Date: 8/12/2019 11:41:49 AM
Subject: tuw7

Hi Evy,

It's great that Rep. Shannon Zimmerman was open and receptive to your suggestions. I wonder what will come of it.

What s desperately needed is reform of Truth in Sentencing so people who receive horrendously long sentences can get early release if they turn their lives around. It's called "parole", but that's what TIS was created to eliminate so I don't see much chance of anything being done until the gerrymander ends. Most other reforms can be accomplished administratively.

I had the same dining room job John has. I started out as the "milk man"—I had to pour the milk and Kool Aid for the meals. Then I graduated to "flatware guy"—rolling the utensils with napkins to pass out at the next meal. Next I moved onto "personal laundry attendant", where I ran the washer and drying cleaning prisoners' personal clothing for which the prison charges 50 cents per load.

I recently applied for and was hired as "lead chapel clerk" where I take care of the database, printing off sign-up sheets, maintaining rosters, etc. It's a great job which I held a few years ago (we can only keep a job two years, and then have to find a new job).

The Stanley Dollar Store makes a lot of money off visitors who can't pass the metal detector. From the guard's point of view, how does he know the deacon is really a deacon and not someone who bought a shirt just to sneak contraband into the prison? Paranoid thinking, I know, but you would be surprised at what some people do to get cell phones into a prison. Underwire bras are always a problem. As an interesting aside, my visitor (Sue) and I always pray at the beginning of every visit.

Keep on working toward prison reform, get in touch with WISDOM and do some networking. And don't get discouraged over the slow pace of progress. wisdomforjustice@gmail.com

Harlan