An intimate first person non-fiction storytelling experience about incarceration in the United States.
Across the nation, prisons aren’t exactly known for their cutting edge medical care. States have limited budgets for inmate medical care, and as a result local level medical staff are restricted in the amount and type of care they can provide. If asked, most inmates probably would cite medical care as a primary area of concern.
If you’ve been following my writings you already know that I am a keen observer of world events. For those of you who’ve recently discovered my writings, check out my posts in the International category titled: “So it was, so it is and so it shall be,” “Hotel California,” and “Same Old Song and Dance.” The assassination of Iran’s top general Qaasam Soleimani has sparked a lot of controversy, but frankly it was long over due. This man was directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops.
“No matter what you do you need to be able to fail and know how to recover from it in order to one day succeed.” —Neil deGrasse Tyson—
The greatest lessons I’ve learned in life didn’t come about through my successes, but through my failures. Our failures force us to examine ourselves. In those moments when we are too stubborn to acknowledge that we’ve failed, the universe kindly allows us to fail again at the same task, the same effort, the same thing. “As you were,” says Mother Nature.
Right. As you were.
In my December 23, 2019 post titled “I’m D.E., A Sex Offender,” I posted the first part of D.E.’s guest writing about his sex addiction. Today I am posting the second part of his essay, and you can read it here. It is very difficult for him to bare himself to the world, and he writes whenever he has the courage to do so. I commend him for confronting his problems. We all have our own, don’t we? Offering you his essay is part of his rehabilitation. I’ll post the next part of his essay in next week’s Video Fridays In 60 Seconds, along with that of a new guest writer!
Before I go, a number of the guys that I’ve asked to write guest essays have said to me that they want to, but don’t believe anyone cares about them or what they’d have to say. Sadly, this is a common perception amongst inmates. It’s born from the cold, impersonal experience of incarceration.
Part of addressing incarceration is to encourage public discourse and understanding. Each post and each guest essay is a snapshot into the reality and challenge of incarceration. Please share these writings with others.
*You may contact any one of my guest writers by addressing them via email through the contact option on this page.
—Christopher—
The early days of my incarceration were difficult. Time felt like a great weight, and I couldn’t see the end of the dark tunnel of my sentence. I had no contact with family, and I found myself incarcerated in a state where I knew no one. To make matters worse, I was on a crash course of discovery about the ways of prison life.