Cut off from society

I must say, the worst part of being in jail is being cut off from society. The only people you have are the two cellmates and the other people in the pod.

We can make calls, but they cost $2.25 and it's only for 15 minutes - which feels like five minutes after it's done.

Even on the TV we have six channels and are not allowed to watch news channels. We miss out on holidays, birthdays and all the good stuff that happens throughout the year.

It's hard to keep a relationship when you're locked in a box for years. But some manage.

It definitely gives you a lot of time to sit back and think about how good you had it. Stuff like soft toilet paper, your choice of food and music, a phone, conversations with other people that you aren't locked in with.

I miss being able to hug the ones I love, being able to calm them down when they're stressed.

Needless to say, I can't wait to be out in society, have a job, be with family and just enjoy every day.

Photo: Prison of Desires by Kleyos, www.deviantart.com

Cut off from society

My past (part 2)

As my freshman year went on, I lost 30 lbs. during wrestling. This seemed to help a lot with the whole girl situation. I had more girls coming at me than I had ever had before. This ended up kind of being a turning point in my life. Sadly, I let this get the best of me and blow up my ego. My mom always told me girls were trouble.

So as time went on, my grades started to slip. By the 11th grade, I was more worried about smoking weed, getting with girls and hanging out with friends rather than getting good grades, and I even was skipping out on workouts for wrestling. As time went on, my coach sat me down many times and tried to show me what I was doing wrong and how to fix it. But I thought I knew it all, like every other 17-year-old kid. I should have listened to him, seeing as how he was like a father to me. Believe me, I think about his speeches every day.

By my senior year, my grades were at about a 2.2 and I was skipping classes, except P.E. – that was my favorite. By this time, I had made a group of friends that I thought were my friends. I later learned didn’t care a thing about me. About a week after the state tournament for wrestling, I got kicked out of my house for smoking weed. But who could blame my mom? I wasn’t just going down hill. I fell off the cliff.

But when I was out there, I had nowhere to go. My “friend” wanted me to drive him to commit some crimes. At the time, I really needed money, so I did it like a fool – not understanding what a burglary can do to the victim. When I was driving him, I didn’t think that I was taking people’s peace of mind from them. They probably can’t sleep at night because of me. I didn’t think of this stuff. All I was thinking is that I needed money. I pray every night for those people I hurt. God know I would never do anything like that again.

The burglaries didn’t last long though. A week later, the cops were at my front door. So as I’m driving home at 3 a.m. to see why my mom was calling me, the cops got behind me and pulled me over. They pulled me over at gunpoint and arrested me on three burglary charges and one charge of dealing in stolen property. I never thought it would escalate to that. Here I was a senior with two months left in high school and I was sitting in a cell at Land O’Lakes jail at 18 years old.

About a week into it, I had a surprise visit from my father who said he was going to get me a lawyer and bonded me out. I did not ask him to do this, seeing as how I did it to myself. But he said he wanted to. So a month later, I bonded out and got a court date in October where I opened a plea and the judge gave me six years probation. Some think I got away easy, but I think I got slammed. It’s almost impossible to do [six years probation] – or that was at least the dumb mindset I had at 18 years old.

So what did I do? I kept on doing what I was doing and failed a drug test. Three months later, here I am back in jail.
After two months, I got released on two years house arrest and four years probation. Let me tell you how hard life is when you got an ankle bracelet and a big beeping box everywhere. I felt like I couldn’t do anything. So what did an ignorant kid do? Went on the run. So here I am on my way to prison. Because of one bad choice that’d I’d never do again.

My past (part 2)