Reply ID: xywa
07-09-18

Dear Rita,

Hey, Rita! It's always nice to hear from you!

Yes, I enjoy hearing from Grace and I hope she continues to comment.

It has continued to be hot and humid here, although the past weekend was nice.

I never heard from Josh. So much for him. But I did get a letter from my friend Ben. He misses Petersburg, and I sure miss him.

I didn't know George likes fashion. A friend of mine here has some cards with drawings of ladies in these beautiful gowns. They're gorgeous!

No Mongolian, huh? Oh well. I'd love to take one of those DNA tests and trace my ancestors too. I enjoy geneology. I'm sure I'm mainly Frnech, English/Irish, and Native American.

I'm glad to hear you had a family visit. I'm sure it was great.

I really wish I could have seen your exhibition!

Take care of yourself and I'll write you soon!

Hugs,
Kelly

===

"If you believe only in facts and forget stories, your brain will live but your heart will die."
Cassandra Claire, Lord of Shadows

07-09-18

Dear Readers,
Howdy! I hope y'all are well and happy.

Okay, I'm going to start this posting with a rant about another stupid thing the BOP does that has recently came up. If someone wanted to visit me, they are required to fill out a visitors form and mail it to my counselor to be put on my visitor's list. Now, one of the questions on this form asks if the person knew me before my arrest. If they mark "no," then they have to state where and when they met me, which would be so simple as saying, "We met in 2004 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL." Period.

The BOP has no way at all of investigating whether or not I met this person in 2004 or not, and they don't have the money to find this out either. It's literally impossible.

I have previously had several people lie on this form, and they are easily approved. At the same time, I have had more than one person decline to complete the form because they're afraid of what might happen.

For the record, the BOP has no legal authority to do anything to someone in the real world. They can punish me if I break the rules, but that's it.

Now, let's take a look at the common sense of this rule, using myself as an example.

I have been locked up since 2004, 14 years now. As i have stated many times previously, I have ZERO outside support and NO ONE that I know prior to my arrest who has stuck by me. So where does that leave me? I have no choice but to try to make new friends in the real world via letters, emails, and/or phone calls. And a miracle could happen and I might even find a love interest out there somewhere.

So guess what? According to the BOP's rules, this person can never, ever visit me. I haven't had one single personal visit in this past 14 years and never will unless someone is willing to lie. I might even find someone who's willing to help me get started after I get out, but this person isn't technically allowed to visit me.

The BOP claims to be about preventing recidivism and getting people started on their new life outside of prison. But then why would the BOP prevent me from finding a support system of new friends by making sure no one can ever visit me?

There's another side issue relating to my visitor's list. As some of you know, I'm into hobby crafts. Mainly crochet right now. Another BOP rule is that I can't mail out any hobby craft unless someone is on my visitor's list. And at this institution (only, I think), I am required to mail out a hobby craft item every quarter (per year) in order to stay in hobby crafts.

So... there are people I write to whom I have become friends with, and I would really like to send them something, but unless they're willing to lie on this visitor's form, I can't send them anything.

Does any of this make sense?