DAVE'S WORLD BEHIND THE BARB-WIRE
ST. PATRICK'S DAY ISSUE # 7
MARCH 16/17, 2011
MEDICAL UPDATE: On the 3rd of March I was told by the medical staff here at FCI Bastrop that the funds were approved by Region for my Hernia operation on the 29th of January. I guess in spite of the post 9-11 stream lining of government red-tape, information still moves kinda slow in the BOP... Hopefully I will get this operation soon!
LEGAL UPDATE: On the 15th of March the government has asked for it's 3rd extension of time. So nothing new until at least April 15.
FEATURE STORY: "Where I Sleep" An update on a few of my accomplishments and daily concerns here behind the barbwire.
Well, this is "News-Letter # 7 and it has been almost 6 months since I first started this monthly commentary revolving around my prison stay. Last month there was not much new to share, so I skipped this section. Normally the pattern is, "Yesterday" was just like "Tomorrow" will be.
One milestone I have reached this month is, I have now read over 100 full length novels since landing behind this barbwire fence. To some of you that may not seem like such a big deal, but to me it is a personal achievement that makes me smile. I am also taking a class every Friday morning called " Advanced Reading/ Biblio-Therapy." When reading the flyer about the class, I had read the flyer to say "for average to better readers," but when I got to the class I found out that the flyer meant to say, "Better than Average Readers." Oh well, such is life in prison...
Anyway, the object of the class is for each student (there are 8 of us) to pick a book of our individual choice and during the class each of us talks about the books we are reading. It is very casual. I am reading C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity." One thing I have found out since starting the class is for some reason, it is not about what you read, it is about "who" you read. I don't know, maybe all that book reading brings out the "snob" in some? So needless to say, when they start talking about this contemporary author or that contemporary author, I just sit there lost.
That is not to say that I am completely out of touch, and that my personal arsenal of classic authors is not somewhat impressive. I look at it this way, I am "old school" and thought it best to start with a solid foundation. So I started with the authors I remembered my family and neighbors talking about when I was a youngster, and the authors my teachers told me I had to read to get through school. Somehow I managed to get through school without reading any books, but now I am reading all those "old school" authors. It is never to late to start doing the right thing.
In addition to C.S.Lewis, other authors I have read since coming to prison are, Twain, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Dickens, Carrol, Tolkien, J.D. Salinger, Pearl S. Buck, Jack London, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Alister McLean, Harper Lee, Nathaniel Hawthorn, Gipson, James Mitchner, McCullough, The Grimm Brothers complete collection, and Hans Christian Anderson. And let me not forget to mention, Moses, the Prophets, and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I am also reading Louie LaMour and other western authors. And a few of the more resent authors are Clancy, D.Brown, and the young genius Christopher Paolini who at 12 started writing "Eragon," then went on to write "Eldest," and at the age of 19 wrote "Brisingr." There are 50 or so other authors but I am sure you get the picture.
Now on to another part of my prison reality. It has to do with where an inmate sleeps. Here at FCI Bastrop each cell has about 120 sq. ft. of floor area. Each cell has one set of 3 level bunks, 3 metal lockers mounted on the walls, one toilet, one sink, and one mirror hanging on the wall with a small florescent light fixture mounted above it to light the entire cell. Also 3 towel racks mounted on the wall and 3 grown men assigned to each cell. As you can imagine it is a cramped situation to say the least.
I have been in this same cell for 22 months now. I consider myself lucky to be able able to boast such a statement. I have had a total of 11 different room-mates in that same 22 months. The longest stay was with my first cellie which lasted a total of about 15 months at two different times. The shortest lived roomie was for about 5 minutes. My first cellie (we will call him Mr. X) was in the cell by himself when this black cat and I landed in the cell back in July of 2009 during a lock-down due to a small prison riot. The black cat lasted about 4 months until he found some black brothers to cell up with. He was cool, he was clean and he was quiet also he was a no nonsense kind of guy. The combination of those 4 thing says a lot for a man in prison.
Back to Mr. X. We were in the cell together from July 2009 until January 2010 when he left to go back to court. This was his second "bid," (second time in prison) his first time was for 7 years I think. This time his "bid" is about 15 years. Anyway he was gone for the next 5 months and returned in early June 2010. When he got back, the cell was full so he moved in down the way. But after about a month he used his clout to move my newest cell mate out (I called him Avatar, I will say no more) and himself back in. I learned just about everything regarding how to survive on the yard from Mr. X. More about Mr. X later.
After the black cat moved out we found a clean, quiet "Piza" to move into the room. A "Piza" is a Mexican from Mexico. Usually the only time I saw him was at the 4 P.M. stand-up count everyday and at lock-down at night. He got up early every morning and was gone as soon as the door was unlocked. His stay in the cell lasted about 4 months, then he was transferred to another dorm where they house the inmates who are taking the drug program.
Just before the Piza moved out, Mr. X left for his court date. At that time, I moved into the middle bunk that Mr. X had just abandoned. Usually in prison, most of the guys desire the lower bunk. (lazy I guess?) I prefer the "upper-ground," just in case there may be some unforseen trouble. It looks to me like it would be fairly easy to sneak up on the guy in the lower bunk and "shank" him in his sleep.
I moved into the middle bunk because it had the best view looking out onto a large grassy field teaming with grasshoppers. That made the field a natural sanctuary for just about every kind of bird in this part of Texas. My favorites are the bright red male cardinals and the large, long legged, long beaked, pure white snowy egrets.
Back to the bunk issue. Mr X or someone before him had the kind of clout to get the middle bunk altered. The upper bunk had been raised about 10 inches so the man in the middle bunk could sit cross legged on the bunk with his back straight and still have about 3 inches of head room. A very unique bunk in this institution and very obvious that the man in that bunk had seniority in the room.
A few days after Mr. X left for court, the Piza and I got a new cellie. He was not new to the unit, just new to me and our tranquil living situation. He was about 26 years old, and like Mr. X and a good number of inmates at FCI Bastrop, he was of Hispanic ancestry from south Texas.
In the federal prison system a lot of inmates group-up by race and/or by the geographic location they are from. Like the Houston area guys hang together, the San Antonio guys hang together, and the Southern Texas guys hang together. I'm sure you get the picture. Mr. X who had just left to go back to court was one of the speakers for the southern Texas group, which is one of the biggest groups here at Bastrop. So he demanded (if demanded is the correct word) a lot of respect from all the inmate population as well as the daily staff.
As you may or may not remember, in a previous news letter I had written about being assigned to the cell during a prison lock-down due to a small riot. It was obvious to me that Mr.X was "someone special" by the way the staff member addressed him when we first entered the cell, and went out of his way to be polite, unlike the way staff treated inmates when I was at Lompoc. After we were locked into the cell and we all introduced ourselves, I got my bed made and since I still did not have any personal property and there were only 2 lockers in the 3 man cell, I suggested that the other new guy take the locker because he had his personal stuff, and I would deal with it when the lock-down was lifted.
For the first few hours it may have seemed a little tense, but things settled down and before the 9 P.M. count we were all relatively at ease with each other. If we would have come into the cell under normal conditions with no lock-down, things may have turned out different. Because normally the different races tend to gravitate away from each other.
There really wasn't anything to do in the room other then play cards or read or write a letters, and I guess there maybe some unwritten rule that men of different races do not talk too much about life in the world, or politics, or religion? But as you all know about Dave, I either don't know about those kinds of rules, or I don't feel that they apply to me, or I just make up my own rules along the way. The truth is, that it is a mixture of all three. (but I am now in the process of remaking my entire life and my new priority is that I will consider others first... But that is a story for another time.)
By the end of the week and the end of the lock-down, things were very mello in the cell. After breaking all the unwritten rules and me telling them all about "Dave'sWorld" they began to open up about their own personal worlds and we were well on our way to being permanent cellmates. And for as much as one can expect from a prison friendship, Mr. X and I became friends.
So now Mr. X is gone off to his court date and the youngster from the same group from southern Texas has showed up in the cell and the first thing he says is that he is here now and he is now running the cell. I looked over at him from my middle bunk and said, "I don't run anything in prison except the space where this middle bunk is and what is inside and on top of my locker. And I do not expect anything from my cellies except the same thing they expect from me, and that is to keep the cell clean and to keep myself clean." The youngster looked over at me for a few seconds and then turned his eyes down and looked down at the bottom bunk to where the Piza was already or what appeared to be asleep and said he will move into his lower bunk in the morning.
Well folks, I guess this as good of a tense place as any to put a bookmark in this non-fiction story as any for this month. I will continue it in next months Easter edition of my news-letter. Until then, I wish you all the best, I will continue to pray for all of you and would highly suggest that you pray for each other. We live in troubled times and we can use all the Divine help we can get!
At this time in my life, where I have been ripped away from my family and friends, I know that the only two I can truly count on for my daily safety Is the Lord and myself (In that order) GOD bless you All. Love and Respect, Dave, alone in the lonestar state...
MY SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS:
DAVID BURGESS 41278-048
F.C.I. BASTROP
P.O. BOX 1010
BASTROP, TX. 78602
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www.davesworld81.com
http://www.facebook.com/davesworld (I think)
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