Recent Comments

SAH Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
Good old Nicki. Single mother, college student (criminology and psychology) AND job holder. Glad to see you using your "spare time" so efficiently.

Your posts DO NOT REFLECT the person/life you post. In the event you are real, you might consider putting that *chit* in a bottle and selling it. You could use to the proceeds to fund these inmates.

Posted on Hipocritical Emotions + Feelings by Allen Johnson Hipocritical Emotions + Feelings
Nicki Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
I'm trying to decide if you're joking around, or if you've been mislead somewhere along the way.

There is no animosity between Australia and New Zealand. We view ourselves as cousins and fought side by side in WW1 and WW2. We are able to travel freely between our countries without the need for visas so I'm a little confused.

As for fighting along side the Americans... I think it's a case of, you'd be stupid to fight against the world's superpower, so we'll go along for the ride. We've always been alais with the US anyway, just as we have with England.

So what is this trouble you speak of with New Zealand. NZ would have to be one of the world's most peaceful countries. & anyway, we're bigger than them (but they're pretty good at beating us in the rugby). I should tell you I'm actually a kiwi, I just grew up in Australia :D

Posted on Introduction by Kyle De Wolf Introduction
Nicki Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
I just went and introduced myself to JPay, I had no idea what it was all about. I gave it the details it required about you, it made me join up, which I did, then told me I had to 'buy stamps' to send you an e-mail... So here I am back here haha.

I'm happy to correspond with you, and tell you more about me (even though I came here to learn more about others, not so much to talk about myself) but I cannot be the 'girl of your dreams'. Nice try though :D

Nicki

Posted on Hipocritical Emotions + Feelings by Allen Johnson Hipocritical Emotions + Feelings
Nicki Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
Hi Ezra, thank you for your reply. I've just been going back through to those I haven't responded to. I get notifications on my phone when you have sent in a reply, but I'm often not at my computer when I read them so it can be easy to overlook them with all the distractions around me.

Thank you for answering my questions, I'm still intrigued by your work release program and would like to know more. I actually didn't know the USA had work release programs in place. We have some here in Australia too, which were born out of natural disasters beginning in the 1990s. Prisoners assisted farmers to clean up their properties after floods or cyclones (you call them hurricanes). Here in my part of the world it was the banana farmers that needed the most help and there have been a lot of success stories that have come out of those projects. Things like 'people that had never worked before were offered work on that property after their release'.

How did you become eligable for your work release program & did you have a choice of the type of work you do? It sounds like there are other inmates that work with you, is that the case? and how are you transported to and from your job? Are you paid the same rate as other workers..? Too many questions..? haha.

I'm interested because I think putting people to work is the best form of rehabilitation there could be. After the things you identified in your last reply as to what you get out of it, I know you know what I'm talking about. Other than the necessary, healthy social interactions, the biggest thing work gives us, in my opinion, is self confidance and a sense of self worth, 'a purpose' and that's what so many people in the prisons of the world could benifit from in my humble opinion.

I will send you an Aussie card as a token of my appreciation for answering my never ending questions :) Your friend Nicki

Posted on Untitled by Ezra C. Martin Untitled
Nicki Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
I think at times we all feel like we're talking to ourselves, but thanks to Btb we can interact here, which is a wonderful thing.

The loss of your children is heartbreaking, you obviously love them a lot, I hope you can focus on the fact that you had those years of continuous contact with your son throughout his childhood, even though you're unable to see him now. He will have a lot of memories of you, just as you do of him, and I'm sure he misses you too. I don't mean to diminish the pain you feel, but I hope you can be thankful for the contact you have had to this point and use those moments to find strength.

You thanked me in your reply, for understanding the pain you and others deal with. I thought this was an interesting comment, it was sweet, but I don't think for a moment that I could ever understand what you go through in that environment. I have been inside Australian prisons before throughout the course of my employment, and the cells in the watchhouse (which you would call jail) and I have felt the heaviness of those environments, but I always had the knowledge that the doors would be unlocked for me when it was time to leave, and that's what made it bareable. I feel that although I couldn't ever understand your pain, all I can do is acknowledge it.

My children's father has the option to be in their lives, but he chooses not to. It hardly seems fair when there are others like you that would do anything for the chance to see their children. It's a crazy world we live in and corresponding with people like yourself makes me incredibly thankful for all that I do have.

Take care!
Nicki

Posted on Living With A Bitch Called Hope by Scot Pinkerton Living With A Bitch Called Hope
Voice12 Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
Wow your story about the elderly inmate is chilling. That's the kind of thing you don't forget! I'm sorry you had to witness that.

Posted on Untitled by Kirk Stevenson Untitled
Nicki Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
I don't know if our success 'could' be replicated in the USA. We don't have "a right to bare arms" written into our constitution so it's not something that was difficult decision for most of us. We didn't feel like we were being deprived of our basic rights and focused on the value of human life, and the fact that we never wanted to see another incident of violence like Port Arthur in our country again. I think the mentality of many American's is very different to our own, specifically on this issue.

Please tell me though that you DON'T see the solution for the mass loss of life that keeps recurring in the USA over and over again is - more guns... (?) In all seriousness... that cannot possibly make sense in anyone's mind. Can it..?

Posted on Gun Control... by Andy Blackmore Gun Control...
Nicki Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
Andy,

Now, you know that I know and love you, and I'm not one to generally disagree with people with such strong opinions, I'd rather smile and keep walking. But at the risk of being labeled a "bleeding-heart liberal vegan" (haha)... I have to offer you the following thoughts from Australia.

The last mass shooting we had here was almost 20 years ago at Port Arthur (which was originally a penal settlement), where Martin Bryant was accused and sentenced for killing 35 people in 1996.

At that time strict gun controls came into being across our country. There was a buy back scheme put in place and an amnesty, where people were able to hand their guns in, registered or not, no questions asked. Interestingly, since this most recent tragedy, I've seen footage of some American's handing their weapons in enmass, no buy back... just handing them in. Here we now have NO access to automatic weapons in our country, and in my mind, there is no legitimate purpose for them. To have a gun license now, Australians must have a legitimate purpose to own a gun. Either a member of a sporting gun club or a property owner with livestock. Our Police and some security guards carry sidearms, but they are locked into gun safes at their place of work at the end of their shift. Possession is of a weapon (of any type) is a criminal offence here. As for our neighbors in New Zealand, across the Tasman Sea, their police don't even carry guns. I think perhaps we walk our streets here feeling much safer than most American's would, armed or not.

Our little gun control social experiment (if you'd like to look at it that way) has been a resounding success. We have had exactly NO mass shootings since gun control was put into place (mass shootings are defined by police and criminologists as 4 or more at one time) and I think that is incredibly significant. I would like to think that America would look to us as an example of the difference that can be. I certainly believe we (Australians) looked to America for what could be when our gun laws were overhauled 16 years ago. And I couldn't be more thankful for the changes that our government made at that time.

Posted on Gun Control... by Andy Blackmore Gun Control...
Andy Blackmore Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
(scanned reply – view as blog post)

Posted on Out of Good Paper by Andy Blackmore Out of Good Paper
Andy Blackmore Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
(scanned reply – view as blog post)

Posted on Observations.... Not Nice! by Andy Blackmore Observations.... Not Nice!
More comments:

Subscribe

Get notifications when new letters or replies are posted!

Featured posts: RSS email me
All Between the Bars posts: RSS