The last two weeks of incarceration have been quite the lived experience and insightful into the misconceptions that I had of prison. This environment presents an opportunity to for a zoological survey of the species of the Western human male. The socialization of males is quite humorous, and one guy that I entered with is constantly reinforcing the principle of rehabilitation by commenting, “we don’t belong here.” Him and I have shared a commonality and bond over the experience that has led to some great discussions. Through our discourses, we found how similar our experiences of the entire judicial process has been (even though his was quite longer than mine). Yet, we have reflected on how to truly embrace the opportunity for rehabilitation and it is quite clear that the prison system lacks the fortitude of implementing this mission.
The encounters that I have had with many of the guys are pleasant and good; yet, many of the inmates do not share remorse or passions for improving their situations. Cultural norms and practices certainly become distinctly identifiable, but the concept of being incarcerated appears to be an entitlement mindset. I do not share this mentality or approach. I want to grow, learn, and delve deeper into my own psyche to become a better person than when I entered this prison. I do believe that to be the case. However, my optimism quickly deflates when I realize that I am quite in the minority on this. Yet, there are guys that want to make this the best experience, so I have certainly gravitated towards them.
Moving forward with the blog, I will begin to post once per week since much of the initial content has been covered and much of these days are monotonously the same. In addition to posting once a week, I will provide some personal reflections as well as commentary on life in a federal prison camp. I will also post if some noteworthy event or experience happens. I do enjoy composing these posts, but it does cost $.05 per minute to use the email, which really begins to add up. Over the past two weeks, just for blogging, it has cost about $50, which does not seem like much but over the course of a month…year at this rate I would like to be more strategic with the money and time. Thus, I am trying to be more economically sensitive and focused on quality rather than quantity of content.
One of the ideas that I have been entertaining is a Question and Answer (Q & A) post. If you have a question, you can ask a question at kengaughan@gmail.com. The questions will remain anonymous, so I will be able to compile the questions and provide the best answers as possible. Please know that I do not have access to email, but the questions will be relayed to me. If you have my prison email access, you may ask me here too…heck, even write a letter (you can find the postal mail information in the contact section of the blog.
P.S. Today was my second commissary. While they still do not have sweat pants, I was able to request tennis shoes (Thank you June and Jimmy Fisher for helping to make that possible). The shoes should arrive within the next 30 days – hopefully in time for Christmas!
P.S.S. Yesterday I was a bit under-the-weather, but today, I am feeling so much better. Thank you for all your prayers and positive thoughts.