supports the procedural right to seek clarification. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 32.1(b)
advisory committee’s note; Dempsey, 180 F.3d at 1325–26 (considering a
defendant’s Rule 32.1(b) motion to have occupational restrictions imposed by
probation officer modified or clarified).
Here, the conditions of Guanipa’s supervised release did not include any
occupational restrictions, and the court effectively imposed such a restriction based
on its broad application of a restriction that she not “associate” with any persons
engaged in criminal activity or convicted felons. The court’s lack of explanation in
denying Guanipa’s motion does not provide an opportunity for meaningful
appellate review. More importantly, because an “occupational association,
standing alone” is insufficient evidence of a likely violation of the criminal
association restriction, we vacate and remand for the purpose of allowing the
district court to clarify the conditions of supervised release and reconcile those
with Guanipa’s requirement to work. If the court finds that an occupational
restriction is necessary, it needs to elaborate, following a hearing, why such a
restriction has a reasonable relationship to her convicted conduct and is reasonably
necessary to protect the public. Accordingly, we vacate and remand for further
proceedings.
VACATED AND REMANDED.

2009-01-02T18:52:00.002-06:00

Ok, I know this site has not been maintained since Yraida's release, but here I am looking for another prisoner inside our system who would like to continue this labor of love... I am open to ideas and suggestions... The banner you see above belongs to a website for a good friend of mine who is incarcerated. That is his site. Check it out, there are alot of great things there.

Again, I am looking for people who would like to be featured here. Any and all ideas are welcome!

Steffi

If You Can't Live Without a Buzz.....

2007-07-06T03:33:00.001-05:00

If you can't live without a buzz, check out these Chronic Fests!! For details on these Chronic Fests held all over legally/without fear of legal issues, send $2 and a self-addressed stamped envelope or $1 and your email address to:

Information

PO Box 253
Antigo, WI 54409

We will mail you all details regarding Chronic Fests. We compiled the lists, and will save you the research!

Make Money Online For Real!!!

2007-01-30T09:45:00.001-06:00

I know we have all seen the scams that are out there to make money online. This is not a scam. I am working it now, and the money is for real. You will get paid to complete surveys and short offers for companies. It is very simple to set up and costs you nothing to get started. Here are the first steps and if you have any questions, simply email me at sneservices@live.com and I will help you with any questions you may have.

I will tell you what to do to get started. First, get a gmail account. Make it a long named one. If you can't get a gmail account without a referral, email me at sneservices@live.com and I will gladly get you an invitation for one. Mine is iamjustastargazer@gmail.com. You need it to be long because you will make that email address be hundreds of different addies and the longer it is, the more addies you can make of it... gmail lets you put dots in your address and still come to the same email... like i.am.just.a.stargazer@gmail.com is the same account as the other one... get the idea? Please do not email me at this account, as I rarely check it, and only when I need to check it for offer completion email confirmations....

Next, go to http://www.roboform.com/ and download roboform. You just need the free version. This is a program you will learn to love both inside work and outside of it. It will fill in all forms for you. Install it. It will at some point ask you if you would like to use it to save your passwords... tell it yes. It will ask you for a master password... tell it yes for that too but remember the password you create.

Then, click on an internet explorer page and it will have a toolbar on it for roboform. On that toolbar it will say something to the effect of "fill in form..." click on that. You want to put in the information for your name, address, and find the tab that asks for your favorite username and password and stuff.... fill those in too.... use the privacy phone for your phone number and home phone number... leave the others blank. Use the gmail for your email account... you want to put in your favorites for the password and username because when doing alot of these offers it wants to create an account for you and this way you can create the account without having to type in a user and pass for every single one...

Once you have done those things, go to the top of an internet explorer page and click on tools and then internet options. You want to then click on privacy. Click on the advanced button and make sure there is a check by override automatic cookie handling and select accept first party cookies and accept third party cookies. Then make sure there is a check by always allow session cookies. Click OK and then make sure that the box for block pop ups is UNCHECKED. Click back to the general tab and click on delete cookies. You will need to delete your cookies before every single offer that you do. That is very important. So before every offer you do, click on tools, internet options and delete cookies.

Now you are ready to start signing onto some sites and make some money! When you have done all these things, the first site I want you to sign up on is http://www.treasuretrooper.com/223101. You can use your button on the roboform toolbar with your name on it to fill in all the blanks for you. That will show you how it works! You will have to open your email and get the confirmation email and do what it says to confirm. Once you are done with that, let me know right away, and I will walk you through your first few surveys and show you how to make some money!!!!

My first h our on this I made $15.... and that was diddling around quite a bit... Here is another siteyou should sign up for then as well... it is about the same as Treasure Trooper and will make you lots of money... then contact me and I will gladly get you going on these sites making money! They are: http://www.squishycash.com/members/register.php?ref=StarGazer

Once you are signed up, contact me and we will get you going on making some money! It is very simple once you get started. And the money is great! This is not a scam... you will really make money... I have.... email me with any questions you may have... my email address to use for this is sneservices@live.com.

1, 2, 3, and 4

2006-12-29T02:33:00.000-06:00

1, 2, 3, and 4 of my fellow prisoners were sent to the county jail this week as punishment; creating so much commotion on the camp that I felt that I was getting close to collapsing from an anxiety attack. Some of you may know that federal prison CAMPS do not have holes(isolation units) so when an inmate misbehaves, she is taken to the county jail, until the investigation is done or until she is transferred to a higher security facility.

You may wonder: "Why a county jail?" Years ago the misbehave inmates were sent to an isolation unit (hole) at the adjacent prison facility, but more than a decade ago a female inmate from a camp (not this camp) was sent to the isolation unit in the adjacent male prison, and a few males in the unit paid the staff to allow them to rape the female inmate. She was brutally and repeatedly raped. She brought the case to the court and the judge issued an order to the BOP prohibiting them from placing female inmates with male inmates in an isolation unit. You may wonder now who are the 4 inmates and why they were removed and stripped from camp status.

Well the first one was an inmate that I told you about in one of my first PTO's: a toothless, funny looking lady that was named TITI. She went on a 7-day pre-release furlough and instead of looking for a job and getting her documents straight, she ended up in a crack house. I heard (rumors) that she was picked up from the crack house or from the police station and when she was brought back, she was high on drugs.

The second one is a lady in her early thirties who has been incarcerated for 5 years and has 15 more to do. Not too long ago she suffered a stroke, and after the stroke she was confined to a wheelchair. She courageously managed to walk again and use her help with the help of other inmates (no rehabilitation treatment). We were told that she had escaped, and we were ordered to go inside our housing units for a bed-count ( a standing count next to our bed with our I.D.), some of us were not even allowed to finish our lunches. It was a very tense situation, officers were screaming instructions over the speakers, and so on. Finally we learned that it was not an escape; it was just that the inmate chose to go off the camp for a few hours to have sex with her husband that was released from prison more than a month ago. When she was coming back to the camp she was handcuffed, shackled and taking straight to the county jail. I heard rumors) that it had been the second time that she had done that.

The third and fourth one were a lesbian couple in love and they were caught giving each other a long good night kiss in front of the housing unit after the compound was closed at 10:30 p.m. They were caught by the cameras located in front of the units. I heard (rumors) that this was not the first time that they did that.

After all the annoyance, I was so stressed that I was unable to sleep. It was almost 1:00 a.m. and I was still full-awake, I decided to meditate and analyze the situation. I wondered "why did those inmates do that, their behavior is affecting all of us". I put myself in their shoes and thought: The first one has a very serious addiction problem, and she needs a drug treatment program (rehabilitation) instead of a work prison camp. The second one almost lost her life from the stroke and still has 15 years to go; she does not know if she will still be alive in 15 years, or if her husband will wait for her. She had the opportunity to have a little bit of pleasure in her shattered life. What can I say? Only that she had courage. I do not have that kind of courage. I am too chicken for that, my courage is only with my pen and with words. The third and fourth were in love. I do not judge people for their sexual preference as long as they are happy. I only expect discretion from them.

At the end I concluded that the problems were: addiction, illness, sex and love. Shall we really punish people for these kind of problems? We must answer honestly to ourselves and we must dig deep into this issue because we need to be clear whether we need a social change (abolish draconian sentences for first-time, non-violent offenders) or is our society changing toward a Mayberry Machiavelli reign. 1, 2, 3 and 4; addiction, illness, sex and love, four problems that affect our society as a whole. Is our punishment just?

I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa.

Feel free to share this e-mail and/or write to me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
F.C.C. Coleman-Camp
P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

Jump-- Jump On!!

2006-10-14T00:32:00.000-05:00

Jump, Jump-On and bounce on our new luxury mattresses! It is unbelievable that we have a brand new 10" box spring mattress. This has been a magnanimous event.

Last week, Friday the 21st we got new mattresses, "not prison mattresses", real mattresses. How did this happen?, I really do not know. The first night that I slept on my new mattress, I woke-up in the middle of the night and I thought I was dreaming. I dreamt I was on my 7 day furlough already and I was looking for my sons. Then I realized that I was still in prison, sleeping on my comfortable new 10" box spring mattress. After sleeping more than 10 years on a 2" springless, nasty, raggedy old mattress, I am sure you can relate to what I am feeling. When we were told that the prison was going to buy mattresses for all of us; I said:"yeah, yeah, lies and more lies, that's never going to happen". I must admit I was wrong-- completely wrong. I am still in shock, but enjoying my new mattress before someone on top takes them away again.

A few months ago we had an ACA inspection. The American Correctional Association (ACA) is an organization that inspects prisons and enforces prison regulations. In their last inspection they ordered us to remove the polyfill that we had placed on our 2" mattresses. It was what we relied on for cushion and comfort. The majority of my fellow prisoners bought bags of poly fill from the commissary to make the mattresses thicker. The poly fill that they sold in commissary is for hobby craft purposes (to stuff our crochet animals), but we were authorized to use it on our very thin mattresses. Some of us spent more than $20 on poly fill. Suddenly ACA said we could not have it because poly fill is a fire hazard and was highly flammable. We were ordered to throw away our poly fill. We saw our dollars and the little bit of comfort we had over flowing in the trash cans and dumpsters. We were all upset, cranky and sleepless. Our metal bunk bed has 3 metal support bars for the metal spring that we could feel sleeping on those 2" mattresses. There were days when I got-up that I was feeling like those support bars were beating my kidneys all night. Like me, my fellow prisoners were in the same predicament, especially the elderly and the sick.

The mattress change came along with a lot of other changes that are happening inside our prisons systems. There are so many changes that I can hardly keep up with then. Of course all the changes are for the worse-- we are getting overcrowded, the food is less and worse everyday, there is less staff to process paper work and to enforce the rules, more inmates fighting, much more noise and the mattresses came like an Oasis in the desert. I was so excited that day that I volunteered myself to work to take the old mattresses out and bring in the new ones. We came together in line-ups with each other down the hall, military style, and passed down the old mattresses and the new ones. A total of 256 mattresses per unit were moved. We did the work in our Unit in less than a hour. We worked as a team for a good cause: "to sleep better". It please me to see how we get together and work as a team. The little child inside of me still loves to jump on beds, but with a 2" mattress on 3 metal support bars, it was not a good place to bounce, however with my new 10" box-spring mattress, the child inside came out again after 10 years and I am bouncing away. I just hope that my fellow prisoners do not get too comfortable in prison, because this is not our place and NEVER WILL BE.

I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa (Leo).

Feel free to share this e-mail or write to me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
F.C.C. Coleman-Camp
P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

Please Help Support My Daughter

2006-10-04T15:44:00.000-05:00

My daughter, Ellie, is selling items for her school fundraiser. She gets prizes for selling the most amount of items, and is very excited. She wants to sell the most and win the biggest prize (those are her words), so anyone who might be interested in ordering, please take a look at http://www.hansenfoods.com/onlineorders.html and you may place your order online. On the end of the order confirmation page, there is a box to enter her name, school and Teacher's name. Her school name is North Elementary, her teacher's name is Thomae, and her name is Ellen Poch. Thanks everyone in advance for your help!

Prison Photo ID

2006-09-19T01:16:00.000-05:00

Some of you may know that I was here in Coleman-Camp in 97 until 2000. In December of 99 I began a hunger strike. As punishment for my hunger strike I was sent to the hole at a high security facility in Tallahassee, with a one way only ticket. The camp administrator's assistant at that time told me that I could rest assured that I would never be able to come back to Coleman.

It took me 3 years of fighting the BOP to come back to Coleman. When I finally reached Coleman by a furlough transfer from Marianna Camp, I was already paranoid. There is no doubt that years of incarceration made us paranoid, but the fact that I knew that Coleman-Camp did not want me, made my paranoia worse. I was afraid that i was going to be sent back to Marianna, that the officers would be watching and following me. All of those weird thoughts crossed my mind. The day after my arrival, first thing in the morning, I was in line to get my laundry bag and of course I was at my highest paranoid stage. Here came the camp officer who approached me and in a friendly tone said: "are you Ms. Guanipa?" My legs were shaking, ten thousand thoughts crossed my mind at the speed of light. I answered: "How do you know who I am? I have never seen you before." He replied: "It is my job to know any new inmate in this camp." Since he was very friendly, I said to him: "Are you sure it is only that?"; he answered: "yes!" I asked again: "Are you sure nobody sent you to follow me?" he said: "No, I am not following you, I just wanted to take your picture for your ID." I replied: "Oh, no, no, that's not going to happen, you are not the R and D (release and detention) officer; he is the only one who can take my picture." He said: "The R and D officer is my buddy, and he will allow me to take your picture." I did not want to continue the conversation and I said: "We will see..." Then I left.

A few hours later I was paged by the speaker system to go to R and D, when I got there I saw the camp officer and he said to me: "I told you that I was going to take your picture." I was scared to death and was thinking: "Oh, Lord, he is going to send my picture to the FBI, to Homeland Security, to the CIA, to the INTERPOL, and to God knows where else." After arguing back and forth with the R and D officer and him, asking both of them for a satisfactory reason, he finally said: "OK, Ms. Guanipa, relax, all I want is to catch your smile in the picture." I replied: "Catch my smile? Are you out of your mind?" He said: "Why not?" I continued arguing and he said: "Ms. Guanipa, relax, relax, I am not going to let you go until you smile at the camera... you are always smiling anyway, even when you are arguing, so why not smile for the camera?" I said; "OK."

The result: a big smile picture on my prison ID (you will be able to see the picture soon, at this moment I can not post the picture from here). I really do not know why the officer wanted to do that, but I can honestly say that he had never disrespected me nor any of my fellow prisoners that I know of. The problem begins every time that an officer or an inmate asks for my ID. It seems like they both staff and inmates get upset when they see my big smile in the picture, and they always asked: "Why are you smiling in that picture?" I come out with different answers (of course I could not tell the truth or the story over and over) such as: "Why not?"; "because I love to smile"; "because smiling is good for your health"; etc, etc; but none of my answers pleased them. They all gave me that weird look like they were thinking: "She must be stupid, or on some kind of pills."

One day when I was coming back from work, an officer that we all know for being very rude, stopped me on the road, searched my vehicle and asked for my ID, and of course he asked: "Why are you smiling in the picture?" I knew that he would take any of my previous answers as a smart answer. I said to myself: "I have to come out with a different answer." I answered him: "Because I am stupid, sir." He did not reply and just let me go. I was so happy with his reaction that I was jumping up and down on my way back saying to myself: "I got it, I got it now, my answer from now on is: 'because I am stupid.'" It seems like that is what the people inside prison want to hear.

Dear friends , all of us have been stupid in some point in our life, but no matter what: KEEP ON SMILING. I love you all.

Feel free to share this article or write to me at:

Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp
PO Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

Unit Base Education Program

2006-07-30T06:27:00.000-05:00

In the Federal Prison System, classes are taught through the Education Department. Due to budget cuts, the only two classes required by law are GED and English as a second language. There are other educational programs offered by the education department such as: VT(Vocational training), a certification from the experience of your prison job; - Adult education, classes taught by inmates who volunteer to share their knowledge and experiences with other inmates, and Self-taught videos or computer classes. Other departments such as psychology, religious services, food services, recreation department, etc. offer classes or groups taught by staff or contractors.

The Unit Team, which is composed of a counselor, case manager, and unit manager also sometimes volunteer their services to teach or lead different groups. I truly like when the Unit Team offers classes (other than religious classes) because we have the opportunity to interact with our unit team on a more personal level than just on a paperwork level. I remember years ago when I took a class with a counselor that I did not have a good relationship with and at the end of the class she changed her views about me and our relationship changed for the good.

When our unit manager was transferred to this camp, he implemented a program called: UNIT BASE EDUCATION PROGRAM. The program has been a success. Even though I have disagreements with my unit manager, I recognize that he cares enough about prisoner's education, and I respect him for that. The unit base education program are classes that are taught by inmates in a variety of subjects such as: credit awareness, paralegal, basic algebra skills, job interviews, money smart, credit report, as a women thinketh, resume writing, employment skills, etc.

I volunteered my services to teach: "Marketing Strategies." I love that subject. It amazes me how marketing advertising experts combine psychology, science, techonogy, trends, culture, place, weather, color, human needs and weaknesses, etc. to persuade our minds to feel the desire or neccesity to buy their products or to vote for a candidate. I taught my students (one class in English and one class in Spanish) about: -How to research the markets, customers, competition, and industry; How to advertise: T.V., radio, newspaper, creative campaign, word of mouth, telemarketing, direct mail, one-on-one, etc; -The marketing variables: products, packaging, price, place, and promotions; and -How to prepare a sales plan. I truly enjoyed teaching that class. I was asked to volunteer to teach another class in that program called: "Keeping Connected." It was a type of AA group in which we share our experiences in how we can keep our bonds with our children due to long years of separation because of incarceration. I did not know how hard it was going to be for me to teach that class, talk about my history as a prisoner and a mother, and answer questions to my fellow prisoners. It is a draining process. I cried through the entire two day session, class after class, and I have the feeling that it is the same for the students, because a few of them have written good comments about the class. Vanessa wrote:" I was in attendance of the first 'keeping connected' class, and I would like to thank you and the 3 ladies that held the class. That class brought me and my daughter to a new level. When I first got here, I was so bitter, and I did not realize that I took it out on my child at times. The ladies in the class taught me so many different approaches to keeping connected to my child while I am in prison. Well, what I am trying to say is that whoever is in charge of that class, 'WELL DONE.' I hope from time to time we have more classes like this one".

The prisoners are allowed to write their comments about any class, and I have never seen so many good comments about a class taught by prisoners. That convinced me more that we need to do something about the alarming increased rate of women (mothers) in prison. I hope society agrees with me and realizes that we need help.

I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa (Leo)

Feel free to share this or write to me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp
P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

When The Best Is The Worst

2006-07-29T01:13:00.000-05:00

"Betrayal at its worst" was the title of one editorial article from the Orlando Sentinel newspaper Friday July 7-06. Rarely you see a newspaper editorial criticizing prison officials or "a prison system out of control", but the abuses inside our prisons are so egregious that the media cannot keep a blind eye toward prison abuse any longer. The article talks about the guilty plea of Mr. James Crosby, a former Florida prison chief and another prison official Allen Clark for taking bribes (kick backs) from vending company Keefee that provided commissary for prisoners and from another company running a separate canteen for prison visitors (prisoner's families). The article also said: "state investigators also have charged 8 others in connection with stealing recycling material from the agency or using inmate labor for personal projects".

This news may be new to the society but not to us (prisoners). Almost every prisoner in this country federal, state and county knows about Keefee products and how the products sold in prison commissary are sometimes expired and/or marked "not for sale" but we pay full price for it with the pennies per hour that we make from our slave labor; with no right to exchange and/or reimburse our money. We also know how our family is cheated by the high prices of the food they sell to our visitors. We also know that prison officials not only steal recycling material, they also steal/destroy and/or misuse prison's factory materials and even government properties; and what about using inmate labor for personal projects? I will not have enough paper to state all the examples of this abuse.

Reading about Mr. Crosby's crime a week after the Tallahassee Gunfight and reading the May issue of Prison Legal News was very devastating for me. It took me a few days to recovery. I keep asking myself: "when will the abuse stop?"; "How far is this going to go?"; "will the society open its eyes on time?"; "what can I do"?; "How can I help my sons?". I read from the Prison Legal News that: - Janice Koonte and Colleen Jordan, two employees of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, used prisoner's social security numbers obtained from their job to fraudulently file false income tax returns in the name of the prisoners; - Major Joseph Glynn Jr. the deputy warden of the Philadelphia Prison system, embezzled money from the inmate accounts. And what about Robert, a severely mentally disabled teenager, and an orphan with the mind of an infant who is a 15-year old that wears diapers and plays with blocks. Guards in Robert's Tallahassee juvenile detention center were unable to care for him. Their solution: they assigned a 17-year-old accused violator to bathe, clothe, and change Robert's diaper. Robert was repeatedly raped. - More and more cases of sexual abuse to inmates, juveniles and females, brutality, medical neglect, etc, etc.

But the article that shocked me the most was about Dominick Labruzzi, a captain at Riker's Island juvenile jail that sexually assaulted several teenage boys under his custody. All the victims were "young spanish kids, no facial hair, curly black hair, very innocent looking...". I said to myself: "Oh Lord please keep my boys be safe and out of trouble". I feel sorry for the mothers of those boys and girls that are sexually or physically abused inside our prisons. The majority of those teenagers enter prison due to addiction or mental problems and the family can not afford to send them for treatments.

At the beginning of my incarceration while my sons were visiting me, an officer opened the children's play room (to count us) and my youngest son was behind the door. When the officer brutally opened the door, my son fell on the floor, and another officer told him: "you hit the kid"; the officer's reply was: "that's ok, he will get use to it because he will end up in prison like his mother and he will pay for my son's college by securing me a job". I could not say anything (I am not allowed to). I lifted my son off the floor. He was just over one year old and he was crying. I held him against my heart and I said to him: "I promise you that I will do whatever I can to save you from prison. This unkind human will eat his words". Everytime that I read about the abuses in our juvenile prisons I remember that day.

Sexual, physical and mental abuse; slave labor; stealing our money; our social security; robbing us and our families through high phone rates and food prices; medical neglect; no religious or freedom of speech; killing agents; suicides; cover-ups; brutality; and much more. I wonder what is next?. The Orlando Sentinel Editorial said that the corrupt government officials owed an apology to the Florida citizens; however the editorial does not mention the apology also owed to the prisoners and their families. When the best law-abiding citizens who we trusted to rehabilate criminals are the worst criminals; we can honestly say that: WHEN THE BEST IS THE WORST,WE ARE ALL LOST. "Betrayal at its worst" is not enough.

I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa (Leo)

Feel free to share this article or write to me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

Meredith

2006-07-16T05:29:00.000-05:00

Meredith is a female black labrador that I puppysat for a while. I almost cried when she left 2 weeks ago, and I am still missing her. Meredith was a participant in a program at Coleman Camp called "IMPACT" in which female prisoners train dogs for blind people. The dogs are from Southeastern Guide Dog (SEGD) in Palmetto, Florida. It is an excellent program in which prisoners can give something back to society. I believe in the program and I applied to be a puppy raiser but I was accepted as a puppysitter.

I went through the training in which we learned the basic commands for the dogs such as: sit; down; stay; come; doors(when going through a door the puppy is to sit before you open and close the door); forward; busy, busy; big busy(to relieve); no; table under; etc. We also learn how to teach directional commands and the care and feeding of the puppies. I have puppysat a few puppies, but I never had the opportunity to take a puppy into my cubicle until Meredith arrived. The prisoner in charge of Meredith is a friend. I wrote about her before. She was the one who was driving the van when we have some Iraqi visitors a while ago Besides being my friend she is my neighbor, therefore for the first time, I had the opportunity to bring a puppy to my cubicle.

Meredith was very lovable and friendly with everybody. She was very intelligent too. She knew which cubicles she was welcome, she knew her raiser and her puppysitters well, she also knew that she could freely walk into my cubicle at any time. My friend would take her to our exercise or yoga class and Meredith would exercise with us and spread her legs, turn around, face up, face down right between us. When she was in my cubicle, I would throw myself on the floor with her, look into her eyes, & talk to her. Then she would lay on her back, legs open, for a full belly rub. She loved belly rubs. If I got tired and laid on my bunk, she would place her head on my bed near my face, and look at me, moving her tail, like trying to tell me that: "she wants to play" or "give me some attention, please." I heard her everyday in the morning when she got out of her kennel and stretched herself, nagging her tail and banging everything around her; I also heard her during the day when she was playing with her favorite toy: "the elephant squeaky." My friend wrote: "she is very nurturing-She had an elephant squeaky toy and if she could she would bring it with her everywhere. She carried it in her mouth squeezed it to make the squeaky noise and then played with it and slept with it under her head."

That squeaky noise brought sweet memories to my mind.When my son was less than 2 years old he loved to play with his yellow duck squeaky toy and I so enjoyed watching him. When I heard Meredith for the first time squeezing her elephant, my heart jumped to joy at the sweetness of that squeaky noise that I had not heard in 10 years. It was like I was alive again. I definitely did not want her to leave. But the day came and my friend wrote: "I knew the day would come when I would have to turn her over to Southeastern for more training- I dreaded that day when it came but I knew deep down inside that she was destined for greater things... The person who gets Meredith will be blessed for the days to come... take care of my precious baby girl for she will take care of you." I hugged Meredith endlessly. She made me realize how much I was in need of hugs and that the road has been too long ( as you may know we are not allowed to give or receive hugs in prison). More than 10 years without a hug on a regular basis destroys human emotions and feelings. We become dehumanized and we live like robots, but Meredith brought life back to some of those caring, nurturing human feelings that were asleep inside me.

It is an important human emotion to be able to express freely the emotions that we have been forced to suppress for the duration of our incarceration. These emotions are what make us feel alive.

I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa (Leo).
Feel free to share to quote this article. You can write me at:

Yraida L. Guanipa #44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp
P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

Tallahassee Gunfire Incident

2006-07-12T04:27:00.000-05:00

The Tallahassee Gunfire incident was not what I had planned to write about this week, but the news was so shocking that I chose to postpone what I had already written.

Sudan Hussain, nor the 6 suspected terrorists arrested in Miami this week reacted like the BOP employee Mr. Hill reacted when he was going to be arrested. I am sure our federal government is very upset and I have the feeling that this week's US Supreme court ruling in Sheila White's case in which the highest court broadened the scope of what constitutes actions of retaliation for reporting sexual harrassment at work was tainted by the emotions from the Tallahassee gunfire incident.

Now, just think for a minute, if shooting is the way that "SOME" of the BOP employee treat their superiors, I am sure you may wonder how they treat those female prisoners like me that do not participate in their sexual abuse. I ask Coleman authorities not to retaliate against me for writing about this subject, but I feel it in my burning heart's desire to speak out. Not all BOP's employees are like Mr. Hill or his co-defendants. There are a lot of caring, honest and compassionate staff inside our federal prisons. There are male and female staff members at Tallahassee that I do respect and that I will always be thankful and grateful towards them.

Last time that I was in Tallahassee in 2002, I got very sick and was rushed to the hospital, then admitted for 5 days. My Unit manager at the time, Ms. Southerland, went to visit me every day after work. She took time from her family to just sit in front of my hospital bed, assuring me that everything was going to be ok. She brought me my mail, called my family, and secured my property, etc. The warden assistant, Mr. Dowd, told the hospital authorities to take care of me, no matter how long or how expensive the cost would be. The captain and lieutenant ordered the officer not to shackle or handcuff me to bed. Also, Mr. James in the educational department, helped me and cared for my college classes and gave me a very special recognition on my college graduation day. My supervisors, Mrs. Herderson at Education and Mr. Wiggins at A.D.P., treated me with respect and valued my work ethics.

Unfortunately, there are many staff members like Mr. Hill and their group, and a very high percentage of staff members that keep a blind eye and/or cover the abuse. The sexual abuse of prisoners (female, males and juveniles) and contraband inside our (federal, state and overseas) prisons is nothing new, and indeed, part of our daily life. At the beginning of my incarceration while I was at Tallahassee, my 19 year old bunkie showed me a cigarette made of marijuana in our cubicle. I was scared to death. That was the first time in my life that I saw and was so close to a marijuana cigarette. The next day I reported her to the head of S.I.S. (Special Investigation Service). But instead of punishing her, I was the one that ended up being punished. My fellow prisoners and the unit officer found out that I had reported my bunkie and 2 of my fellow prisoners opened my locker and spread all my property around the hall. I ran to the unit officer and told him the incident and invited him to see my property scattered on the floor. He stood in front of the hall and screamed at me in front of everybody, "You will learn prison life and I am sure you will not snitch again." My 19 year old bunkie spent her 7 month sentence smoking marijuana inside prison (how sad).

Frustrated and strong enough to handle the retaliation, I reported the same abuses that all of you saw in the news this week. That 1996 report shall be somewhere in one of the Tallahassee FBI offices. Also there are hundreds of complaints/allegations of sexual abuse, retaliation and contraband filed by females prisoners at Tallahassee since 1996. Especially against Mr. Moore. I never thought that the abuse at FCI Tallahassee was going to have such of ignominious end. I am glad to know that my fellow female prisoners are finally speaking out and learning that those corrupt, unpatriotic officers are abusing them and violating the law instead of helping them to rehabilitate themselves and break the cycle of abuse and addiction that a lot of them suffered before coming to prison.

Those officers are destroying our government and placing our democracy at risk by making our society lose faith in our federal government (the most powerful government in the world). I never lost faith. I knew in my heart that there are a lot of good public servants in our government. I never gave-up and I complained for 10 years to sadly learn that an agent with guts to police the police like William Buddy Stener was killed. It is a tough job as his father said on TV. I am sure Mr. Stener (Buddy) was aware how tough his job was, but he was willing to serve our country by defending the reputation of our federal government. We lost a good public servant. My condolences to his family, especially his wife, mother and all his relatives. He was killed for defending federal female prisoners. It may take time, but justice will always prevail and it is my hope that from now on our voices will be heard. This incident opened the eyes of the bureaucracy and I believe the system will change because of it.
I love you all.
Yraida L. Guanipa

Feel free to share this article or to write me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp
P.O. Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

Prison Toilet Scars

2006-06-22T20:52:00.000-05:00

Like the bacon incident, the toilet incident also happened on my last furlough.

Prison is a brutally honest environment. As I said before, in here we all know who does what and who you truly are, your dirty laundry eventually will get aired. Your reputation is very important to survive and your reputation will travel with you to every prison. Therefore, you must be careful. There are good and bad reputations, and of course you do not want to gain the bad ones, because it is almost impossible to clean-up. Some of the bad reputations are: snitch, liar, thief, doormats, brown noser, nasty dirty b..., etc.

Each human being reacts differently in stressful and special circumstances My reaction to stress or difficult situations is loss of blood. Before my first cycle I would have uncontrolled bleeding trough my nose, after my first cycle I would vaguely bleed and after I delivered my two sons the blood problem become worse. During my trial, the judge suspended the trial twice due to this problem. I would come out like when you open a faucet, sometimes the bleeding would get so bad that I would get dizzy, I was even admitted in the hospital once. Then I was sentenced to this draconian sentence and designated to Tallahassee, a medium-high security facility.

When I arrived at Tallahassee, it was the worst time of my life. Today I look back and I can honestly say that I do not know how I survived. I did not know anything about prison, or how we were suppose to behave. So on one of those hard days, I mean it was a real bad day. I was exhausted, I felt hopeless, sad and desperate. I went to bed crying like a child. I missed my sons, my family , my home, everything. Suddendly around 2:00 am I wake-up knowing that a torrential amount of blood was coming. The toilet/sink was inside my cubicle, and when I got-up from bed, clots of blood was running everywhere. I was so scared and dizzy, I thought that i was going to die. I cleaned the entire cubicle holding myself out of my bunk. I cleaned in the dark with just my towel and some water from the sink. I finished around 5:00 am, and I was feeling so weak that i could not get-up for breaftast. The orderly (inmate) who was a brown noser, saw a very small clot of blood on the floor and she made a huge issue out of that, she asked for bleach, notified all the authorities and inmates and they all treated me like i was a leper. Due to that incident I gained the reputation of being a nasty dirty spanish b..., I've had a hard job of cleaning-up my reputation. Of course I became paranoid, so for the last ten years, everytime that I use the toilet, I would check, recheck and check again that there was nothing spilled around, I would check my cloths, and would flush the toilet 2 or 3 times. I leave the toilet and come back 2 or 3 times to make sure that everything is clean because I am afraid that if any of my fellow prisoners sees that I left something dirty on the toilet (unintentionally) they will call me nasty dirty spanish b... Prisoners do not forget.

As I said before my brother-in-law took us to this nice cuban restaurant in downtown disney called "Bongos" owned by Emilio and Gloria Estefan. In the restaurant i went to the bathroom, on the toilet I was sitting and I looked around for the pull or bottom to flush the toilet and I did not see it. So I said to myself,: "maybe it has a sensor, it will flush when I get-up". So I got-up and it did not flush. I got closer to the door and did not flush, I walked around the toilet to the left, to the right, to the front and it did not flush. I started becoming paranoid and saying to myself: "oh my God I can not leave the toilet like that". For a moment I thought that I was in prison, I forgot that i was at Bongos (my friends it is an ugly and sad feeling). I chose to wait until nobody was around to leave the toilet because I did not want anybody to know that I could not flush the toilet. I was there with my ears to the door waiting for silence, scared like a cat. When it was silence, I decided to get-out, but when I opened the door, I heard another door opening at the end. I got-out and I saw the person and at the same time the toilet flushed, I was so confused, then I realized that it was my dear sister Briglig. what a relief. She looked at my face and said: "Leo, what's wrong?, you look scared to death, are you ok.?, what's happening with you?." This time I could not hide my shame, I feel like I can tell anything we have a very special bond and she is like my daughter. I said to her: "well i was worried about the toilet, it did not flush when I got-up". She replied: "come on Leo you know that toilets now flush by sensor". I said: "I know, but this one did not flush when i got-up instead it flushed when I opened the door". She laughed and said: "you just ned to get-up of that prison". I replied to her: " yes, my princess you are absolutely right, it has been way too long".

Dear friends to tell you the truth, due to my lenthgly years of incarceration I really do not remember whether those sensor toilets flush when you get-up off the toilet or when you open the door to get out. Nevertheless, my time is near for my release, and future knowledge will come in due time....ONE DAY AT A TIME.

I love you all.
Yraida Leonides Guanipa (Leo).
Feel free to share this e-mail or write to me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp
PO Box 1027
Coleman. Florida 33521-1027

Prison Bacon Scars

2006-06-17T02:37:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately more than 5 years of incarceration leave deep scars in a life of any prisoner. And of course I am not the exception, no matter how hard I tried to not allow prison to destroy my life; there are scars deep inside my soul that I can not hide. I became aware of some of those scars during my last furlough.

We all know what foods mean for any living creature on earth. Even though I love food I hate to have to beg for it because it makes me feel worse than being a prisoner. Well, for the last 10 years of my incarceration I have had to beg or trade for some types of food. Do not take me wrong, there is a lot of food in the BOP, but there are some types of food that are rationed such as meat, fruits, ice cream, etc. Therefore some of us negotiate our food in advance by trading, selling or stealing the food. We all know who does what. Since I do not eat meat or prison ice cream and I love fruits, it has been easy for me to trade my meat or ice cream for fruit.

However it is not always that easy. Prior to my furlough they were serving watermelon, and I love watermelon, there is something very special about that fruit. I love the sweet taste, the juiciness and mostly my childhood memories that it brings to my heart. Inside prison we eat watermelon only once a year, for memorial day, and if there is enough watermelon, we east it once or twice before or after Memorial Day. The day that they were serving watermelon, they were also serving bacon, and since I do not eat bacon, it was a great day to barter. We only get 3 or 4 strips of bacon, so one of my fellow prisoner said to me before entering the dining hall: Guanipa, give me your bacon and I will give you my watermelon". I said: "It is a deal." She continued and said: "I am going to get 2 pieces of watermelon, try to get an extra ration of bacon if you can". I replied: "no problem, it is a deal, we will see each other at the table". I was so sure that I was going to find some of my friends serving the food. When I was approaching the line I realized that none of my friends were in the serving line that day. I was debating in my mind whether to beg for the bacon or not. The lady who was serving the bacon did not have a friendly look about her, but I wanted the extra piece of watermelon badly enough. I chose to beg for the bacon, even thought I hate to do that. The lady gave me an ugly look and screamed at me: "move, move out of the line". I had to control myself. I was so close to suffering a hysterical attack, I felt like I wanted to throw my tray and start screaming: "I hate prison, I can not take this any longer, how many more times do I have to beg for bacon in order to trade it for watermelon?, I hate this, I hate this... O Lord, please help me.." I took 3 deep breaths and moved along, while I was thinking: "what I am going to tell my friend; I can not take 2 pieces of watermelon for just one ration of bacon". I said: 'well whatever will be, will be". But while I was in line to get water, another one of my fellow prisoner said to me: "Guanipa, here is my watermelon, I do not like it, take it, I know you do not eat bacon, you were trying to get it for someone else. I said: "thanks". At the table my friend was waiting for me. I said to her: "I am sorry I could not get more than one ration of bacon". She replied: "do not worry I got someone else's bacon, take my 2 pieces of watermelon anyway". I sat-down next to her and I enjoyed my tray full of watermelon while we talked.

But the bacon incident (scar) was still haunting me on my last furlough. We were in a luxury hotel in Orlando where they have a free breakfast buffet. They had everything, i took some yougurt and fruits and we were eating, then I got the desire to eat something hot. All my family was eating either pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. Across our table was a medium age body-guard type men, that my oldest son said was staring at me. I got-up from the table and went to the hot line buffet area, and opened this beautiful luxurious silver steal casserole and it was full of bacon. I had this unconscienced and unvoluntary reaction and I said to myself: "wow bacon, I do not have to beg for it, I can take as much as I want". And I started piling my plate with bacon, in a raviging manner and like a maniac. Suddently the body-guard looking men was standing next to me and said something that I could not hear but his voice and presence took me out of my trance. I did not ansnwer him, I just roamed to my table thinking: "Oh Lord, he must be a police, maybe he works at Coleman, He is going to accuse me of stealing bacon". Next I am standing in front of my family with a mountain of bacon on my plate and my family is looking at me like I have Alzheimers disease and I forgot that I do not eat bacon, and that I was lost and I did not know what to do next. My sister asked: "Leo, do you eat bacon now?. I said "no". She asked again: "so who is that bacon for?". I replied: " well I brought it for every one in case that any of you want some". She looked confused and said: "do you not see that we have bacon on our plates?". I was too ashamed to tell my family the truth.

I know my sister will be laughing when she reads this, like me when I saw the picture of the plate with the mountain of bacon on it. Like the bacon scar, there are many more scars that this lengthy sentence has left on me. I only hope that my sons, family and friends will be patient with me. But mostly I hope that none of those scars will bring me back to prison. The main purpose of the present draconian sentences is to adjust prisoners to prison life so we will not be able to survive when we go back society. It is a ludicrous notion, as many of you may be thinking, but is is true.

I love you all.
Yraida Leonides Guanipa (Leo)
Feel free to share this e-mail or write to me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
FCC Coleman-Camp
PO Box 1027
Coleman, Florida 33521-1027

My Second 36 Hour Furlough

2006-05-29T23:14:00.000-05:00

I am writing this PTO from my friend Carol's computer at her home with my sons on my lap. Yes, I am on my second 36 hour furlough.

I apologize for not notifying you of my furlough in advance and for not writing a PTO last week. The Reason: my furlough was on hold because my unit manager (the highest authority in the camp) does not like my PTO articles. A while ago I went to talk to him about something ( I can't recall what it was). He ended our conversation criticizing the articles that I write. He said that I was very negative; that have hate in my heart and that I should see life differently. I did not reply to his comment because I do understand that not everybody will like my writing, some will and some won't. A few days after our conversation he called for a town hall meeting and he said to all of us that some of us will never get anything accomplished because we see life under a negative glass and he said the same words that he had said to me in our previous meeting. I knew at that moment that he was truly upset with my writing and that the comment was meant for me.

I decided that I was going to avoid anything that would make me to talk to him and I also did not want to argue with him. Them ACA (American Correctional Accreditation) inspection came and they all got stressed ( I will write that inspection in a separate article), along with the (cinco de mayo) Mexican day of celebration. So he put together a Religious day off to every body. We also had special food that day and he was working very hard and putting extra hours. I saw him in the dining hall and he looked exhausted and he sat at a table by himself . I thought about the extra mile he goes for us, also that even though we have some disagreements, overall he is a good unit manager. It was on my mind to write a cop-out to him and give him thanks, but I decided at that moment to go over to his table and give thanks personally. I said to him, "Mr... I want to let you know that I am thankful for the good programs that you implemented at the camp such as Washington Mutual Bank Accounts, Toastmasters and the Unit Base Education Programs." I noticed a deep discomfort on his face as I was talking then and he said: "now Ms. Guanipa why don't write about that instead of writing about Draconian Sentences and that the unit manager said ...." and he went on and on . I said to him, "well I thought about writing about the Washington Mutual Banks Saving Accounts and if that pleases you I will definitely do it."

He continued quoting some of my PTO's and suddenly one of the Religious Volunteers is standing next to us with her meal tray in her hands and she said to him: " oh Mr.... this is a feast, this is a lot of food and really good food. Do "they" (us inmates) get this everyday?". He answered: "thank you, thank you, yes "they" do and you know what? "they" still complain." The lady looked at me with ugly face and left. After she was gone, I said to him "you see you know that we do not get this food everyday." He said, "What I meant was every Cinco De Mayo." I replied, "You did not say that to the lady... that is the point of our argument: you want to portray to society something different about prisoners and I write the truth about prisoners." He stopped me and angrily said that I was mislabeling his big brothers (The BOP). I was getting very uncomfortable and I was preparing my reply in legal terms when I guess he saw that on my face and he said, "Well, you are entitled to your opinion and there is nothing that I can do." I said, "Thank you."

In the meantime, I was waiting for my furlough papers to be signed by the warden, and they all kept telling me that the papers were in the warden's office. Since the paper work was taking too long I decided to ask my supervisor help and he found out that my papers were on hold by the Unit Manager for an action that I had made. My supervisor, the warden's secretary, and my chaplain came to my rescue and talked to the unit manager on my behalf and he agreed to release my papers. I went to ask him what was my action and he said, "It was concluded that you may be a threat because you might contact the media and manipulate the system." I was in such shock I could not believe such a kindergarten excuse, instead of telling me straight out that he is against my PTO's articles. He promised that I was going to be able to take my furlough and that it will be on time (it takes time to process those papers).

Then last Thursday, just one day before my furlough, I was still waiting for my papers and of course I was desperate. I was on my way to the counselor's office when I see the PA waving at me and calling me from across the compound. I was afraid to go because I was wearing shorts and I could not go to that area in shorts, so I said to her, "Look I am in shorts." She answered, "Do not worry." I went and the PA asked me to take a very ill and old lady to her unit. At first I hesitated. Then I said to the PA, "You better cover for me, because going to the lady's unit is out of bounds for me and I am taking a furlough this weekend and if i get an incident report I will not get my furlough." She said, "Go, I will cover you."

I was still hesitant because I do not like to do anything unless it is in writing and signed by the officer, but I look at the lady, and she was in very bad shape. She looked at me and said in a tumbling voice, "Guanipa I can not walk. Please go to my room and get my wheelchair and back and get me." I could not say no, however, that meant double the risk. I ran to get the wheelchair and came back to get the lady. While I was moving her, she was throwing up. The PA was gone and I was crossing to the camp officer station. I thought about notifying the officer about my second trip to an "out of bound" area for me, but the lady was so sick. I held the chair very tight and thought to myself, "My Dear sons Yrwil and Jeswil if I lose my furlough for helping this old and sick female prisoner I hope both of you will forgive me." Then something beautiful happened: I felt the embrace of my sons' arms and I saw their smiling faces saying, "Go mommie." The sensation was so real and powerful that I got the unmeasurable strength to take the lady to her room, clean her, put her in her bunk and look for someone to help her. Then I ran to the counselor's office and she said to me, "The warden just signed your papers a few minutes ago and the papers are on their way back."

Here I am enjoying my sons in my arms and wondering if it is worth it to put my next 7 day furlough and half way house at risk if I continue writing my PTO's from prison. But my dear friends, I feel that if I do not write to you I am as good as dead. The truth is important to me, and such it should be told.

I love you all.
Yraida (Leo) Guanipa

Feel free to share this article or write to me at:
Yraida L. Guanipa # 44865-004
PO Box 1027
Coleman, Fl. 33521-1027

What Happened to Freedom of Speech???

2006-05-23T00:55:00.000-05:00

Please read the following letter from Yraida. She is being persecuted for writing these articles to us, the public. Apparently, SOME correctional officers in the BOP do not want us to know what is going on inside our prisons. If there is anyone out there with any suggestions or knowledgeable in law who can help, or even just offer their suggestions of what to do or what angle to attack this from, please post a comment at the bottom, or email us at prisontalk@hotmail.com. And by all means, please keep Yraida and her family in your prayers.

Dear Friends,

My PTO's articles have been under heavy scrutiny by SOME correctional officers. Apparently Some officers were offended with my writing and their decision was to hold off on some of my privileges. I made a commitment to write a PTO Article every week, I take my commitments very seriously and I do stick to them. Writing does no come easy to me, but I truly believe that a commitment that is easy is really not a commitment at all; and the joy comes from staying on course, when you know the winds are howling all around you.

Yes, I am very happy when I receive comments on my PTO's and to hear that my PTO articles have been used for educational or inspirational purposes, I am more able to endure the howling wind; 10 grim years of incarceration, a 17 day hunger strike and all types of retaliation have made me a very strong person and I can easily handle the rest of my sentence even if all of my privileges are taken away. But if any of the privileges taken away involves my family, I'd have to think twice. I am very grateful for the support, care and love from my family, the sacrifices that they have all made for me have been of paramount importance. Furthermore I would hurt me a great deal to take away the smiles from my son's faces, therefore, I would have to decide whether I continue my writing. Before I make a final decision I will take the time to talk to some of you who are lawyers including a former prosecutor.

Having had a lot of things to say to you in the past, I will be gravely disapointed if I had to stop writing my articles because SOME BOP officials do not agree with the truth of the matter. I love you all and have a happy mother's day.

Immigration March

2006-05-22T00:30:00.000-05:00

May 1, I called my youngest sister at her workplace (it is very unusual for me to call her at work). She answered the phone and was very excited, the first thing that she said was: "Jeswil (my youngest son) is here with me, he is such a good worker." I was surprised but at the same time I was thinking: "no wonder why my heart told me to call her there." I asked her:"what happened why is he not at school?" she said:"his father was afraid to take him to school because there is an immigration march scheduled today here in Miami, so he decided to bring the boys to mom's house" I continued and asked:"where is Yrwil?" (my other son); she said: "at mom's house." Then I said: "let me to talk to my son." He came to the phone and he was so excited telling me about how much he had learned from his aunt's job and that the more he learned, the more he could work and the more he could get paid (my sister pays him by the hour if he helps her). He saves his money to buy video-games, or to pay for church retreats or for whatever he sets his mind on.

After I hung-up the phone I was wondering why the father of my sons had made that decision. I could not believe that he was afraid of our own people. I also know that the media is very good about fueling hatred and fear toward immigrants, but my sons' father should have known better. I decided to call him at work and I asked him: "Wilmer, why did you make the decision of not taking our sons to school today?" he answered: "well, I was afraid that if the march got ugly, the boys may have been hurt." I replied: "I know that you have become over protective with the boys, (due to the fact that I am in prison) but, you are telling me that you are afraid of our own people?" He answered: "no, no, it is not like that, but if the police get involved and a riot starts, I do not want the boys to get locked in a school and to be afraid." I said to him: "you are right, and thank you for being so caring and loving with our sons."

Later, in the evening, I was lying on my bunk and I was wondering what was the government's hidden agenda toward immigration issues? I was trying to analyze their reasoning and my main questions were: Does the government truly want immigration reform? Is the white house trying to get the hispanic vote? I could not get the answer I needed, so then I decided to finish reading my last issue of Prison Legal News (the best newsletter on prison issues in the nation). And I read the following article: "Wal-Mart is using prison labor to build a new distribution center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin... Hansen-Rise, the building contractor company is based in Idaho... Most of the states 1,100 work release prisoners are employed at food plants or do assembly work at factories..." and another articled said: "In April 2005 a Pennsylvania based company Woolrich Inc was awarded a 5 year contract worth 100 million dollars from the Department of Defense... the company will make millions off the sweaty backs of federal prisoners." And I know from my experience that ADP(a Unicor prison factory) has hundreds of federal prisoners working for TRW (A Reed Company) for decades, making Reed's owners richer and richer every day.

I jumped from my bunk and I said to myself: "I got the answer" and here it is: the big company owners (very good friends and contributors of the white house) come to the white house and to the lawmakers and say to them: "we have a problem and we have a solution." They continued and said: "Black slavery was abolished years ago, we can not use overseas sweatshop as easily as we used to after the news about Nike, Adidas, and other big companies using overseas sweatshop shocked the public, and of course we can not afford to hire US citizens for good wages and benefits and we no longer can pay immigrants $2 or $3 per hour, but we have a great solution: we can pay prisoners .23 cents an hour, no social security, no taxes, no workman's compensation, no law suits. IT IS ALL PROFITS, PARTNERS, ALL PROFITS!!!!!! MILLIONS!!!! AND MILLIONS!!! can be made. We just make more laws creating more draconian sentences and make sure that there is no more "death penalty sentence." We need "life without any possibility of parole." We will make more money if we get 30 or 40 years of the prisoner's labor instead of sending him to the killing chamber." The lawmakers and politicians asked: "What will the government make on providing prison labor (commission)?" I could not hear the answer because the mayhem started and all I could hear was: "it is a deal, partners, it is a deal."

Dear friends, the new immigration reform will be that we will see prisoners in gang-chains picking tomatoes, lettuce, etc.; doing construction work, factory work, etc., etc., and we will see more and more law making every human action a crime. A time will come that the oxygen from our planet will be owned by the government and a controlled substance and a deep breather will be a crime because you will be stealing oxygen from the planet(owned by the government). God helps us. I love you all. Yraida (Leo)

Words and Numbers

2006-05-21T01:11:00.000-05:00

In the last 10 grim years of my incarceration I have done a lot of things, some by necessity, some by obligation, and others just as survivol tools, but I must confess that I have enjoyed all.

I have been a student, a teacher, a clown, a gardener, an electrician, an orderly, a clerk, a coordinator, a spokesperson, a librarian, a water tester, etc, etc. But there is one thing that I became by necessity and that was becoming a Paralegal, and boy, it has been very hard for me. Since i was a child I 've had a problem with words, on the other hand I am very good with numbers. I learned arithmetic before I learned how to read and write. During my school years I was an A+ student, except in language, it was, and still is, very difficult for me to comprenhend and memorize all those grammar rules. Even though I love to read, to write, and to talk, when It is time to correct a sentence, my mind goes blank. If you give me numbers, equations, calculus, etc., I will resolve the problem even if some of the numbers, are missing, upside-down, or diagonal, but if you give me words or statements to correct, you can rest assured that the result will be worse. It must be some kind of dyslexia problem because I can not get verbs, adjectives, and pronouns in the right order and my spelling is atrocious.

Just imagine how difficult it is for me to understand and read all those legal books and cases. Let alone writing briefs. It is hard for me in Sapnish (my own language) so it is twice as hard in English (my second language). When I decide to file a case in court, I can easily acknowledge a violation, but putting the violation on paper and in legal terms is extremely difficult for me. I presently have a pending case in court against Unicor (prison factories) and the government filed a motion to dismiss the case. When prisoners file a complaint in courts, the government never looks at the complaint, or the violation, they only look at what we do wrong. In the motion to dismiss, the government stated that I did everything wrong, that I cited the wrong statute, the wrong venue, the wrong jurisdiction, and the wrong cases. Everything wrong, wrong, wrong... they said: "plaintiff incorrectly cited and interpretted the judicial holding of..."; "plainitiff's opposition does not overcome the several fatal deficiencies ..." "plaintiff's complaint is devoted to recounting the effects and impact"; Form the beginning I was having difficulties with this case. I knew that the BOP and Unicor's policy that I filed to the court was in violation of the law, but I was not sure which law or constitutional right, so I sought help. A lawyer came to visit me but I got the feeling that the law firm was not going to take the case due to their budget limitations. I was running out of time to file my response, and the more that I read the government's motion, the more confused I got. It got to the point that I felt like I was reading hyroglifics or chinese. I even cried one day.

In the middle of my desperation I called a lawyer that had been very kind to me. He is very smart and held a high position, but he is not versed in civil matters. He once wrote a letter on my behalf and said:" I have been much impressed with Ms. Guanipa's grasp of the law and some of her legal work that I have seen". He always has a kind word to say to me. I said to him:" I am frustrated with this case, I know what's wrong but I do not know how to fix it. I have no choice, I have to file the response. I was hoping to get this lawyer but I have the feeling that I am going to have to do it on my own". His reply was:" I know you are going to do it right, with or without lawyer."

After I hung-up the phone I went to my cubicle, looked at my board on the wall and saw my son's pictures and a note that they mailed to me that said:" mommie you are the most beautiful, loving and smart mom in the entire world". I said to myself:"if they have confidence in me I must have confidence in myself." I fasted and prayed for 2 days asking God to give me the strength and intelligence to respond to the government's motion. I filed the motion Tuesday April 25-06 and I was satisfied with the job. I do not know what the outcome will be. Winning or losing does not matter to me, what does matter is that I raised my voice. Even though I am a prisoner, a layman in matters of the law with a dyslexia problem in languages, I know one thing very well: no one can strip us of our hope, faith, thoughts, soul, dreams and our first amendment right of freedom to speech, even if you were: "sentenced to be tied to a rock" like Tomas from Boxcutter said on her last (very tiny) newsletter. We may or may not overcome, but we do have a voice, and someday, this too will pass. I love you all Yraida (Leo).

Count Time

2006-05-19T23:40:00.000-05:00

"It is count time, couuunnt tiiime" screams the officer over the speaker system. The message is loud and clear. We all know what the announcement means, and it is the most stressful moment of prison life.

Yes, we get counted a few times a day: at 4:15 p.m., 9:00pm, 12 midnight, 3:00am, 5:00 am. At work we are counted at 7:30 a.m. and at 12 noon, and on weekends at 10:00am. When the announcenment is made we must run to our cubicle, we must stop everything we are doing and just wait for them to count. The most stressful count is the 4:15pm (daily count) and the 10:00 am (weekend) count because we must stand 'STILL' in front of our cubicle as long as it takes them to clear count. It was very hard on me at the beginning of my incarceration to get adjusted to count schedule. After 10 years it is still hard but I just make fun of it. The experience of being counted as a prisoner for the first time may be very traumatic and scary for some people (it was for me) especially when you do not know anything about prison life(only what we see on TV )and it comes to us as a shock if we are first-time, non-violent offenders.

I remember about 1 and 1/2 year ago I had a new roommate, she was a self-surrender and came to serve a 10 month sentence for a tax fraud offense. She was born in Honduras, and in most of the Latin-American countries only real hard violent criminals serve time in prison. When she arrived at the camp, she was really scared of the unknown. She was sent to my cubicle just before the 4:15 p.m. count and the announcenment was made and I told her: "you must stand here in front of the cubicle until the officer counts us," and she did not move, she became speechless and started turning red. I kept telling her: "you must hurry-up." Still she did not move. Finally, I said to her: "You must stand here now. The officer is coming and if you do not stand here he will take you to the hole." I grabbed her with my hands, she stood next to me and her face was turning different colors and she started shaking. After the officer passed by and counted us, I was very worried about her and I asked her" are you sick?"," what is wrong?" "do you want me to call the doctor?"she said: "no, no I am ok, I just thought we had to stand there to be in a position to be executed."

I felt sorry for her and I explained to her the facts about prison count time. Yes, those stand-up counts are rough. When the announcement is made, as I said before, we MUST stand still in front of our cubicle, we must hold our urges, we cannot talk or move and we just stand there like a prisoner condemned to death waiting to be executed for as long as it takes to count us. It may take as long as 15, 30, 45 minutes or more than an hour if the count is not correct.

A long time ago I decided to make fun of count time, so while we waited to be counted, I danced, played karate with some of my neighbors, I threw paper airplanes, I make faces, I put my hair up just like a clown and I laugh and make my fellow prisoners laugh. We cannot allow "count time" to destroy our nervous system. Well, last Saturday was one of those days when the count was not correct in our unit When the count is not correct, the staff gets stressed out and dozens of officers arrive at the scenes. They all count, recount and recount again as many times as it takes. We must pull out our Id's, have it in our hands next to our face for the officer to see our picture and compare it to the picture on their records. We must say our last name and number when the officer is looking at us and his records and some of them get very stressed out and start screaming: "who is hiding?" "do not play with my count" "nobody moves", etc, etc. So last Saturday the ordeal was a little bit longer than usual. It took a little over 1 and 1/2 hour and all the officers that arrived were females. Sometimes female officers are harder than male officers, so I did not know what else to do to keep the situation fun for us. I had already exhausted all my clown tricks and then I saw a very handsome young officer. I told my fellow prisoners: "girls look un papasito." They all turned and laughed. There is a young girl that lives accross my cubicle and when the officer was approching her, she sucked in her stomach and stuck out her breasts and you know gave him those natural female sexual vibes. I started making fun of how she reacted when the officer was close to her. Then I chose to make my own natural female vibes, and I fixed my curly hair so that it was loose around my face and I combed my eye brows with my finger with all my exagerrated moves. I did not notice that my ID was upside down, and there was an officer in front of me looking into my face and turning his face to me and saying "gua, gua Gua what?" I did not know what was wrong, when I looked at my ID I notice it was upside down. I got scared(that is considered a serious violation of the rules) and I said: "oh, I am sorry, I do apologize. My name is Guanipa # 44865004." I was so scared that he was going to write me up or take me to the hole. He looked at me and just smiled. I was red and shaking. The girls started making fun of me. I was laughing too, but inside I was devastated. I said to myself:"I am going to stop having fun during count time," but I also said to myself: "but I do not want to be stressed either."

I feel very sad, after serving 10 grim years of incarceration, I do not know what is wrong or what is right anymore, neither what I should or should not do. Unfortunately that is what long years of incarceration does to human beings. I love you all. Yraida Guanipa (Leo)

The Working Boots

2006-05-17T22:46:00.000-05:00

One of the first things we have to do when we came to prison is to pick-up our laundry supplies at 6:00 a.m. the day after we have arrived. The laundry supply consists of: 2 sheets, 2 blankets, 1 pillow, 1 pillow case, 4 working uniforms, socks, t-shirts, underwear, bras and working boots(a pair of male steel toe hard working boots).

Those working shoes are far from being close to comfortable. They are made in china, and it feels like they are made for mules and not for women. When I received my first pair of working boots, I felt like I was torturing my feet. I love to take care of my feet with pedicures, massages and lotion before going to sleep. I do shave and steam treatments my feet to make them look and feel soft, clean and pretty. At that moment I did not have any other option than to wear those horrible and uncomfortable working shoes. The boots caused me blisters, broke my toe nails, gave me a rash and a wierd type of fungus. We do not get any help or medical assistance for that. I had open sores and I was bleeding. I could hardly walk.

Besides the agony that the working shoes were causing me I was going thru a deep depression due to the separation of my sons. I was in a risky mental stage. I did not know if I was going to be able to make it through the day, let alone my sentence. I became aware that I was losing my memory (just for a few seconds) then I decided to seek help from the psychology department. The psychologist at that moment adviced me to read the book: "Man searching for the meaning of Life" (I can not recall the exact name of the book and the author)a psychologist who did time in a Nazi camp. I was impressed on how he described the prisoners in those nazi camps running to get the personal property, especially the working boots from those who had died or been killed. It stuck in my mind because I thought that there was no compassion for the human beings who had died, just pure interest in their boots. I wondered how we (human) are able to get to that stage of humanlessness-- I also wondered what the prisoner who took the boots would think or feel every time that he/she wore those boots: did he/she pray for that soul? Did he/she feel sorry for that person? Or was he/she just trying to survive? I finally asked myself if I was capable of doing the same thing just to stop the torture on my feet from my working boots. I knew that I would not be capable of getting someone elses boots and I chose to buy the working shoes from commissary (very expensive but comfortable working boots). I had to give-up 3 months money for supplemental food in order for me to have a pair of comfortable working shoes.

10 years has passed and I have seen in the USA prison/camps the same yearning for comfortable working shoes as those prisoners in the Nazi camps. 2 weeks ago there was a lot of commotion in my housing unit: 2 girls were caught out of bounds trying to pick-up cigarrettes dropped by someone from the outside (both were taken to the hole). Also another girl got immediate release and the 3 girls happen to live in my unit and in my immediate vicinity. Lots of questions crossed my mind as I saw my fellow prisoners running to try to get the girls' personal belongings, but the most intriguing moment was when I heard the argument about the working boots. The 3 girls have commissary boots and one of the ladies who was caught out of bounds had a lover in the unit and they seemed to be truly in love. The lover had given a pair of commissary boots on Valentine's day to the lady who was caught out of bounds, and the lover ran over to her room to get the boots back. I could not believe it. I wondered how she could take the boots back? The lady had not died, she was just going to be transferred to another prison. What about the love she portrayed to her? I said to myself: "How can a pair of working boots be above love, compassion and any of our natural human feelings?" Unfortunately that's what prison does to us-- it take the human feelings out of our body and we just try to survive. It is my hope that our prison camps do not become the future Western Nazi-Camps.

Prison life changes us, it is a fact of life. The hardships we endure here will be part of our lives when we are released. How sad for the thousands of first-time, non-violent offenders serving draconian sentences that are subjected to this way of life. I love you all. Yraida (Leo)

The Boiling Point

2006-04-26T00:43:00.000-05:00

I have been reading about prison population growing more frequently, not only did I read but I see it everyday especially in this complex. I see more and more prisoners each day. Just yesterday I was reading an article about how the BOP has become the largest single jailer in the USA ( I believe in the world) and that the BOP was 40% overcapacity in 2004. I wonder what is the overcapacity % in 2006. It feels like 75%. We are not only living like sardines in a can due to the overcapacity problem, every day there is a new restriction or a new change, but the changes are not for our comfort or benefit. On the contrary, it is always for the worst. We now have to pay for our doctor's visits, we have to pay for our medicines, we have to pay to wash/dry our cloths, the phones rates have gone up, we have less recreatio, education and religious programs and the food gets worse and worse every day; a second locker have been taken away, smoking has been barred, so the ones addicted to cigarettes are having nicotine fits and driving the rest of us insane, and our paper work for furloughs and half way house are not getting done on time due to staff shortages. At the same time our human capacity to tolerate is strickening, I see that my fellow female prisoners are more willing and less afraid to protest, so they complaint more, they raise their concerns and little by little are more willing to stand for their beliefs and rights. For example last Saturday March 25 was the last day of an officer that had been an officer at the camp for almost 3 years 9even thought they suppose to rotate officers every 3 months). This particular officer has a few nicknames such as "La Muerte" spanish for "The Death", "Gestapo", etc, etc. He even looks like a nazi-police, white, very skinny, small mustached, smokes like a chimney, with a military hair cut and a very mean facial look. He was always spying on us, writing us incident reports, shaking us down, padding our bodies and looking for something to made us feel even more miserable. Well when he finished his last count on March 25, he said: "this is my last count"; and we all started, clapping, screaming, jumping and celebrating. It was mayhem. I was even told that the mayhem in one of the other units was even worse than ours. In the past, this type of behavior would have been punished by locking us down, closing the TV rooms or blocking our phone usage, because it was considerated disrespecful to the officers, but this time nothing happened. I said to myself: "wow, things are changing in prisons, if the females prisoners are losing their patience, I wonder how the male prisoners patience and tolerance is?. Changes are sometimes good, but at the same time it is scary, because I truly believe that prisons accross the nations are becoming crock pots coming close to a BOILING POINT, when those pots (prisons) hit the BOILING POINT, we will witness riots, killing and who knows what else. It is my hope that our law makers will prevent a disaster inside our prisons by preventing from filling our nation's prisons with first-time, non-violent offenders to serve draconian sentences. I love you all. Yraida L. Guanipa (Leo) Feel free to share this article with your friends or anybody on your e-mail list.

******Note from Web page Editor: Yraida also included her mailing address on here, but for safety reasons, I chose not to add it. Anyone wishing to have it can email me at prisontalk@hotmail.com.

The Therapy of Dance Classes in Prison

2006-03-28T22:51:00.000-06:00

Dancing is an art. It amazes me how our body can easily move to the beat of any music. If we really listen to music we can move every part of our body: feet, hips, shoulders, arms, etc., even our heart and soul to every note of a song like the stars in the sky.

I love to dance and I use dancing for therapy, especially in my last 10 grim years of incarceration. I dance in my cubicle by myself, I dance on the track when I am jogging or walking, I dance in my workplace (only when I am by myself and no police are around), I dance in the shower (without music), I dance everywhere and anytime that the notes of a song touch my heart. If I am feeling depressed, homesick or feeling miserable as a prisoner, I turn on my radio (with head-phones) and I dance. Within a few seconds, I am full of energy, happy and looking forward to the future. Dancing is better than Prozac, Xanax, Wellbutron, or any illegal or legal anti depressant drugs.

A few months ago I was reading an article in the newspaper about ballet classes being taught to female prisoners in Japan. In the picture, the faces of the female prisoners were so relaxed and peaceful while they were performing their ballet routine. Then a few weeks later, on the TV I saw a program that presented a dancing school for children with disabilities (Down Syndrome, Autism, etc) and a couple of children with Down Syndrome performed a dance. Their faces reflected concentration, pride and happiness and they performed perfectly. I said to myself: "Dancing is good for people, especially children and women with mental illness and disabilities". At that moment I made the decision to make a schedule in my busy life to volunteer myself to teach dance class. So on February 11, 2006 my Modern Dance class started: a two hour class on Saturdays (6-8 pm). I teach mambo, cha-cha-cha, samba, merengue, salsa and African beats. It is a hard routine.

Around the same time that my class started, a lady from Cuba self-surrendered to this institution. From the day she walked in, we all knew that she had mental problems: she did not sleep, she walked around all night, talked and walked tirelessly. One day she had a nervous break-down during mass. It is very sad to see a human being in that stage of mental disbalance-- she crawled on the floor, hung on the altar, was pulling at the priest's cloths, screaming incoherent words and crying like a child. We did not know what to do. She was taken to an isolation cell or watch cell, which is a cell with a big window that you are under watch 24-7. When she came back from the isolation cell she was like a zombie.

Some of my students invited her to my dance class and the first day that she came, she sat in a corner (holding her knees) and just watched me and the students. The second time she did not sit, she said she was going to try it, and stayed in the back of the class. When it was time to start I said to my students: "positions, on the count of 5 we will start with the right foot." I always turn my back to my students so they can see the movement and we can turn right and left together. After we started I said, "Get ready for the routine. Do not forget, back straight, suck your stomach in, breasts out, shoulders back, move your hips with elegance, your fingers softly extended. Now, travel to the right, to the left, getting ready to turn. When we turn, lift your leg with elegance, raise your arms and jump." I continued and said, "Do not forget your hips. Move your hips with the sound of the music." The music is on loud. I am giving the instructions louder. Everybody is sweating, so I turned to see how my students were doing and I saw the lady jumping, smiling and following the routine perfectly with such joy. I could not believe it. I started jumping and saying to myself, "I did it! I did it! I made her smile and enjoy life!" After the class was over, all my students congratulated her. She came to me and said, "Thanks Guanipa. This is the first time in my life that I did not need a pill to feel happy." I was convinced at that moment that a dance class is a good therapy, and if it takes us away from prison life for just a few short hours and makes us happy, maybe it is something to be considered as a positive activity in our meaningless prison lives.

I love you all. Yraida Guanipa (Leo)

"Mantras" in Prison

2006-03-26T02:23:00.000-06:00

Those who have practiced or read about Yoga, meditation or Buddhism know about Mantras and how Mantras work; there are some very popular Mantras like: OMMM.., OM NEMA SHIVIA, etc., However inside prison the Mantras are different and there are some popular words that with time become like Mantras. For reasons unknown to me there are some prisoners and some correctional officers that have a very limited vocabulary that every sentence is composed of 2 or 3 M.. F.., son of a B.., F.. you, etc. There are times when all you hear the entire day and night is "M.. F..; M.. F..; M.. F..". I do not say bad words, so when any of my fellow prisoners start screaming the M.. F.. word it truly disturbs me; but the unwritten or prison survival rules do not allow me to tell my fellow prisoner to shut up or advise her to correct her vocabulary, then I have no other choice than to listen the M.. F.. word over, over and over again. One day a few weeks ago I was not feeling well, so after the 4 p.m. count I decided to take a nap ( unusual for me to take a nap at that time because it is dinner time) instead of the nap I fell asleep and I lost track of time, 3 hours later I thought that I was having a bad dream that 2 of my fellow prisoners were fighting, and all I heard was: "you M.. F.., who do you M.. F.. think you are, you know that you are a M.. F.. son of a b..,I am going to M.. F.. kill you, M.. F.., M.. F.. M.. F..." I was confused and half way asleep, I did not know if I was having a dream or if it was real, then half way to being awake stage I was trying to figure out what was happening, so instead of asking: "what's happening", I said "M.. F..". In that moment a friend of mine passed by my cubicle, she heard me and she knows that I do not say bad words, so being worried, she entered my cubicle and asked me: "Guanipa, Guanipa are you Ok"; she thought that I was awake and that I was playing, so she pushed me and said: "Guanipa stop playing". Since I was in like night mare stage I jumped from my bunk and instead of saying: "what's happening' , I screamed very loud: "M.. F.." , she jumped also, got scared and said: "Guanipa what's wrong?" at that moment I was fully awake, feeling ashamed and completely lost. I said to her: "oh, I'm sorry I was having a dream that 2 people were fighting and saying M.. F.. to each other"; she said to me: 'no, you were not dreaming, such and such were fighting and saying M.. F.. to each other", I said : "I'm sorry for saying M.. F.. to you"; she answered: "that's ok, but you do not look good, I am going to make a green tea for you and let you rest", within a few minutes she brought the tea and while I was drinking my tea I was thinking and worried about my sanity. The next day I was telling a friend what had happened to me and she said: "do not worry, it happened to me too, but not with the M.. F.. word but with the Spanish word p..ga. I said to her: "I am gald to hear that, I thought I was losing my mind, I guess those M.. F.. and p..ga words are prison's Mantras"; we both laughed and she said: "prison's Mantras are part of our draconian sentences". So much for a first-time, non-violent offender. I love you all. Yraida (Leo).

Love In Prison

2006-03-23T01:37:00.000-06:00

Love (for me) is a total surrender of yourself (mind, body & soul), an unconditional giving. There are different kinds of love, love for animals, mother's love, love for plants, couple's love, etc. I want to talk about love between couples, even though I am not an expert in the matter of love because I have only one love in my life. I fell in love with my husband and the father of my sons when I was 13 years old, it was a true and one time love. Pure, unconditional, beautiful and without limits kind of love. I truly loved him. During my 10 grim years of incarceration, the pain and the suffering from being away from my sons is so deep that there has been no room in my life/heart for love, however I have witnessed all kinds of couple's love, even the unthinkable ones. I truly believe that there is a part of us that never grows, the child inside us dies when we die. When I see how couples fall in love inside prison, it brings back memories of my high-school years, like sending little notes to each other, offering candy, talking with their eyes, sending messages with a third party of where to meet, etc. I have seen officers , even executive officers falling in love with inmates, I know what they went through to maintain their relationship inside prison, how they hid themselves inside freezer, warehouses, etc, to kiss each other or have sex, how they had to ignore each other in front of others, how they sent anonymous notes to each other and in the end, the officer leaves everything, job, wife, government benefits, even the country to marry the inmate upon her release. I also have seen how officers abuse and lie to inmates to gain sexual favors. There are some, wild, crazy and violent love affairs too, like the ones between inmates (same sex) some of them physically abuse each other, fight with others to defend there lovers, wiling to go to the shu (hole) and have 2 or 3 lovers at the same time, there is also love between prisoners by letter from one prison to another, love between drivers (UPS< DHL< truck drivers, etc) and inmates, outside contractors and inmates, inmates with other inmate's famly or relative, etc, but there is one instance of love that I admired and enjoy watching and it is of my co-worker's. She is over 60 and her husband is over 70, he is at the nedium facility, and he is very sick (in a wheelchair), another prisoner carries him around. Every morning he stands close to the wire fence to see her pass by. The distance is about 100 yards and there is a thick wire fence in between, the vision is blurry, neither can see each other clearly, so they both use a white piece of cloth to wave to each other. He does not like her to see him in the weelchair so, he stands just to wave at her, after they wave to each other they go inside and write a letter to each other every day. They both have to be very carefull because if the authorities find-out that they wave to each other, she will receive an incident report, will be shipped out of the camp and he will be sent to the SHU (hole). No matter how cold or hot it may be, he is always there on the other side of the fence waiting for her. They have been married for over 40 years they are firs-time, non-violent offenders, no drug, medicare or identity theft charge, but they both receive a 20 years sentence. I belive that he will die inside prison and she will not be by his side. We do not have the gas-chambers like in the NAZI era but we do have draconian sentences that an elderly will not survive and no human being should have to endure. I love you all. Yraida

Beauty Pageants in Prison

2006-03-22T05:40:00.000-06:00

Last October 4, 2005(Tuesday) the USA Today published an article by Toby Muse. The article was titled: "In Colombia beauty is in the eyes of the prisoner"; the article stated: " Nation's passion for pageants extends to inside cellblocks" even a picture of the pageant winner w as published, the female prisoner in a Queen's outfit with a crown. It called my attention that the writer said: "nation's passion" (Colombia). I do not know Mr. Muse, or where he is from; but in the article He portrays that beauty pageants inside prison's happen only in Colombia due to that "nation's passion for pageants". I believe that Mr. Muse as well as the rest of my fellow american citizen's is unaware of what happens inside our nation's prisons. Here Mr. Muse in the United States of America at least in Federal prisons, we have not only one; but at least 2 and sometimes 3 beauty pageants each year. During the Hispanic Heritage celebrations (Sept-Oct) one of the activities is a beauty pageant, 21 female prisoners are selected to represent each Hispanic country and one is selected as Ms. Hispanic; also during the Black History Month (February) a top model is selected between 10 or more models to be the beauty for black history month; further in some prisons a Miss. USA is selected for the 4th of July activities. In the pageants, the prisoners wear dresses designed and made by other prisoners; and some of the dresses are just gorgeous, long gowns with shoulderless, backs, legs or open midsection dresses, with prison made earrings andtiaras. Lots of make-up are worn and they walk, model and are interviewed like in a real beuaty pageant. We even have judges (correctional officers) to vote and select the beauty. (You may be able to see a picture on this e-mail). I do not know whether it is a Colombia or the United States' passion forpageants or it is a prisoner's survival tool, especially female prisoners, I am not a sociologist, criminologist or pyschologist I am only speaking from my experience. Furthermore whether it is a female or a male issue, I do not know either because I have been told by some correctional officers that the male's have pageant too. But there is something that I know; and it is that it is sad very sad that our journalists and the american people Do not know what happens inside our prisons. America and the world were in shock when they saw the pictures from Abu Ghraih prison in Iraq; and our politicians, lawmakers, and regualr citizens said that: '"Well that does not happen here at home"; if the persons who did that to the Abu Ghraih prisoners were american correctional officers trained in USA and former employees of our correctional system what makes us think that that abuse does not happen here at home?. As many of you, including USA Today, did not know about our 3 Beauty pageants per year inside our nation's prisons, you also may not be aware of the slave labor, rape, torture, abuse, lack of medical assistance, inhumane sanitation, and more that is happening inside our nation's prison system due toour nation's passion for the incarceration of first time, non-violent offenders. I love you all Yraida (Leo).

Toilet Paper

2006-03-06T22:52:00.000-06:00

It was Tuesday February 22-06. I got-up lake because I did not have to work that day.Late for me means 6:30 am, so at 7:30 am I was walking my first lap of my 3 mile goal for that day. I turned-on my radio to listen the news and the first news that I heard was "A Toilet Paper deadly fight" the news reporter continued and said: "at Marion County Jail an inmate killed his roommate over a toilet paper fight". I stopped my walking and I wanted to cry. Ten thousands thoughts came to my mind. I was placing myself in everyone shoes, I was feeling sorry for the person that was killed. I was trying to comprehend the prisoner who killed his roommate; I was wondering how desperate he was, and I also wondered how violent or "animal instincts" easily arise in prison environment, and how the authorities were partially responsible for the death of that prisoner. Please do not take me wrong or believe that I am justifying the prisoner who killed his roommate, but we are in situations (provocated by the authorities) that put us in a positions or desperate circumstances that we have no option but to lie, steal and I guess for some, even kill. The toilet paper news hit me so hard because just two days before I was so desperate for toilet paper that I had to steal literately "STEAL" toilet paper from the yard bathroom, while I was sticking the toilet paper inside my pants and fitting the toilet paper so that an officer or other inmate would not notice the lump on my body, I was feeling sorry for myself and I was wondering how far I had to go in order for me to survive. I have bleeding problem and I usually prepare myself in advance with enough supplies for my cycle but last weekend I was bleeding out of my cycle, and I did not have enough toilet paper. Further I was not aware that the new counselor had decided to close the toilet paper supply room on weekends. Lately every day things change inside prison due to budget problems. Last year we were told that no toilet paper was going to be placed in the bathroom and that each one of us had to go to another unit upstairs to a special room to pick-up toilet paper at specific times. Half of the time the room is closed, for some reason such us the officer did not open the room, or the inmate in charge is at church, etc, etc. Further the time to pick-up the toilet paper is the same time that you are allowed to talk to the authorities, take a shower, go to work, etc, etc. Weekends were the easiest days to pick-up toilet paper and the counselor just changed the schedule, and I did not know. I could not ask any of my fellow prisoners because all are in the same situation as I am, saving and hiding their toilet paper. I never thought that being desperate for a piece of toilet paper was going to be part of my sentence. Well I am not the only female prisoner with bleeding problems, furthermore there are thousands of female prisoners with diarrhea, bladder problems and many elderly female prisoners with all kind of complications. Can you picture the mental state of a prisoner inside a cell with a diarrhea problem, with no toilet paper and getting no help from either the authorities or his cellmate? No matter how stressful he/she may be it is not a reason to kill, but it is absolutely a reason for our lawmakers and judges to rethink before imposing those draconian sentences for first-time, non-violent offenders and/or reinstate parole for federal prisoners. I love you all. Yraida (Leo)

This Week's Tenant

2006-02-26T20:44:00.000-06:00

This week's tenant is an artist with a beautiful blog. Please take a few minutes and look around. It features the art of Winsome Gunning. Enjoy!

This Week's Tenant from My Other Blog

2006-02-24T14:19:00.000-06:00

Check out my tenant for this week from my other blog, My Major Gripe! She has an attitude that will leave you rolling on the floor splitting your side with laughter. Her unique outlook says what all of us think but maybe just don't have the guts to say. Enjoy!

Flowers In Prison

2006-02-23T16:55:00.000-06:00

More than a decade ago our society complained to ourlaw makers that the prison grounds were looking nicer than their yards. The society claims that prisoners should not allowed nor have the pleasure to enjoy a beautiful landscape on prison grounds. Our lawmakers agreed with their contingents and passed a law that barred prisons from growing any type of flowers. FCC Coleman fell into that category and you do not see any flowers around the complex. I love flowers and I truly enjoy gardening and I was missing that. In 1999 the authorities sent me to work at the Powerhouse of the Men facility (Medium). When I got there the place was ugly, so I chose to change the look of the building and I painted the entire building, windows and doors, I waxed the floors etc, etc, after I finished I felt that something was missing so I decided to make a little garden in front of the building. With my supervisor's approval, and some help of other staff and some fellow prisoners I made a small garden with boxwood, lirope, azalea and mexican heather, aloe vera, white limestone and landscape timbers, all perfectly arranged. I took care of my garden on a daily basis, and I enjoyed looking at the butterflyes of different colors landing on the purple flowers of the mexican heather or the lily flowers of lirope. I left Coleman-Camp in 2000 (Due to my hungry strikre) and when I came back in 2003 I was assigned to the same job and my little garden was still there, a little bit abandoned, but still there, then I decides to make a vegetable garden, next to my flower garden and of course I did not have any seeds to grow. I had to come up with a plan, after a few days I choose to grow tomatoes and the plan was to take the seeds from my tomatoes ,instead of eat the seeds I was going to smugle the seed from the dining hall and I did it until one day a staff was padding us down outside the dining hall and I was scared to be caught with the tomato seeds inside my pocket. The officer did not notice the seeds and I was safe. I thought that the risk was worth it when I saw the beautiful tomatoes in my vegetable garden. I shared the tomatoes with my fellow prisoners and I ate the last tomato out of my garden. However, I did not want to take the risk again of smuggling the seeds from the dining hall, so I decided to grow fruits from the fruits they sell to us in commissary. So I grew lemon, orange, avocado and a mango tree, but I encoutered another problem the plants were too big for my little vegetable garden, then I made another space for the fruit plants with white limestone, landscape timbers, etc, etc, nicely arranged. For the last few weeks I have been working in my garden, cleaning, trimming and pruning. Some plants had grown very big like my aloe vera I call her my "Lion King" She gave us two huge, tall gorgeous flowers few months ago. While I was gardening yesterday I was thinking what I was going to grow in my vegetable garden, I said to myself: "I can not steal more tomatoe seeds from my own salad, I can not grow fruit, what I am going to grow?" I thought about pineaples. I love pineaple and the pineaple plant is small and beautiful, but how do I find a pineaple? while I was lost in my thoughts I was trying to comprehend why society is till so harsh with prisoners (first-time, non-violent offenders) what damage or who will be hurt if we prisoners learn horticulture skills while keeping the prison grounds looking nice. I know that social change takes time, but I hope that soon society will change their view about first-time, non-violent offenders, so in the future a prisoner does not have to smuggle tomatoe seeds out of his/her salad and take the risk to be punish for it. We live in a violent society ... look at the news every day besides being away from our family. Why not brighten our day with life's simple and natural pleasures. It is for all of our benefits. I love you all. Yraida (Leo).

Boost Your Blog's Traffic

2006-02-22T18:59:00.000-06:00

Want to boost the traffic to your blog? Check out http://www.blogparty.net/ and you could win $250!

Prisoner Looking for Penpal

2006-02-22T18:13:00.000-06:00

I have met a nice, lonely prisoner who is looking for a penpal. He is incarcerated in New Jersey and would like especially female penpals. He is not looking for money or a relationship, just a friend that he can write to. If interested, please email me at prisontalk@hotmail.com and I will give you his address to write him.

No Cinderella Story

2006-02-22T18:12:00.000-06:00

Dear friends; one of my fellow prisoner left the following article on my bunk bed, I asked everybody around my cubicle if they saw anybody in my room, nobody saw anybody I do not know who drop the article, some of my fellow prisoners know that I write theis PTO and that I write for some newsletters, so I concluded that the one who wrote the article wish to be hear. Here is her article " NO CINDERELLA STORY" "This story is based on facts seen and experienced in the federal prison system. Location and names are not provided for fear of retaliation against the inmate who wrote the article. The term "Sanitation" means the measures taken to promote health and to prevent disease. In the prison system there is no such word. The word is fictional on a daily basis and only comes into play when we have some sort of ACA inspection and that comes every 3 years. I live in a female prison camp, and I can say that I am throroughly repulsed by the state and condition of our lavatory, bathroom and shower stalls. I live in a camp environment where there are no fences, where in fact we can walk out of here at any given time if we choose to do so. We are nonviolent women and many are professionals. We live here because we have to and have no other choice. At home we choose to disinfect and clean with chemicals that work for us. In the prison the system we are forced to live in circumstances that remind me only of a third world country without the luxuries of chemical cleaning supplies. Our shower stalls are especially horrific. The mold is removed with shampoo and a limited supply of scrubbing powder on a daily basis only to come back again the next day. Some showers were covered in a fibergalss coating and fastened to the walls. The mold is growing behind the fiberglass covering and is growing into the caulking on the corners of the shower stall and cannot be removed with the products that are given to us. There was a time that we were giving us bleach, but they claim it is a safety issue. The word "Safety" is a relative term when the fact is that many of us work with more dangerous things such as power tools, heavy equipment, forklifts, power jacks and many other things that are more a "Safety" issue than the so called "Bleach". The sanitation issue also brings the effects of many mysterious ailments, such as fungus, boils, inflamations, staff infections and a number of strange skin irritations. Never in my life have I ever seen so many ailments caused by sanitation issues. Is it really a safety issue or is it the reality that our federal government, either does not have money to provide us with these necessities or does not care one way or another about our health. I find it a little hard to believe the former. The prison system receives about $23,000 per inmate on a yearly basis. What do they actually do with the money? I know we do not see it. The sanitation supplies are nonexistent and the food is getting worse every day. The medical department is pathetic and that is putting it mildly. Where does the money go and does anybody really care?." I agree completely with what my fello prisoner wrote. I love you all. Yraida

Poems by Yraida

2006-02-07T03:07:00.000-06:00

Dear friends I wrote the following two poems and I want to share then with you all.
THE BEAUTY OF SADNESS
Enormour joy I found in my sadness
sagacious feelings sorround my kidness
the beauty of others I see thru my sadness
my arrogance is replaced by compassion and tenderness
my sorrow is full of gentleness
I hug tomorrow with zeal and graciousness

Only when I am sad
my eyes can listen, my skin can see,
my ears can touch and my soul can grow
there is no difference between sad and joy
when you know how to touch your soul.

There, in my sadness stage
is that I can comprenhend and forget
my sister's lack of care
my neighboor's addiction and dulcet
my husband's silence and even wars and rage.

When I am sad
I write with words unknown in my joy stage
I truly enjoy my sadness
because it excentuates my six sense.

THE BIG BLACK SPIDER

The sun is coming out
in front of my window glass
Good Morning Baby!, I said
and she stops her scrawing on the window glass
to make a reply with one of her arms
she is my pet and friend
the big black spider on my window glass.

She is out of her house inside the window base
looking for a bite and to say Hi!
She has grown to such a big size
looking strong and innocent at times
not too long ago she was born from an egg-bag
and she has been my pet and friend from day one.

At lunch break when she hears my voice
she comes to the spot where we talk
I tell her if I am upset, need a hug or a thanks.
I know she understands and feel what is inside my heart
because she either stays or
shapes her arm to say good-by.

When the day is over she is waiting on the window glass
she turns around and moves her feet and arms
like saying I am glad you came back
we talk for a while until I say: "Good Night".

One day I did not see her and I was thinking to end her life
because I had learned as a child that the big spiders are dangerous and wild.
But when I saw her again, I knew she was scared
and I could not kill her.
I do not comprenhend
why I am not afraid of her
I guess because it is easy to talk with her
than the human with whom I share my cell.

I moved far away, I wonder if the new guest
had taken my spider to her end.
I also wonder if time has make me humanless.
It is hard to say and difficult to understand.

I love you all. Yraida (Leo)

Q&A Prison Brain Decoding System

2006-01-28T05:44:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends; Many thanks for all your good and encouraging comments from the 'prison Brain Decoding System" article. I did not get any questions but only comments such as: "you will be ok"; "it is a temporarily decoding" ; "do not worry. . ."; "you will succeed. .." "you are smart. . .". I am amazingly grateful for the confidence that you have brought upon me and you can rest assured that I will not let you down. However if I get invitations upon my release I will ask people to be patient with me in case of any brain decoding. I do not have any scheduled date, neither I do have a boyfriend; but can you imagine how embarrassed I would be if I go on a dinner-date and I get confused with the forks and spoons?, I guess I will laugh at myself and have a good time with my decoded brain. I will be curious to know if anyone out there can tell that I was released from prison from a long incarceration or that aliens just dropped me on this planet to get a good laugh. I love you all. Yraida

Prison Brain Decoding System

2006-01-28T05:43:00.000-06:00

For those of you who do not know FCC-Coleman, this Federal Correctional Complex is a humungous place. It is about 1800 acres. There are 2 USP each one housed about 1400 prisoners, a medium facility that housed almost 2000 prisoners; a low facility that house almost 2500 prisoners and a female camp with 500 female prisoners. And the place keep growing, every day you see more and more new construction sites and more private houses that were finally given-up by their owners and sold to the BOP. Not too long ago the complex acquired a house, the house is located completely out of the complex boundaries, to get there you must cross CR-500. I had to drop some papers in that house and I was afraid to go by myself, even though I was authorized to go, I still was scared (you never know with the government, so it is better to be on the safe-side); so I asked my boss to drive with me; and we went to the house; when we arrived at the house, I jumped from the truck when I saw the beautiful carved-glassdoor from the drive-way; my boss was behind me and I said to him: "Look, how beautiful!" (to me, windows and doors are a very special parts of a house), then I proceed to knock on the door, doing it very carefuly because I did not want to leave a spot on the glass-door. I was so amazed by the beauty of the door that I was anxiously expecting for the door to be opened and to express my feelings to the occupants of the house. A well dressed staff member opened the door looked at me like I was a dump-stupid prisoner and said to me:"don't you know what this is for?" pointing to the door-bell; he continued looking at me like I was an illiterate retarded person and said: "if you have never seen one of these; this is how it works"; and he pressed his finger on the door-bell; I was so embarrased also feeling so little, I was between 2 men in position of authority one calling me a dump-stupid prisoner 9with his actions) and the other one looking at me in silence. No human being enjoys to be treated like a dump-stupid person and of course I am no exception; however due to the arrogant part of my personality I was not planing to please him by allowing him to know that I was embarrased and quickly I replied to him: "Oh, I was so amazed by the beauty of the door that I completely forgot about the door-bell" and I immediately changed the subject and said" "I came to drop this order off because I need this and that by tomorrow; I went into my business very fast and drove back to work; on my way back I was talking and talking to my boss about different subjects afraid that he was going to bring back the door-bell incident. When we came back to our work place; I went to my work-area by myself and I was in shock of myself, further I was concerned about the reality. My Friends, between you and me, the truth is that my mind has decoded an actual "door-bell". I had completely forgot the existence of a "door-bell". I have not used a 'door-bell" in almost 10 years; so the reality of the door-bell was decoded from my brain; I could not believe it!, I said to myself: "Oh, my Lord, I wonder how many things I have forgotten from the real world?"and then I realized that the Psycologists were correct in their theory that 'more than 5 years of incarceration causes mental damage to any human being", I did not want to believe that and I was always boasting about myself being 'in touch with the real world and my feet on solid ground"; well, My Friends, I forgot that I am just another human being and I react as so. Unfortunately after 10 years of incarceration a human being will decode his/her brain some aspects/objects of the world outside the fence, and that is exactly the purpose of our congressman and judges when they handed down those draconian sentences as they did to me. It is a scgocking reality and in no way does it help the mental capacity of prisoners when they are release to the community. I love you all. You can laugh about this, I do too at times.

Q&A Chinese/Japanese Visit

2006-01-28T05:37:00.000-06:00

Well the article about the Chinesse/Japanesse visit was as mysterious as the visit. My friend Carol claimed that she did not receive the article, even though my records stated that it was sent (I do not know what the authorities or the computer did); I can not re-sent it; (Carol is one of my friends who forwards my articles to different organizations and/or around the world. To my surprise (maybe not really surprise) I did not receive any questions, neither comments from the article except from a sister from Venezuela (she works for the University in Falcon-State in the administration) she is older than me, she said: "Do not let anybodys comments bother your happiness . . . God created beautiful, great, gorgeous and pure things but evidentally you are his special edition . . . I love my past because I met you; I love the present because I have you and mostly I love the future because we will be together again . . ." I saw that it was nice from a sister and I wanted to share it with all of you; I also want to share what my fellow inmate, the one who helps me with the corrections (english grammar) of all my writings (when time and conditions permit it because we both have been threatened to be sent to the county jail for her helping me) after she did the corrections I asked her: "what do you think about the article?" she answered: "you see this?" pointing to the bottle of tylenol in her hands, she continued: "everytime that I read your articles I get a headache because there is so much truth in what you write that I get scared knowing that I am a part of it". The reality is frightening, we are tolerant only because there is no other way to be in prison and our sanity is tested daily. I love you all. Yraida (Leo).

A 24"x38" Locker

2006-01-24T00:43:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago we were called by the Unit Manager to a Town Hall meeting. He began the meeting by saying: "do not shoot the messanger!. This is an order from mr. Lappin [BOP's Director] from Washington;" He continued and said: "due to Washington's new policy to unify all federal prisons, straring February 1, 2006 you all will get rid of one locker; you can no longer have two lockers for your personal items". The reply from my fellow prisoners was shock and dissapointment. two weeks had passed and the ladies did not stop talking about the lockers, some got headaches, stomach-aches, vomiting, arguments and crying fits; others put on their strategic hats in plans to install two additional metal shelves in the locker that we will keep. For days all you heard was the run..run..run.. of the power drills drilling the holes for the shelves and the boom..., boom..., boom.... of the hammers installing the shelves. A team of ladies worked hard for long hours and a few days. There were boxes, cloths and personal items all over the place because we had to empty our two lockers in other for the working team to take the two shelves out of one locker and install them in the other locker. There are over 500 inmates at the camp so we are talking about over 1000 lockers. As you can imagine it is not an easy task to empty 4 lockers in a 8'x10' cubicle and place your personal property unsecured around the cubicle (yes there are some that steal in here). The mess, the drama from a few ladies and the loud noise of the hammers and drills on the metal clanging was driving me insane. I choose to walk and walk like a maniac to keep myself out of the housing units' drama; when I was peaceful walking my third mile round, a fellow prisoner asked me: "Guanipa, why haven't you said anything about the lockers; you have been incarcerated for almost 10 years, you must have lots of property"; I answered to her: "I have never accumulated or bought more than what I really need"; then she asked me: "so, you don't mind?", I replied: "no, I really do not"; she said: "why"; I responded: "because I wholeheartdly and mindfully refuse to get attached to anything in prison; I do not belong here, this is just temporary"; then I stoped my walking and looked into her eyes and said to her: "when I entered prison 10 years ago and I was not able to hold my sons in my arms anymore, I learned that it is not worth it to get attached to any material thing in life; if I have to wear raggedy cloths and overused shoes I will be proud as long as I am able to hold my sons in my arms every day". Dear friends you may wonder why we had such drama for the locker issue. It is not easy to live in a 24"x38" metal locker; just imagine for a second having all your personal property inside a 24"x38' locker; your cloths, legal documents, food, hygiene products, medicine, educational material, books, magazines and dishes, also our female items such as: make-up, manicure, pedicure set, rollers, combs, brushes, hair accessories, etc, etc, etc..... How we do that? Sometimes it amazes me how we humans get adjusted to almost everything in life; however keep in mind that we shall get adjusted only to the small space but never to the prison environment. The purpose of the present draconian sentences is for us to get adjusted to prison and take prison time as part of our normal life's path; do not get your mind distracted with that; because in a civilized and democratic society, social problems can not be resolved with long prison term inside a two person 8'x10' cubicle with one and one only 24"x38" metal locker. I love you all. Yraida (Leo).

Second Day of Yraida's First Furlough

2006-01-23T00:06:00.000-06:00

For 2 hours I stared at my sons, just enjoying how they were peacefully sleeping and holding me. It was around 5:00a.m. when I had a desire to turn to my childhood and be close to my mother, so I went to my mom's bed and layed down very close to her for 1 hour. Suddendly I felt a need to be a sister too and I went to my sister's bed and also layd down next to her for an hour. By that time it was around 7;30a.m., and time for me to get-up. When I was in my way to the bathroom my youngest nephew (Gabriel-5) was coming downstairs and when he saw me, he said: "Tia Leo (aunt Leo) can you sleep with me?. I feel alone, everybody is sleeping"; I hugged him and said: "of course my darling, it will be my pleasure". Well, I did have an opportunity to be an aunt also. He fell asleep on my chest and I stared at him for a while, thenI got-up. I wanted to start fixing the breakfast for my family, wash my sons' cloths and just enjoy house chores that sometimes, we mothers hate. I took the dishes out of the dishwaher, swep the kitchen; I never thought that I was going to be so happy doing house chores. I guess we just take so many things for granted in life. My brother, sister and my brother'n law finished the meal and we all had a great and big brunch meal that we all enjoyed, specially me. There were dishes that I had not eaten in almost 10 years. I later spent some time alone with my sons, then they begged me to take them to the swimming pool. It was the first time in my life that my sons and nephews were begging me. How can I say no. I said: "Ok, just for 2 hours; it is almost time for mommie to go back";I took them to the swimming pool but I did not want to swing, I said to them: "I am going to sit here just watching the four of you; do not cross that line, ok?" they all agreed. For 2 hours I was like living a dream when I heard my sons and nephews say over and over again: "mommie look how I jump'; "mommie look, I know how to swim like a Dolphin"; "mommie look"; "mommie look"; tia (aunt) look"; "tia look"; ... I was proud of them and they were proud of themselves too. I wanted the time to stop; i was not looking at the watch; I was loosing consicious of time/place and responsabilities; then I heard my mom calling me from the distance: "hija (daughther), it is time to go"; I did not want to hear that; she continued and said: "it is getting late and we may encounter some traffic"; my heart was falling apart. To get some strenght I choose to call a very special friend of mine, I called his 2 phone #'s and I got his answering machine; at that moment my mom was in front of me and said: "leo we must go now"; I said "oh yes, yes, let's go". When we were getting close to the prison, my mom saw a tear rolling down on my cheeks and she sait to me: "do not think about going back; just think positive and think the good time that you just had and that your time is almost over." I took my mom's advice, but I must confess to all of you that it was very painful to say good by to my family and specially let my sons out of my arms. I love you all. Yraida (Leo)

First Day of Yraida's Furlough

2006-01-20T06:03:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to all of you. Yes I had a wonderful Christmas. I must confess to you that the days before my furlough I could hardly sleep. I was anxious, but mostly I was afraid to be like a foreigner to my family and my sons; however the minute that I walked out of prison they made me feel like I had never left them. I am immensely greatful and thankful to my family; if there is something that I have learned in prison, it is the value of a family. My family has been my back bone during my 10 grim years of incarceration, they have helped me keep the bond with my sons. They have allowed me to participate and be aware of every detail of my son's lives. I believe that is the main reason why I did not feel like a foreigner with my family. I can not express with words how amanzingly greatful I am to have them. They made my 36 hour furlough a thrilling and joyful experience full of love and happiness. They made sacrifies to make me feel like the most loved mom, daughther, sister, in law and friend; each one of them had a surprise for me during the entire 36 hours. My brother recorded a few CDs with all my favorite songs; as soon as I got in the rental car, he played my favorite songs. My youngest sister used her job's bonus to buy me in-styled cloths (too much styled for me) my special sister (Briglig) did not buy anything for herself this christmas and bought my favorite perfume, body lotion and body powder. She cooked some of my favorite dishes. My other sister had my son's clothes cleaned and organized and made sure that every detail went on as planned, also that everything in the rented apaartment was clean and spotless just the way I liked. My brother in law took care of my favorite treat to myself: a bath-tub with bubbles and scented oil, candles and music; he also made special snacks, took pictures and videos and play our family favorite games. My poor mother has been making so many sacrifies for me and my sons that there is no way that I could ever repay her. She made me Hallacas ( a venezuelan dish) the way I use to eat it at home. She was always asking me if I was happy and if I was satisfied with their agenda. Yes as usual she gave me my surprise christmas' present, but she did not place it under my bed; she asked my sons to give it to me. I was not separated from my sons and from my nephfews (8 and 5) for the entire 36 hours (only when I took a shower) We went on a swing set, stay in the hot jacuzzi, we made christmas cards for all my family members; we watched T.V; we read books; we danced, we listened music and we talked a lot. I hugged and kissed the 4 of them all the time and the did the same to me. I ironed my son's cloths, helped them to get dressed, fixed their foods and much much more. The most precious moment was during our chritsmas dinner around 12 midmight, after one of the boys gave thenks for the food, I proceeded to give thanks to my family (speed that I prepared about 3 months ago) and each one of them also gave thanks to me. The last one was my youngest son Jeswil, he was sitting next to me; he is only 10 and he said: "mommie I want to thanks you because you gave me the most important thing in this world 'my life' ; I am grateful that you choose to bring me into this world, and I am grateful for having you as my mommie and my family". everyone of us cried. I hugged him very hard and told him that I was proud of him for being so wise at such an early age. When we went to sleep, I crawed on the bed first and they came to me and grabbed me like when they were babies, before saying our good night prayer, I told Jeswil that I was very proud and also amazed of his speech he said: "mommie I mean it from my heart, there are women who kill their babies by abortion and you loved me since I was inside your womb". WOW! I was even more amazed. Yrwil hugged me and fell asleep on my chest and Jeswil fell asleep on my back; just like when they were babies. I thanks God for so much love. Yraida

Incarceration Viewpoint from a Male in NJ

2006-01-17T22:40:00.000-06:00

BEING LOCKED UP TO ME IS A COMBINATION OF MANY DIFFERENT THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS. FIRST OFF, I WOULD LIKE TO START BY SAYING, THAT I AM INCARCERATED FOR 2 COUNTS OF ASSAULT. I AM DEEPLY ASHAMED OF THESE CHARGES , AND THEY HAVE BROUGHT GREAT SHAME UPON ME AND MY FAMILY. I HOPE THAT YOU KEEP IN MIND THAT THESE CHARGES ARE OF THE WORST TO BE LOCKED UP ON , AND TO SOME RIGHTFULLY SO, MYSELF INCLUDED. HOWEVER, I MAKE NO EXCUSES AS TO MY ACTIONS AND HAVE ACCEPTED ALL RESPONSIBILITY.
SINCE MY INCARCERATION IN AUGUSE 2004, I HAVE GONE THROUGH MANY PHASES OF PRISON LIFE. WHEN I WAS FIRST ARRESTED, IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I HAD EVER BEEN TO A COUNTY FACILITY. I WAS EXTREMELY SCARED, AND KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE SYSTEM. NOW, KEEP IN MIND, THAT MOST PEOPLE WITH THESE TYPE OF CHARGES, AREN'T NORMAL CRIMINALS. THEY NORMALLY HAVE CLEAN CRIMINAL RECORDS. I SAY THIS BECAUSE WHILE BEING LOCKED UP, A LOT OF ILLEGAL SCAMS GO ON INSIDE THE PRISON WALLS, AND IT BECOMES A BATTLE TO EITHER JOIN INTO IT, OR STAY TO YOURSELF. I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO STAY AWAY FROM THE SCAMS, BUT THE LONGER I STAY HERE, THE WORSE THE TEMPTATION BECOMES. MOST PEOPLE HAVE PROBLEMS WITH PEOPLE (THAT HAVE COMMITTED THE CRIME I DID), BECAUSE THEY SEE IT AS A MORTAL SIN. PERSONALLY, I SEE IT AS THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG, EMOTIONALLY. I'M NOT SAYING I AGREE WITH OTHER PEOPLE THAT HAVE COMMITTED THE SAME CRIME, BUT I UNDERSTAND SOME OF THE REASONS BEHIND THEIR CRIME, BUT NOT ALL. I HAVE TO CONSTANTLY DEAL WITH PEOPLE SAYING THAT WE ARE ANIMALS AND SHOULD BE LOCKED AWAY FOREVER. SOME SHOULD, BUT IF I WERE TO EXPLAIN MY CASE, MOST WOULD UNDERSTAND IT EASIER. MY LIFE IS CONSTANTLY THREATENED BY OTHER INMATES....MURDERERS, ROBBERS,...PEOPLE WITH ALL TYPES OF CRIMES AGAINST PEOPLE WHOSE CRIMES ARE SOMETIMES JUST AS BAD AS MINE, OR WORSE.
LEAVING A FAMILY OUTSIDE ALSO CREATES A SERIOUS AND DANGEROUS SITUATION, WITHIN THE CONFINES OF MY MIND. IT BRINGS ABOUT DEPRESSION AND ANGER, BECAUSE WE HOLD OURSELVES ACCOUNTABLE TO EVERYONE FOR WHAT WE HAVE DONE. I AM DIVORCED BECAUSE OF MY OWN DOING, OF WHICH BROUGHT THESE CHARGES UP. I HAVE A 5 YEAR OLD SON, WHO I REALIZE HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG, AND FEELS HE IS THE REASON I AM HERE. ALL THIS WEIGHS HEAVY ON MY MIND, ENOUGH TO MAKE ME CRY MYSELF TO SLEEP 2 TO 3 TIMES PER WEEK.
BEING HEREIS ALSO HARD BECAUSE AS WE SIT HERE, THE WORLD AROUND US GOES ON. OUR FRIENDS AND OUR FAMILIES GO TO WORK, OR GO TO BALL GAMES, OR GO DO WHAT THEY LIKE TO DO. THIS IS ONE OF OUR PUNISHMENTS, BUT SOCIETY THINKS THAT PRISONERS HAVE TOO MANY FREEDOMS AND RIGHTS. WELL, WE ARE TAKEN CARE OF, BUT WE ALSO DON'T HAVE FREEDOM. IT'S SAID THAT WE HAVE 3 HATS AND A CAR, WELL THAT'S TRUE, BUT WE ALSO HAVE TO LIVE WITH A ROOM-MATE AND A TOIKET 3 FEET FROM US IN AN 9 X 9 FT. CELL. I'D RATHER A CARD BOARD BOX AND SCRAPS , TO BE WITH MY FAMILY THAN HERE. YES, WE GET TO WALK AROUND THE YARD, AND PLAY CARDS AND CHESS. WE ALSO GET TO GO TO ALL KINDS OF CLASSES. THEY EVEN GIVE US A JOB. BUT THE ONE THING WE DON'T HAVE IS "FREEDOM."
THE LAST THING ABOUT BEING LOCKED UP, IS THE FEELING OF HOPE. AS WE ALL GET CLOSER TO OUR PAROLE DATE, OR A MAX. DATE, WE ALL GET EXCITED AT THE THINGS THAT BEING FRRE BRINGS US. MOST WILL RETURN, BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T CHANGED THEIR WAYS WILL i ? WELL ALL I CAN SAYIS THAT MY SON HOPES THAT I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON AND I WILL ALWAYS BE AROUND TO BE HIS DADDY, AND THAT IS ALL I CAN HOPE FOR.
FINALLY, SOMETHING ELSE I WANT TO ADD, AND I KNOW IT'S OFF THE SUBJECT, BUT I WANT PEOPLE TO TRY TO UNDERSTANDTHAT BEING LOCKED UP MAY SEEM ENJOYABLE TO SOME, BUT ALMOST ALL ARE UPSET ABOUT BEING LOCKED UP, THEY ARE JUST TRYING TO DEAL WITH IT. ALSO, IF YOU HAPPEN TO COME ACCROSS SOMEONE ELSE WHO HAS COMMITTED THE SAME CRIME AS MYSELF, BEFORE YOU JUDGE THEM, GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN, BECAUSE SOME ARE PUT IN BAD SITUATIONS, AS MYSELF. I NEVER SAW IT COMING, BUT HERE I AM. I AM NOT JUSTIFYING IT, BUT RATIONALIZING IT. FOR THE REST OF MY NATURAL LIFE, I WILL HAVE TO JUSTIFY EVERYTHING I DO, AND I CAN NEVER RUN. I HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED THIS PASSAGE, AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL............MIKE D......NJ

Prison Complaints?

2006-01-17T22:33:00.000-06:00

FYI.......If you have complaints about the Civil Rights violations of prisoners, i.e., poor medical care, abuse, whatever, you can snaol mail, or fax your complaints to the U.S. DOJ Special Litigation Section. They maintain a database of complaints and look for patterns to emerge (probably based on the volume of complaints) and when it gets to a certain point, they will start to look into an intervention. This includes, no heat, overcrowding, no showers, etc.
U.S. DOJ--Special Litigation Section
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20530
Phone: 202-514-6255
Fax: 202-514-0212

Answers to Family Day

2006-01-08T23:40:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends: P.T.O. means: Prison Talk Online Q/A and C means: Questions, answers and comments I got lots of replies from the Family Day article including questions/comments from overseas, specially Europe/England. Those who have or had a loved one in prison, the reply was the same: "you are not alone in your mixed feelings; we feel the same". The rest were just as surprised, confused and mostly were in shock as to why I was not able to share (family day) with my sons in almost 10 years. They asked me: - If I did not have custody of my sons?; if my sons' father did not let me see my sons?; if I was not allowed to see my sons due to prison's rules and regulations?; if my family abandoned me?;, etc, etc, Here are the answers to all of your questions: -I still have shared custody of my sons; _ I am very grateful to my family and the father of my sons (legally still my husband) because they have been by my side and supporting me all these 10 years; further they always are telling my sons about me and how much I love them; - The prisons rules and regulations does not barred me to see my sons. There are different reasons why I did not have a family day with my sons in always 10 years: the first year there was no family day here at Coleman-Camp; the second year my family could not afford the travel expenses; the 3rd year my family arrived 5 minutes late and they were not allowed in the 4th year I was in Tallahassee and there was no family day in Tallahassee; the 5th year my family could not afford the travel expenses to Tallahassee; the 6th and 7th year I was in Marrianna-Florida and Marrianna did not offer Family day; the 8th year there was no family day here in Coleman because the authorities claimed that they did not have money; the 9 and1/2 year I was finally able to participate in a family day with my sons. There were some comments from England, Africa, and Australia such us: "How the United States government would allow a mother to be separated from her sons for so many years; that's cruel, arcaic and unhumane". Unfortunately what happened to me is not the exception but the rule. In our judicial system the sentences for first-time, non-violent offenders are too long and the prisoners are housed hundreds of miles away from their communities and family and we must keep working to change the system. I love you all. yraida (leo)

Chinese and Japanese Visitors at Camp Coleman

2006-01-08T23:38:00.000-06:00

On August 2-9 I was on vacation (yes, we are allowed to take one week off of mandatory work per year, and we get paid for that week off) I was also very busy preparing some legal briefs on my case against Unicor and my complaint to the United nations. I was under court-dead lines and some staff's retaliation. Therefore I decided to shut-down my antennas (dettach myself from prison rumors or prison news from the grapewine, we call here "prisoner's radio News or prisoner.com) however threre is news that not matter what you do, you will hear about it, for example "the waxing operation" for visitors, since I did not hear about waxing, I concluded that there were no visitors. I really do not know why, but there are always visitors in the complex, all kinds of visitors, congressman, chief judges, students, etc; but what really disturbs me is the international visitors, we have had visitors from france, Germany iraq, China, etc; I wonder if the United States is exporting "prison's business"? Don't we have better 'goods" to export? or are the US Prisons becoming museums for tourism destinations? yuo tell me. Because I donot know. Anyway on August 10 after my lunch, I was going back to work after my sweet vacation, and i offered a fellow prisoner a ride to her work at the men's facility (I drive by myself to my work place on an E-Z-Go or a truck); on the way I invited her to stop at my workplace around 1:30 p.m. to enjoy a cuban coffee ( I am an expert in making any kind of cofee)she said: "Oh, I would too, but I cannot" i was surprised because we usually drink coffee at that time and I said: "why can't you" she replied: "there are some visitors coming today"; I said: "visitors! who; I have not heard anything" she said: "some japanese or chinese, I really do not know". i dropped her off, and on my way to work I was wondering visitors? Japanese? chinese? why does nobody know about this visit? why did the authorities did not made us wax? what do the japanese or chinese are doing here, they have prison labor even in worse conditions than ours, besides United States condenm their prison labor. See "The New Yor Times" March 01-2001's article about a chinese company that pled guilty in New York for violation of a 1932 law that prohibit any country to import to us any good make by prison labor (the goods were made by female prisoners); then I said to myself;"I must do some undercover investigation; someone must know what the japanese or chinese people are doing here"; "I must use my connections to find out;" I asked several inmates, several staffs; and I got the same answer "I donot know"; around 1;30 p.m. I was by myself at my work place and a staff (with a middle level range) stopped by my workplace and I usually talked to him about different topics and I also felt comfortable asking him questions and I knew that he had to know about the visit (it is part of his job) and I said to him: "do you know what the japanese or chinese are doing here?" he answered: "I do not know"; I continued: "I was wondering, because they have prison labor; maybe they are looking at our complex to build a complex in their country to give a little more comfort to their prisoners; or perhaps they are teaching our country how to run sweat shops in our prisons?"; he replied by saying: "Do you know what those (japanese or chinese) people do with their prisoners on death row?" I answered:'no I donot know" he said:(acting in the manner that he was speaking)"they put the prisoners on their knees facing back and kill them with a bullet fired to their head", and he did the gesture like killing a prisoner with such pleasure on his face. Then he said: "and you know what; they send the bullet casing to the prisoner's family and charge them for the bullet". When he was talking thousands of thoughts came to my mind and I got chills on my body; I was doing a big effort to keep my posture; I did not want to look weak and I wanted to appear strong. I said "do you know what else they do with prisoners"? he answered "no"; I said: "they tell prisoners that they are free to go and then they kill the prisoner for trying to escape to later take the prisoner's organs and export them to the United States and sell them for big dollars'. He replied "I believe you"; then I looked straight into his eyes and asked him: 'so, do you think that US will do the same with its prisoners, as those japanese or chinese; killed them all?" he answered very confused and he began to stutter: "well, I think (pause-stutter) . . . I do not think so". A few weeks had passed and I still had his comments and his gestures in my mind. To me, his comments and gestures are what I call "Mental Torture", here in United States prisoners usually are not subject to physical torture (federal level) but we are definetely subject to a high rate of "mental Torture"; specially female prisoners. My questions to you my friends is:what can we (you and I) do to stop or prevent the destruction by Mental Torture of thousands probably millions of prisoners lives who could be your neighbors or co-workers?. I love you all. Yraida (Leo)

Keep In Mind I am reposting from other site...

2006-01-08T23:09:00.000-06:00

Please keep in mind I am reposting posts from our sister blog page http://spaces.msn.com/members/prisontalk

I will be continuing to move posts over throughout this month, and hope to be completely caught up by the end of the month. You can read our most current information on our sister page http://spaces.msn.com/members/prisontalk and remember, to post your comments and questions by clicking on the comments link below, or by emailing us at prisontalk@hotmail.com.

Thanks!
Steffi

Q&A

2006-01-07T23:08:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends; I must to apologize for not keeping my promise to get back with you on a weekly basis, but my life have been a turmoil lately, it seems like I can not get organized, neither keep my enthusiasm and my financial status make the situation even worse, however I will no give up. So here I am again. I also must confess to you that I really do not know how I am going to be able to answer so many questions/comments that I received via e-mail and letters, further when I call some of my friends I get more questions, so please bear with me I am going to do the best that I can, but I can not answer all the questions, it is financially impossible for me to be on the internet at .05 cents per minute, so if I do not answer a question it is not because I do not want to; it is because I could not, however I promise that you will get an answer sooner or later either via mail, e-mail phone or article. I own you the questions/comments that I received from the article about the flies. i actually did not get too many questions, just comments such as: "uhh. . . um . . . mm. .. umh. . . huh. .. . no no no. . . wow. . . gross ... sorry to hear that. .. I wish I could help . .. I had to laugh about your ordeal with the flies. . . I will continue praying for you . . . " and much much more. There was a very well welcome comment from someone very special to me; my dear and close sister Briglig; that article was the first that I shared with my family because I do not like to give more worries to my family about my life in prison, after reading the article my sister send me a beautiful and very touching e-mail, she wrote about how much she loves me, about all the traits she sees on me and about how guilty she felt for no writing or visiting me more often specially after reading about the flies. There was also another comment that I must quote from a lady she said: " excellent, you shall write a book. . . I would like an article about showers. . . " uhh. . . showers!. My shower time is kind of personal and I get embarrased when people ask me personal questions. A friend (lawyer) who is also encouraging me to write a book gave me an advice; he said: "do not naked yourself when you write, you shall keep some secrets. . ." well I usually write what I feel or think, so I will take my friend's advice and adapt it to my style and yes the article about the shoers is coming soo. But be patience; things in here at Coleman are very very hectic, yesterday the national director Mr. Lappin was visiting the fcomplex and of course the authorities make us wax, wax, wax, pain pain clean clean and re-clean over and over. When he came to the camp I was off of work sitting on a picnic table eating a grapefruit. He was just a few steps away from me (just mere coincedence) but I did not feel like talking to him, after the years I had learned that talking to any member of our judicial, legislative or BOp branch is just a waste of time. What a dissappointed feelings of a democratic nation. I love you all. Yraida (Leo).

Family Day

2006-01-07T23:06:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends; Last Saturday September 10 we have a family day. Family Day in prison means that our family and friends are allowed inside the compound (dining hall, chapel, recreation and education area) not inside our housing units. As I said before, this was the first time that I was going to be able run and sit on the grass with my sons in almost 10 years. For days I have been searching inside my heart a word to describe my feelings that day; up to this moment I have not been able to find one; it was such a mix feelings, I was joyful, sad, grateful, anxious, guilty, desperate, sorry, thankful, out of control, lost and much much more, all those feelings were traveling in and out of me at the speed of light; a few times thru the day I had to stop and think in order for me to regain posture. I thought that I was prepare, I had everything under control in my mind; to later find out that I couldnot articulate with my sons, I cry as I write this because that is really what the prison does for us, dettached us from our family and society and left us feeling like we do not fit anymore in society neither in our family but only in prison. I was adamant to believe that and I always said that that will not happen to me, but it did, however I will survive even if I have to suffer while I learn about my sons. Even though that I consider myself close to my sons, I realized that I do not know much about them, further I was afraid to ask, maybe afraid to be wrong or said something to prove that I was a mom that does not know her sons. My sons tell me over the phone what they do, however due to the time and financial limitations we do not get into details; for example if they tell me that they play beisbol, that is all what we have time to talk we can not get into details such as what position they play. This will be too long if I tell you every detail of this memorable time with my sons, but I want to share with you whathelped me to relax and allowed me to interact with my sons more easily, it was the fact that I was surprise to find out how much they know about me and how proud they were to let me know that they know a lot about mommie. When my sons walked in with my family, my sister Briglig (she is my special sister I adore her like if she were my own daugther) said: "You look great, How you lost so much weight?" my little one Jeswil (10 years old) jumped and answered: 'Briglig, mommie practices Yoga" I did not say anything just grap him, give him a hug and kiss him and then I said: "yes Briglig He is right" Later we were sitting in a circle under a tent and my sister said:"Tell me how is a regular day for you here" my oldest Yrwil (11 years old) jumped and said: "mommie gets up at 5:00 am and do exercise, then she walks in this track, she is also the choir director and she plays the keyboard so she practices music there at the chapel, she also do legal work there at that legal library ..." he was talking like he knew the place and knew every detail of my life inside prison, I did not know what to say, I just hold him tight to my heart and a tear roled down my face. When it was time to eat, we were standing in a long line (over 3000 family members plus inmates) we were debating how to make it simple for us, we thought to get the children's trays and we asking them what they want to eat. Jeswil said: " no hamburgers for me, I do not eat hamburgers like my mommie" my brother'n law in a surprise gesture asked: "Jeswil you do not eat hamburgers?" and he answered: " I had never ate a hamburger like mommie, rihgt mommie?" he continue and said: "and the corn and dog I only eat the corn part like mommie" I was just listening trying to learn more about their preferences that were just like my; then Yrwil said (trying to look like mommie too but he is like his father even in his preferences) I had ate just little pieces of hamburgers once and then but I do not like hamburgers either". My sister was wise enought to let me sit in one table alone with my sons, I asked them to bless the food and after debating betwen them which one was going to say the blessing. Yrwil begun the blessing by saying: "I thanks God for this time with mommie . . . " my heart and my stomag became a nod of sadness and I could not eat. The rest of the day, Jeswil did not get tire of playing, running, hugging and kissing me, the more that I hug and kiss him the more he wanted. Yrwil wanted a time alone ( he is more quiet) and after lunch he walked out of our circle without saying anything and started walking, when he was out of my sight I got up and looked for him and the sweetest moment of the family day came when my son Halored: "mommie" ! What a sweet word!. We sat alone and talked for almost an hour the subject of our conversation and what my sons said to others and to me about family day will be the subject of future Prison Talk Online. I honestly can tell you that deep inside my heart I am not sure whether I do or do not agree with Prison Family Day neither I can say whether I am happy or sad after the family day. Maybe your opinion will help. I certainly learned that I did not know how helpless a human being can feel specially a person like me that think that I am always in control of my feelings and my thoughts. I love you all. Yraida (leo)

Looking For a Male Inmate

2006-01-07T05:54:00.000-06:00

I am looking for a male inmate to give the male point of view of prison life. Yraida provides us with the female point of view, and I would like a male prisoner to provide us with his point of view. If you know anyone who would be interested in doing this via email or even snail mail, please contact me at prisontalk@hotmail.com.
Thanks from the editor,
Steffi

We Are Working On It

2006-01-07T05:52:00.000-06:00

In the next few days you will see posts coming as I move them over from the other blog site. I will be adding all our posts from the msn blog so please bear with me.

Q&A Keeping Sanity in Prison

2006-01-06T23:05:00.000-06:00

Following is the questions/answers of the "keeping Sanity" article: Lots of questions were asked about Be-Be, Li-li, Ta-ta etc, you will hear more about them in future articles, the mostly asked question was: "What kind of cracy thoughts come to my mind?": First: that I am going to loose my mind; then: that I am going to die just before my release date and I am not going to be able to enjoy life with my sons; that I am not going to find a good job and provide the basic needs for my sons that I am not going to know how to dress, eat or even have sex, that I am going to come back to prison for any stupic reason like a notice of a change of address/job did not arrive on time to the probation officer's desk. and much more. Each week there is more people asking questions and to provide more access my friend Steffi is still working on the blog dedicated to this project; you can send questions to Prisontalk@hotmail.com or visit http://spaces.msm.com/members/prisontalk and click on "comments" link; also my engineering-friend Tom form November Coalition is adding links on the November Coalition web site, so more people can have more access to this interaction visit: www.november.org. Tom and November Coalition have givin me unconditional support since day one of my sentence. My requests to Tom are always granted in an expedianty mamner. (I love you Tom and tahnks); further my friend Carol is also helping by adding more links to her e-mail to increase the access. I get back with you within 3 days. I love you all. Yraida

12 Years 7 Months and FLIES

2006-01-06T22:54:00.000-06:00

On September 17, 1996 I was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months, but the flies were not included in the judgment, but let me tell you my friends hundred of thousands of well fed flies are part of my sentence during summer time. As the majority of you I love summer time; I love those long, bright, sunny days, the son energizes me, I feel like gardening, joging, dancing, singing, painting, etc. I just want to hug the world and dance salsa (or merengue, my favorite) with it; however those well-fed flies with nine lives at Coleman-Camp are destroying my summer days; you just can't be outside, because hundred of thousands of them will attack you; when we complain to the authorities; the say that they have the same problem at their homes; I do not know if that is true or not; but one thing I know is that there is just too many flies and I truly believe that the flies here are bigger, fatter and live longer. Sometimes you think that you have killed the fly and she/he turn around and revives itself and once again you kill her/him for the second time and she/he stay still for 1 or 2 minutes and fly again. I hate those flies!!!! and I want to kill them all. I think even animal lovers would be happy killing these flies. There is air conditioning inside our housing units so there is 1 or 2 flies you will need to deal inside your cubicle; and there is air conditioning at my job; but the nightmare is at the dining hall, when it is time to eat, I ask God for strength to deal with the flies; first I must decide whether I go to eat or go to bed hungry; if I do not have anything in my looker or I need something hot I must go. Then I cross the compound from the housing unit to the dining hall as fast as I can (we can not tun in the copound) to avoid the attacking flies in my face, body , etc; and whwn I enter the dining hall, there is a line from the door to the serving line, I must stay in line. For unknow reasons those flies love my hair, I have a long, plentiful, black curly hair that I usually wear loose (I do not tie my hair because i get headache) when those flies start coming to my hair; it truly makes me sick and puts my sanity at risk; the flies get entangled in my hair and all I hear is the zum...zum....zum....zum...zum...of the flies around my ear, I get disturbed and my hands are slapping my head trying to take the flies away and to cover my ears at the same time, it is exasperating!, I do not want to touch the flies with my hands, but there is no other way to take those flies away from my head, at this point I begin to hallucinate and I do not know what I am saying anymore and I ask my friend (the phD prisoner Fi-Fi) "Why do flies like my hair so much"? I do wah my hair everyday, you know that'!! pleas answer me! Tell me why!!" she said:" it is because your hair is so long, black, curly and plentiful that the flies believe that your hair is a nest of their brothers and sisters.I do not know the scientific answer but if she is right or wrong I just choose to tie my hair on the top; then the flies still go to my head but do not entangled themselves and I feel them crawling on my head to my forehead; and at the same time the flies are crawling up and down over my legs, it is summer and I wearing shorts and moisterizer on my legs, since my hands are busy, I can not use my hands to slap the flies from my legs, so I begin to tap my feet (like step dancing) so here I am in the line lloking like a mental hospital patience, taping my feet, slapping my head and mumbling; when I finally reach the serving hot line I do not know what ti ask; I do not eat meat and I see the flies around the food; my mind is uncertain what to do, I am very hungry, there is nothing in my locker and I better get something so I decided on rice and beans, I continue the journey, holding the tray with one hand, the other hand slapping my head and tapping with my feet, I walk through the cold line (salads) I love salads but in summer time I must pass on the salads; even if the salads are covered there are a lot of flies having a good time at the salad bar; so I say no! no! no-thank you no sald for me today!!!, my last option is soup, It is hot and there is noflies on top of the soup; I hope for a good soup; there is only rice and beans on my tray; wow!!! Bingo !!!, creme of brocolli. I love Brocolli, I said to muyself; the day is safe i am going to enjoy the creme of Brocolli soup, I look for a table, there is one empty in the corner; I hurry to that table still tapping my feet and slapping my head; I sit and cover my tray with napkins; at this point the situation is even worse; it is just so gross!!!; the flies are around my hair, my legs, around my face trying to get inside my noise and into my eyes; just violently attacking me. I still try to eat and I get a spoon of rice and beans and when I open my mouth to eat, a fly is trying to get inside my mouth and I feel it on my lips, I get chills on my entire body, I hold the spoon and a fly stops over the rice and beans, then of course I can not longer eat the rice and beans; the soup is still safe and covered and I decide to eat the soup; I am very hungry; I lift the napking to beging to eat the soup and a fly lands in my soup. At this point I am not hungry anymore I feel like vomiting and I can not eat; i say to myself I better leave now, I am about to throw-up so I choose to drink some water and while I am drinking the water a fly stops on my lips and falls into the glass. IT IS OVER !!!!!!! I scream. I jump from the table and run to the track to cry. While I cry I think to write a letter to my judge and tell him about the flies and beg him to let me go to do the 15 months left of my sentence in home confitment; but he will never grants my request, the reality is that the "FLIES" are part of my 12 years 7 months sentence; so much for a first-time non-violent offender. I truly believe that these flies are part of the BOP Re-entry program. if you can handle the flies, you can accomplish anything. I love you all Yraida (Leo). Later today I will write about the questions from my previous article "Keeping Sanity" I see you all later.

Some Background Information

2006-01-06T07:27:00.000-06:00

I am doing some active research on our wonderful prison systems here in the great US of A. I am not liking what I am finding out, nor am I liking what I am finding out that can be done about it that ISN'T being done about it.

I got involved with this when I came to know a remarkable woman named Yraida Guanipa who is currently serving a federal mandatory minimum sentence in one of our federal prisons in Florida. I am the type of person who looks for the good in all people, and can usually find it, even in the most lost of lost causes. Yraida does not fit this profile. As I got to know Yraida and researched her case, I came to learn alot about how our prison system-- especially our federal prison system-- works. I am learning alot about how mandatory minimums and federal mandation is taking the "just" out of American Justice. I would like to encourage you to keep reading and keep an open mind. Educate yourselves, my friends, because what happened to Yraida could happen to any of us alot easier than what you think.

Don't get me wrong... I am all for punishment for crime, but I believe that the punishment needs to fit the crime, and I also believe that a crime needs to have been COMMITTED before being punished! It angers me to see how easily a person can be tried and convicted on federal charges involving drugs without having even done anything criminal. It also angers me to see what we are imposing on these people when there are clear, more effective and more cost effective options available to us! The idea of prison is to a) PROTECT THE PUBLIC b) DETER CRIME c) PUNISH THOSE WHO COMMIT CRIME d) KEEP CRIMINALS FROM BEING ABLE TO COMMIT CRIMES FOR A PERIOD OF TIME. You will learn that not only are federal minimums very costly and largely cruel and inhumane, THEY ARE NOT WORKING! Remember, this system is supposed to protect US. There are clear alternatives that have been proven many more times effective that are not being implemented. These alternatives give our judges room to consider all the facts in the case, character of the defendant and many other important factors in any sentencing. These alternatives also offer ways to improve our currently disgusting recidivism rate as well as truly reform offenders.

So please, read on, post comments and ask questions. Please keep an open mind until you have seen the facts. Those who know me, know that if I back something, it has alot of merit to it. I appreciate any feedback y'all might have and please, pass this link on to any and all, ask questions, and be informed. And for God's sake, if you agree with what you read, TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE, because it's their job to work for us and this system that's supposed to protect us, is NOT doing it... Thanks...

****Editor's Note: I am currently working on moving all the posts over from the original blog site and keeping them up on both sites. Please bear with me on this, and you can read ALL posts until then at http://spaces.msn.com/members/prisontalk****

Keeping Sanity In Prison

2005-12-31T07:47:00.000-06:00

This is my second prison talk on line, the first one about the visit of the Iraqi Officials generated lots of questions. Mostly I was asked if we saw the visitors. Yes, we saw them, they even ate the same food as we and in a designated area inside our dining hall; they also walked inside our housing units; further, an inmate was the one who was driving the van with the visitors. She is a very pretty, tall, slender, blue eyed, blonde haired girl. I asked her if the Iraqi visitors spoke to her, she said that they only said "hi". I wonder what they thought about her. Within the Iraqi visitors was an Iraqi female and she was wearing her Muslim Religious outfit (Sari-Dupata(veil)). I wonder if she asked why her religious sister (Muslim-prisoners) at Coleman-Camp were not wearing the Sari or Dupata. I was also asked about my fellow prisoner who did not know who Osama Bin Laden was. Well she really does not know who Bin Laden is; she is truly a character. Actually she is the only fellow prisoner that I have allowed to joke/play with me for the first time in my nearly 10 years of incarceration. She does not know where north or south is; nor who George Bush is; when you question her, she answered that her brain has been burned down by drugs, that she has taken so much drug that there is not a single hole in her body that has not tasted drugs; she is in her 40's; very funny looking (almost toothless--having only 4 decaying eyeteeth-- two in the top and two in bottom), straight unkempt hair, she wears big very big clothes, she sometimes talks like a child, others like a retard and rarely normal, but she is always smiling. She is so freaking funny looking that when you see that old very wrinkled toothless big smiling face you must laugh. I am going to call her Be-Be, sometimes Be-Be talks loud all day long and drives all of us crazy and we beg her to stop the talking. We must tell her that we love her in order for her to stop the talking. Two weeks ago was her birthday and some of the girls prepared a surprise for her and decorated her cubicle with banners, balloons, roses, notes, flowers-- everything made out of paper (we prisoners must practice our imagination). Lots of birthday cards were placed on top of her lockers. When she returned from her job detail she was so happy that she cried and cried and said that no one had ever made her feel so special. Those moments of kindness among us is one of my tools to keeping my sanity in this very cruel environment. Believe me it is very, very hard to avoid psychiatric injuries inside prison. Sometimes I wonder if all mentally ill people are inside prison, or if all human beings have some kind of mental disability. Other times I wonder if I am mentally ill too. We are over 100 in each unit, 2 per cubicle. A regular day begin like this: at 3:15 a.m. the alarm clocks begin ringing every 15 minutes from different cubicles (for some of us to take showers and about the line at 6:00 a.m.); so from 3:15 a.m. until 7:00 a.m. you hear Ring... Ring....Ring....Ring....Ring... from all different directions; you put ear-plugs on; cover your face with blankets or pillows and still you hear the Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring...You have no other option than get-up and to face over 100 people with different characters or mental illness. I already mentioned Be-Be; there is another one that says that she is Bi-polar; I am going to call her Li-Li. One day she smiles to you, ask about your children, offer coffee and the next day if you try to say hello she scream at you and says, " What are you looking at me for? What is wrong with you?"; so you never know when to say hello or ignore her. There is also another one who keeps claiming that she is getting the wrong medicine; she is a tall, white, slim lady, and also an animal lover. She does not talk to anybody. She walks very, very slowly with lost vision and looks like a zombie. I am going to call her Mi-Mi. So when Mi-Mi walks through the narrow halls you must move, because she walks straight no matter what. There is also a 19 year old who was very drug addictive, and the authorities give her drugs (legal), I am going to call her Ta-Ta. She sleep all day and if she is not sleeping, she laughs and laugh for hours like a maniac. We have a few that scream all day long, they do not talk, they scream and very loudly. There are others who do not walk, just run all day back and forth inside those very narrow halls. The elderly who can hardly walk; the ills that can not make it to the bathroom and pee or poop themselves on their way to the bathroom. We have another one, the new born Christian, that reads the Bible all day (very loudly) and sing songs loud all day. I am going to call her Cha-Cha. When the late afternoon arrives, I am already exhausted looking forward for the sound of silent, but the reality is that there is never silent inside prison. Be-Be is talking and talking like a baby with no time to stop; Li-Li the Bi-polar is screaming to whoever passes by; Mi-Mi the Zombie is walking back and forth just looking but not talking; Ta-Ta is laughing loud for hours; Cha-Cha the religious singing loud; 3 or 4 screaming to each other from one end to the other having a conversation; and 2 or 3 more having sex and making noise in the next cubicle. This goes on until 12 midnight and when you are hoping to get into your first step of sleep, Mi-Mi the Zombie begins talking in her sleep very, very loudly. She talks to her animals (dogs, kitties, birds, etc) and she argues with her animals. Ta-Ta cries and cries in her sleep and fights with her dad and screams, "Dad please do not hurt me!" There is one from Israel that begins calling "ABBA ABBA" (is a Hebrew word for father) Cha-Cha speaks in tongues about Simon and Peter (in the Bible). Bi-Bi snores like a train. Li-Li the Bi-polar walk in their sleep, getting into others room and much, much more. This goes on for 2 or 3 hours; by that time the alarms clocks begin the ...Ring ...Ring ...Ring again. Sometimes I hardly can make it. I go to the bathroom, stand in front of the mirror and ask myself personal questions to see if I still remember who I am and how old I am. When crazy thoughts come to my mind I look for a priest or psychologist and I ask for a talk and at the end I ask them, "Do you think that I am still sane?"
If you have ever wondered why the percentage of recidivism rate in prisoners is so high, here is your answer: Living 5-10-15 years or more like this will leave real deep psychiatric injuries that will bar any human being from surviving in society. If prosecutors, judges or any of our lawmakers (senators and congressman) would spend a few days like my every day life for the last 10 years, they will change their mind about such draconian sentences for first-time non-violent offenders. My sons, the support of my family and the caring of all of you who have supported and helped me to keep contact with the outside world has definitely helped me to keep my sanity. I love you all. Yraida

Iraqi Officials Visit Camp Coleman

2005-12-31T07:44:00.000-06:00

The US Today. Dated Tuesday, June 28, 2005 said, "The US Military said Monday that it plans to expand its prisons across Iraq to hold as many as 16000 detainees," and of course FCC Coleman was selected as the "model" complex to be shown to the Iraqis officials. A week before their visit, the authorities ordered us to wax, paint and/or wash everything to made our prison look like a spotless heavenly prison (unrealistic). I wish for a second that those visitors know the stress that those visits cause us, on top of feeling like animals in a zoo when they walk around looking the prison and the prisoners. Since those visits are so stressful I always try to be funny with my fellow prisoners to alleviate the tension, and I started joking saying that the Iraqis women do not know anything about wax (in prison they made us wax everything-- even the air) and that the authorities probably will allow us to go to Iraq-Prison to show the Iraqis prisoners how to do wax. The ladies laughed and started talking and had fun; then a big black lady said to another, "My friend do you know who is coming tomorrow?" The second lady answered, “Who?" The first one said, "Osama Bin Laden." The second one said, "Who is he?" A third one sitting on a top bunk said, "a drug seller." Everybody laughed. It was very funny; but the sad part is that US is not only exporting its prison designs, but also prison labor ideas. Something to think and/or write about it.

Prison Talk Online

2005-12-31T07:43:00.000-06:00

The purpose of this page is to educate the public about our reform system here in the United States. It is also a place for you to contact us and ask any questions you might have about our federal prison system and get them answered by a current inmate in the federal system. We will also be discussing the affects on mandatory minimum sentences on prison inmates and their families. We will explore the alternatives to mandatory minimum sentencing for non violent first time offenders. What we really want to do is educate you about how the system works, and how ineffective it is in preventing recidivism, and the residual effects that are felt throughout the family dynamic of prisoners. So sit back, read, ask questions, and if you see merit to the things we present, TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE HOW YOU FEEL!!! Remember, this system is supposed to protect US, and when it fails to do that, we need to fix it. You may ask us questions by either clicking on the "comments" link below, or by emailing us at prisontalk@hotmail.com.

Yraida's Plight

2005-12-29T18:15:00.000-06:00

Please visit us at http://spaces.msn.com/members/prisontalk