5/9/14

RE: NEW CHAPTER IN MY PRISON LIFE, FROM SHU TO GENERAL POPULATION (POST).
GREETINGS.
I.
Well here I am sitting at a desk and right in front of me is a small window. I laugh every time I look up because I can see the outside not that there is a lot to see but it beats the hell out of the SHU for sure. At least I have a view of some thing other than another wall.
It’s really different out here. It was kind of a shock at first. I did not know how they treat general population prisoners.
I wait a minute where my cell is located at I can see all the ladies as they arrive to work, they are far off so I can’t see them clearly but I can tell if they have it going on or not. I just can’t count freckles I just saw a very pretty girl looks like she works in one the gun towers because she was carrying a rifle that’s bigger than her.
Okay getting back to what I was saying I was rolled out of Pelican Bay SHU at 3:00 in the morning April 28th and left me in my cell with nothing, so for the next few days I was sitting there reading newspapers and though I still went to the yard everyday it was kind of rough not having my property.
Finally on Friday morning they came and got me I thought I’d be treated a lot different because now I’m a regular general population prisoner.
But i was treated the same damn way. Strip searched. Handcuffed and segregated just like i was used to all them years in SHU.
As I walked out of my unit my old friends were awake waiting to see me leave and called out to say good luck and good bye. As I walked out of the unite I got this feeling, I knew I would not be walking back into that unit anymore. And would not see my friends anymore each day as I walked to the yard or showers.
This was it, I thought. A whole new chapter in my life. I was both kind of sad and happy. Mixed feelings.
I went to the program office at Pelican Bay and was placed in a holding cell. I was surprised to see other prisoners I knew already there.
Some I haven’t seen in ages, I’ve known these guys since 1974.
Some I haven’t seen since those days because we were kept in different SHU units.
Then they escorted us out to a van to take us to R.&R. to wait for the bus.

II.
When I got to R.&R. they again placed me in a cell by myself. All of us were kept segregated. Then we were chained up with waist chains and leg irons. And as I was being chained up they asked me if it was okay with me to be put on the bus with the black prisoners.
There was one white prisoner and an Asian man and two Mexicans from Southern California. That they wanted to keep separate from everyone else. And they only have three cages on the bus. So i told them “yes I can ride in the back of the bus with the black prisoners.” Shit I know them all very well. In fact they brought some more black prisoners that I didn’t know were also kicked out of the SHU. I knew them too, a few of them I did a lot of time with back in the 70’s.
After we got on the bus and I was talking to all of them and shaking hands discussing the past 30 years, I saw that a few of them were sick. I think they are slowly losing their minds, they could not remember a lot of things, and when I looked in their eyes I could see kind of a dazed or blank gaze. I’m no doctor but I think they’re coming down with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Man that’s too bad, these were soldiers way back in the days and I hate to see them go out like that but its a disease that will eventually take us all, these bus ride began about 7:00 7:30 AM.
And we were told that we will stay overnight at Tracy D.V.I., so I was glad. I starter my prison life at Tracy and have not been there in over 35 years. I’d like to see it again, walk down the old corridors and see what it looks like. But it wasn’t to be we stopped at Folsom State Prison which I liked because it’s been a long time since I’ve been there too.
I wasn’t expecting to stay there, but the bus driver started calling out names of prisoners that were going to stay there for what’s called a layover. Usually it’s for a day, but since it was Friday that meant staying there over the weekend. So I’m thinking I’m going to Tracy when I hear my name called, shit that messed up my schedule and sightseeing itinerary.
So I got off the bus at Folsom believing that I was going out to the general population. As I got off the bus I stepped out into 90 degree temperatures the sunlight engulfed me bright, warmth I have never felt before or that I could remember. I walked up some stairs I remember I walked up 25 years ago. Then the guard asked me if I saw anything I liked and I said my freedom and a couple pretty ladies who work in R.&R. I was placed in a holding cell and strip searched. So they told me that I was going to be placed in ad-seg until the bus came on Tuesday. Here I was told by the (DRB) that I would be out of the SHU, but I’m held in administrative segregation
it was disappointing.