Small Change got Rained On...

[viscousmemories]

I was waxing nostalgic a couple months ago and decided to do a search at the Michigan Dept. of Corrections website for someone from my past. I used to rent a room in a house in Ann Arbor with an odd assortment of others. A couple female artists, a factory worker, a former truck driver, and this Detroit rapper, Reggie. I liked Reggie. He used to hook me up with pot and I'd sell some to pay him back and smoke the rest. He had some thug-like friends from Detroit come by once or twice which was slightly off-putting, but overall I thought he was a cool kid. Not the brightest bulb in the batch, but nice.

I became a "trusty" after having been in jail for a couple months, and my 'job' was feeding d-block - the area where all the violent offenders were kept. The guard would buzz me through the first door into the dining area, which was separated from the cell block by a wall of glass with a steel door in it. While I set the trays out on the tables the guard would buzz open the cells, then the cons would come press up against the glass and watch me, usually one or two of them yelling for me to leave them an extra milk or something. Of course I couldn't and didn't, but it was part of the ritual. I was surprised to see Reggie in there among those people.

I ran into him in the courtyard one day and talked a bit. He claimed he was arrested on some trumped up charges by a racist Ypsilanti cop. I suppose it could be true, but who knows. He says he had a pair of scissors in his hand and the cop accused him of trying to stab him. The docket says assault with a deadly weapon and disarming a peace officer. Again, who knows? Anyway I looked him up in the MDOC database and found him. DOB 1972. Date of offense 9/93 - sentenced 1/94. 1-4 yrs. on the first count, 1-2 on the second.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that he was discharged 12/94, figuring whatever he had done must not have been too serious and that he must've gotten some good behavior time, until I noticed Reason for Discharge: Death.

I don't suppose I'll ever know any more than that. I don't know how to find out what the cause of death was, I don't know if he had any family, etc. The whole thing seems kind of surreal to me. Despite the fact that I was unlikely to ever see him again, I'm still weirded out by his being dead. It's just weird.

Anyway I went back there tonight and had that same experience. Just the weird feeling of seeing "Reason for Discharge: Death" on his profile page.

So then I looked up this asshole who jumped me when I was a teenager (long story) and it seems he's doing 7-15 for criminal sexual conduct (i.e. raping a minor). He always was a loser.

So those are my random blah thoughts for the evening. Blah.

[Petra]

vm, I've been in jail a total of 4 times. The last time was actually serious - I was looking at between 7 & 14 years as a sentence. The previous times were actually a joke to me, and I revelled in them (believe it or not) - but that one last time...oh, shit!

I was in for drugs - the charge was that I had imported 99 tabs of acid - a class B drug - for distribution. My saving grace was that there was no proof that I had organised the drug import, and that one tab of acid was missing from the sheet.

I was remanded in the women's remand wing of Mt. Eden prison in Auckland, where I stayed for a short period until my bail came through.

I remember it well. Some people's stories tickled my funny bone - like the girl who was in there for growing marijuana. She would've been fine had her boyfriend not decided to break into the Thames (very small town) Police Department to steal the evidence. He was sitting in the men's remand wing.

And there was a woman, a few years older than me, who had done hard time in Thailand. We kinda connected as we both had heroin problems. The difference between us was that my problems with junk had only been over the course of a couple of years - hers went back some 25 years. The only respite she had had from smack was the times she had spent in jail - including jail in Thailand. I have another, very close friend, who spent time in jail in Thailand during the 70's, and she remembered him. (I've not asked him if he remembers her). Anyway, I thought that she was a nice lady, just a bit fucked up. And she died while I was on remand. She was 43, and died of natural causes. Her heart just gave out.

You know, I don't even remember her name; but I remember her face, and the conversations we had over the the 2 days that I knew her. She never knew it, but she helped me to get back on track.

I'm sorry your friend died before ever knowing how to "get back on track". I've never spent any long stretch of time in prison, but what I learned in my short time, each time, was that, as Ronin said in my honesty thread - "Humans are fragile in any environment".

I hope your friend is resting in peace, vm. That is all any of us can ask for, at the end of the day.

Take care, sweet pea - I, for one, love you.

[viscousmemories]

vm, I've been in jail a total of 4 times. The last time was actually serious - I was looking at between 7 & 14 years as a sentence. The previous times were actually a joke to me, and I revelled in them (believe it or not) - but that one last time...oh, shit!
I hear ya. It was my first time in jail but I was facing up to 14 years for breaking and entering, unlawfully driving away an automobile and petty larceny. That's two felonies and a misdemeanor, plead down from about 10 felonies (basically multiple counts of each offense). I was seriously afraid I was going to do some real prison time.

I was in for drugs - the charge was that I had imported 99 tabs of acid - a class B drug - for distribution. My saving grace was that there was no proof that I had organised the drug import, and that one tab of acid was missing from the sheet.
Man that sucks. I thought America was unique in its demonization of drugs. I haven't done a lot of acid in my life, but the fact that you can go to prison for owning some is criminal in itself, IMO.

I was remanded in the women's remand wing of Mt. Eden prison in Auckland, where I stayed for a short period until my bail came through.
I spent 90 days in the county jail. The first 60 were looooong because I was awaiting sentencing, so I didn't know if I was gonna be out soon or sent away for much longer. I wrote in a journal every day while I was in. It's not very interesting stuff but I might post it as a journal here or something one day. Just in case anyone wants to have a taste of being locked up without actually having to go break the law. :)

I didn't really have any interesting or moving experiences involving any of the people I met in there. Most of them seemed like angry, ignorant people. One thing I wrote in my journal was how ironic I found it that my biggest fear about going to prison was getting raped, yet here I was in the dayroom of the county jail being annoyed by all the anti-gay slurs these guys were yelling at the TV during Springer or whatever. There were no fights in my block, no drama at all really. But caged people are loud. If just one or two is laughing or talking or singing or whatever to himself, the noise is deafening. Do you remember it being really noisy, or is that a guy thing?

I'm sorry your friend died before ever knowing how to "get back on track". I've never spent any long stretch of time in prison, but what I learned in my short time, each time, was that, as Ronin said in my honesty thread - "Humans are fragile in any environment".

I hope your friend is resting in peace, vm. That is all any of us can ask for, at the end of the day.
Only a few people in my life have died, and of those nobody I was really close to. It helps that I wasn't really close to anyone when I was growing up. I'm bothered by Reggie's death not because I felt any special bond or anything, but because he was 22 years old and died in prison. I dunno. I just kinda feel like he never had a chance, but then I don't really know what chances he had or didn't have. I don't mourn the dead, though, they have nothing to worry about. I mourn the loss to the people who loved him, assuming there were any.

Take care, sweet pea - I, for one, love you.
Thanks. :hug: