9-21-2017

Dear outside world,

It has been a while since I've written, and I would like to update everyone to what has been going on with me inside the belly of the beast.

Right now, I'm in a very good program that the facility offers called the "P.L.U.S." which stands for "Purpose Living Units Serve". The purpose of the program is to effect life change by providing an opportunity to choose alternative to criminal thinking and behavior through emphasis on spiritual, moral, and character development. The best thing I like about the P.L.U.S. program is that I'm able to give back to the community by making quilts for the homeless, vets, and sick children.

I still have a pending court hearing on October 12, 13, 2017 on my post-conviction relief petition and keeping the faith. I know my freedom is going to come. So I'm preparing myself for the free world and living the rest of the days of my life helping others.

Time inside the belly of the beast (prison) is getting much harder for us older convicts because the manchilds coming into the system now don't know how to do time. They are allowing the time to do them, instead of them doing the time. They are trying to do hard time instead of doing smart time. They are coming into the belly of the beast with lots of time and nothing on their minds besides trying to pretend they are cool and not afraid of the future.

The prison food is life-eating garbage that many of you wouldn't feed your pets. Since private companies have taken over the prison industry, their concern is all about profit and not health. So they are feeding us small portions of processed food that's just enough to sustain us and cause health problems.

The prison health care is also ran by private companies concerned about profit instead of preventive health and treatment. You have to be dying before you can get some helpful medical treatment and, depending on your illness and age, it's too late. It's cheaper to let an old, sick prisoner die than to keep him alive.

The facility here at Wabash only allows incoming correspondence to be written on plain white lined paper and mailed in a plain white envelope, We are not allowed any type of greeting or postcards to be mailed in. Their reason for such measures is to prevent the trafficking of drugs. How can they prevent the trafficking of drugs when, in most cases, they are the ones bringing them in? It's just an attempt to further limit our communication with the outside world.

I thank everyone who has sent words of encouragement to me. These people may have my body, but they can't imprison my mind and spirit.

Strong but human,

Christopher Trotter #862556
P.O. Box 1111
Carlisle, IN 47838