"Jess, who was not a constitutional scholar, did wonder, from time to time, how the U.S. could be, as everyone knew, the freest country on earth when there was a government busy prohibiting whatever it thought people shouldn't have." —Gove Vidal, 'Hollywood'

05-05-16

Dear Readers,

Happy Cico de Mayo!

Well, it's a dreary spring day in Petersburg. It's rainy + in the 50s.

I'm sitting here in the library trying to catch up on my writing. I'm here with David, my former boyfriend and still the love of my life. He's hard to resist.

No, what else is going in in Petersburg? Well, we recently got a new Captain who's a completely mental idiot. The story is that he was a Lieutenant here before + he caused many problems that they promoted him to get rid of him. So what dose the BOP do? They bring the same guy who caused problems back and now he's in charge! WTF?

This new Captain is just now starting to make changes + I'm sure things are going to be bad. People are being sent to the Hole (segregation) a lot more than before + for little reason. Rumor has it that a couple of guys went to the Hole yesterday just for taking milk from the Chow Hall. Guys are being stopped + searched a lot more than before. There's a rumor going around that he's going to start doing 5 minute one-way "moves" on the compound instead of the correct 10 minute free moves where you could go somewhere + come back as long as you did it in 10 minutes.

Petersburg is normally a very laid-back place where people are just doing their time. This guy is truing to make it much stricter + treat it like it's a USP (high security). This will only lead to more problems in general + a lot more problems for both inmates + staff.

As for me, I've been able to get some typing jobs to help me get by. I can make a lot more by typing than I could by working on the compound. I've been busy, but I'm grateful for the work.

Also, our Wicca group here —which is the largest by far of any group I've been in— had our Beltane celebration yesterday. Beltane is May 1st, but our usual service days are Wed. + Fri. We had our outside volunteer come in, Sister April. This is also the first place where I've ever seen a Wicca volunteer come in.

Until next time...

Love + Blessings,
Kelly