Another spectacular sunrise met the blistering cold morning – Yes, I was up early again for breakfast, which was all the milk, donuts, and oatmeal that you could eat (I had a healthy portion though).
The Admissions & Orientation (A&O) consists of meeting with several departments. After breakfast, I was called to the clinic (again, like a glorified nurses office in an elementary school). However, beyond one of the doors, I had seen more sophisticated devices. I had to have a health and dental check. The dental wing of the clinic showcased three technologically advanced dental chairs. Being impressed by this section, I commented to the dentists that her office looked nothing like the brochure pictures. I don’t think she was amused and quipped, “did you think it’d be run down?” Whether rhetorical or not, I gave her my honest reply that I heard nothing but nightmares about the dental support in federal prisons. She checked my teeth and mouth for cancer and any other concerns, but that was it.
With tomorrow being Thanksgiving, we had to receive special paper tickets that would be handed in to receive our Thanksgiving meal. I’ll write more about this tomorrow. It is just important to keep the ticket or a meal will not be provided. As I am learning, lunch will be the same every Wednesday (a hamburger barely accompanied with shredded onion and thinnest slice of a tomato possible). During my intake last week, I did receive this burger but it had some delicious potato chips with manchup (aside: mayonnaise and ketchup mixed together — a product of Heinz — have you ever had it? It is so good). Today, we did not have manchup, just ketchup and mustard packets that were rationed like a Great Depression soup line. They had a corrections office actually standing guard to make sure that the count was accurate (it’s the littlest things that apparently cause the biggest issues).
Finally, I was able to enjoy the afternoon, which another beautiful sunny day. Thank goodness, since our dorms were searched for illegal items – ahem, they found some cell phones and cigarettes. The search took about 2 hours and it was quite respectful. My belongings were barely touched, but they did go through every nook and cranny of our dorm. Those guys, who had possession of the items, were isolated and will be in trouble – typically extra years added to their sentence. However, we all were punished by having the power to the TVs turned off all weekend. The group punishment technique is sophomorically absurd. While I cannot listen to the TV, it was an area where at least 60-80 guys would conglomerate. Now, these 60-80 guys are wandering the halls aimlessly; yet, they were quiet for the most part. Then, we received a special meal ticket for tomorrow that must be used one per person.
After dinner, we had a “comedy/concert” in an auditorium. The “comedian” was inmate who spent nearly 90% just laughing at the jokes he seemed to have been formulating on the spot. While the show was a complete fail, they gave out movie theater popcorn, which actually had real butter. The intermission of the “comedy show” had a “rock” band, called the Two Point Enhancements (a name that is play on more charges that are applied after someone pleads guilty). For example, I pled guilty of wire fraud, but the government added extra time which is called an enhancement. The reference to points or two points means that it adds a number on a chart called the US Sentencing Guidelines (If you google it, it mirrors a step chart or a salary schedule, but with a range of months that an offender is recommended to serve). Overall, I felt like a true punishment would involve listening to this comedy act and band every day while serving a sentence.
Today was another eventful day, and I found out that I have quite a few minutes on the phone to use before the 1st of the month when my phone minutes reset. Luckily, I was able to make a few phone calls to Ed (a friend) and Drew. Each person is allotted 521 minutes per month or an average of 17 minutes per day. In theory, these minutes could all be used within a week. The phone minutes reset differently for everyone, which is based on some formula. I am just happy that it is the 1st of the month, which makes planning easy. Okay, enough of me rambling for the night!