Another Avoidable Problem

March 5, 2010

Laying on my bed reading Stephenie Meyer's second book in the Twilight Series, New Moon, I caught a glimpse of a tall figure with an orange shirt around his head, hiding his face, peek in my cell door window then slowly creep down the run.

Out of an abundance of caution, I set my book down, slipped on my sneakers and went to the door. Before I made it to the door I heard a man yell in shock and a body impacting the floor in the hallway followed by the slamming of the back door to the run.

Stepping into the dimly lit hallway, I saw one of my neighbors picking himself up off of the floor. Blood streaming from his nose. His expression was a mixture of anger, pain and surprise.

"You alright?" I asked him, approaching cautiously. "Someone hit me!" he raised his voice, growing angrier by the second. "You okay?" I asked. "Yeah, he hits like a bitch, whoever did it. He covered his face, sucker-punched me and ran, like a bitch, out the back door," he heatedly told me, adding, "I think I know who it was and I'm gonna go knock that dude smooth out."

Trying to rationalize with him, I spoke calmly. "If you go down there and touch-up who you think it was, you're risking everything you busted your ass to get. You're out of here in eight months. Is it really worth it?" "He punched me in my nose, Shannon!" as if looking for some sign from me that what he wanted to do is justified. "Yeah, and that's fucked up, but is your bloody nose really enough reason to risk your release date?" I asked.
"No, but what am I supposed to do? Dude hit me", he asked, beginning to calm down and consider his options. "I can't answer that. Only you can. I can tell you that if you just go and bomb on anybody you suspect, you'll get caught by the cops, get a major disciplinary report, get moved to the hole, lose your minimum security and may be booked for assault. That's an expensive price to pay," I explained to him. I noticed that his breathing had slowed and his tense shoulders were beginning to slump forward and relax.

"What can I do?" he asked me. "You can do anything you want to, but remember that whatever you do-it's you that will answer for it, " I answered. Frustrated, but more calm, he was silent in thought. "Thanks, Shannon" he suddenly said, extending his hand. Shaking his hand, I went
back to my cell.

A couple of days passed by before I spoke to my neighbor again. I was making a cup of coffee when I heard a knock on my door. "Can I talk to you? It's important," my neighbor asked as soon as I opened the door. The urgency in his voice put me on edge and instinctively I checked the hallway behind him after he came in my cell and sat at my desk. Shutting my door, I sat across from him on my bed.

"Shannon, it was Don who hit me the other day," he told me. Don is a youngster that is "slow" and very impressionable.

"Somebody put him up to it as a joke on him," he explained. "Now those guys are pissed at me for not kickin his ass" he added.

"First, are they wanting to box over this? If not, then who the hell cares if they're pissed. Second, have you asked yourself why you care that a couple of guys who would convince a kid like Don to hit somebody in a cowardly fashion, like they did, doesn't like you?" I asked him, irritated at what I'd learned.

"I don't think they'd bust a grape, and I don't care if they like me, but..." he tried to explain, but stopped, unable to come up with a valid reason for him to concern himself. "Don't sweat over this. You're going home soon. That's what you need to remember. And when you're free, keep all of this in your head. This is what you have coming if you don't keep your head on straight. A lifetime of this," I explained as he listened.

Things like this happen often in here. It's a result of immature people with sadistic and sociopathic personalities with too much idle time and not enough supervision. There are many of us in here who care enough and have the will to do our part to help out, but more and more it seems that we (orangemen) are becoming our own sole source of direction. A disturbing revelation in a place full of people with poor social and communication skills, mental problems, addiction and loss of hope.

Sunrise Unit Moves to Eagle Point Unit

February 25, 2010

Remember a month or so ago when Gov. Brewer and AZ lawmakers released hundreds of youthful offenders from the Arizona Dept. of Juvenile Corrections, shuttering multiple state juvenile facilities, including Eagle Point Unit in Buckeye Arizona? Local media captured footage of juvenile correctional officers exiting Eagle Point, boxes in hand. It was supposed to be a multi-million dollar savings for the state of Arizona. A drastic measure? Sure. A potentially helpful move for Arizona's budget crisis? Certainly. A trick by Arizona's lawmakers and the governor? Absolutely.

Today the Eagle Point Unit, which was supposed to be shuttered, received approximately 150 minimum security prisoners from the Arizona Dept. of Corrections. All prisoners from Sunrise Unit and dozens of others from the other units arrived today. Including me.

Now, when you shutter a state "juvenile" prison and then re-open it weeks later as a state "adult" prison, the savings to the state of AZ isn't really all that much. No state adult prison was shut. In fact, leasing this prison has made ADOC's budget INCREASE, right? Doesn't the leasing of this prison seem to make the recent sale (with lease back) of another prison moot?

To add insult to injury, the ADOC will need to spend thousands of tax dollars (if not more) to repair this unit. Apparently, disgruntled juvenile corrections workers, and juveniles, sabotaged, parted-out and left the unit in disarray. The cell block's control room panels that operate the cell door locks no longer work, toilets are stopped up or broken, cameras missing and not working, and numerous other problems. The unit is not ready for prisoners to be housed here from a security, safety or humanitarian standpoint, yet, ADOC has already moved in approximately 150 prisoners and plan on adding 150 more.

What are lawmakers' and Governor Brewer's next politically and financially motivated budget fixing gimmicks?

Painting: An Escape

All images above are Shannon's original works...blog moderator

In the past week, I've discovered the joys of painting with watercolors. I'd never tried my hand at it before but have quickly learned to enjoy it.

My good friend Sue, my sister and niece bought and donated a wide variety of art supplies to the new art class I'm a part of. Colored pencils, watercolors, pens, paper and even a fantastic art kit are now being used by the class.

When I'd signed up for this class, I thought I'd be able to kill some of the excessive amount of idle time here while helping my fellow orangemen discover and exploit their artistic talents. I'd already found and am in full exploitation mode of my creativity and talent through writing and occasionally drawing.

A good friend and amazing artist on paper and skin, Einstein, convinced me to pick up the watercolor paints and just let my mind flow. I was so relaxed and comfortable with the brush. I'm still amazed at how fast I got into it.

Many believe watercolor painting is hard. I've found it is much easier than drawing and is an awesome outlet for me. The landscape seems to just flow from my head onto the paper with ease. I love it!

Ill include 2 paintings and a drawn envelope with this entry for everybody. The two are mixed media and from my imagination. These are some of the places I escape to in my dreams.

Tattoos

February 18, 2010

I’ve recently discovered that many people are surprised by the fact that I have a lot of tattoos. Some say that is doesn’t fit my persona. Others believe that they even lessen my credibility and give question to my character and my message. I say that if you’re willing to judge me based on my appearance alone, you’ll never understand or accept my message anyhow.

However, I’ll take this opportunity to explain my artwork.
All of it has meaning to me and tells a story. Both of my arms are completely sleeved from wrist to shoulders. I also have a few other elsewhere. A few examples: On my side, next to my heart, are two fine quality portraits. My sister and my niece. They are forever near my heart. On my right bicep is a beautiful Pixie with a beautiful forest behind her and a dead forest before her. To me, it symbolizes a love lost. On my right, inner forearm is a tiger. It’s my best friend, Tony. My right arm has a lot of swirling skulls, faces, masks, etc. which symbolize all of the chaos throughout my life. I have many tats.

In person, I’m a man of few words. But my ink tells a story. They are not evil, racial, or for intimidation. They express where I’ve been and who I am. They are part of me.