Many have asked me what it is like in prison. I have written on this topic on several previous blogs but last Friday...well, October 14, 2011 was not exactly a typical day but not too far out of the ordinary either. Actually, we would need to back up a day or so for it to make sense.
For the entire time I have been locked up (5 years on Nov. 2 :((( ) I have sought for ways to continue winning souls and influencing people for the Lord. One simple way to do this from here is to make personalized bookmarkers for people to send them when I answer letters or for the men I live with and their families. My dad taught me how to make these many years ago when I was about 15.
I make the person's name in lo-o-o-o-o-ng skinny letters that can only be read if you look at it from a certain angle. The spiritual lesson is great. Some things do not make sense until we look at them God's way--lo-o-o-o-o-ng term. (That applies to things like illnesses, prison terms, financial and marital problems etc. - See Romans 8:18-39.)
So, I had my wife and daughter make up a sheet of paper that can be cut into 5 of these bookmarkers so I could put the name on one side and have the plan of salvation on the other side. I have made many thousands since I have been imprisoned. Everyone loves them. They really are pretty cool. I'll be glad to make you one when this gets resolved.
Anyway (no 's' Marlissa), a few weeks ago the mail room here stopped letting the papers come in. Thursday evening in the mail I got 5 notices that the papers had been stopped because I used them to "run a business." I was shocked! I went to the Assistant Camp Administrator ( a very nice and helpful lady) to see what the problem was. She said she wasn't sure but the head chaplain, the prison legal team and the mail room staff were looking into it. Wow! For a 2 inch wide piece of paper! I am sure not trying to run a business. I'm trying to win souls but I can't help but wonder why the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) even has a policy that inmates cannot run a business to help provide for their family. Somebody needs to re-examine the policy!
Anyway (no's' Marlissa) Friday morning I heard my name called on the intercom to come to the officer's station (usually not a good thing). When I arrived I learned I had been randomly selected to take a drug test (only my 2nd one in 5 years). The officer said I had to give a urine sample. I said I have been fasting and won't be able to go for a long time. He said I had 2 hours or he would give me a "shot" for refusing to provide a sample. A "shot" is a report that has various consequences depending on what it is for. When I was in Edgefield, SC I called the CSE ministry office and asked to speak with my son in the next room. They transferred the call to his office and we talked for 10 minutes. The next day they called me in and gave me a shot for making a three-way call! They took away my phone for 6 months and took away 27 days of good time! I tried to explain that if I called my lawyer his secretary would anser and transfer me to him. This was a church ministry office and should be no different. I spent over $50 on copies and mail to fight the "shot" all the way up the food chain to the BOP headquarters in D.C. but to no avail. They all backed up the local staff person's decision.
Anyway, I drank a ton of water and finally made the deadline to provide the sample! Then, after my afternoon math class we had mail call at 3:15. When we went back to the dorm we discovered some moron had broken 5 windows in the dorm. Two rumors immediately began to circulate. A. A staff member had done it to get to work overtime since the BOP budget is being cut and Christmas is coming up. and B. One of the inmates had done it to protest the TV rooms being locked for two days over one man not standing up fast enough when an officer walked in for count time a few days earlier.
Regardless of why the windows were broken (most camps have little or no vandalism or fights) the staff reaction was to immediately "lock down" our dorm. There are two dorms here each housing about 260 men. "Lock down" means we were confined to our wing of the dorm and only allowed to go out for meals. No TV, no email, no microwave, no laundry, nothing but bed and bathroom. So-o-o-o-o, from Friday evening till Monday morning we were locked down. During that time the staff called each of us in to ask us scripted questions to try to find out who had broken the window. When I went in for my interview Saturday they asked what I would do. I said I would immediately "resume normal" and let everyone go back to the regular schedule. I explained that only one person did this and it is counterproductive to punish everyone. The real problem is so-o-o-o-o different than the BOP will ever admit or even understand. I cover this in the March 29, 2010 blog titled "A Day at Edgefield Prison Camp 'The hole in the Fence'" posted on 2peter3.com. My advice went unheeded and Sunday, two more windows were broken.
During the "lock down" I read several books including one called "Hearts of Fire" by Voice of the Martyrs (www.persecution.com). It is the story of 8 different women in 8 different countries who were tortured for their faith in Christ. Wow! THAT is a life changing book!
Each of the men I talked with after their 'interview' about the broken windows came away with the same opinion. The BOP's only way of looking at this problem is to see "How can we punish the whole dorm? What else can we take away?" I am convinced they have it a-a-a-a-all backwards. I live with these guys 24/7/365. I think I have a good handle on what would work.
If you have seen the movie "Enemy at the Gates" this will make sense. In the movie the Germans are surrounding Stalingrad and the Russians are frantically trying to stop them by throwing thousands of poorly trained and poorly armed men in the battle. The Germans are killing them as fast as they arrive. The terrified young Russian soldiers turn and run only to be shot by their own leaders for running. At a meeting of the officers one evening Russian General Kruschev is demanding ideas to make the men fight harder. They suggest things like, kill the families of any man who runs, etc. All the ideas involved more ways to punish the ones who run away when one young officer calls out his idea, "Five them hope." Kruschev stops and walk over to the man and says, "What did you say?" The man repeats his suggestion that what the men needed was NOT more terror or punishment but something to hope for. He tells of the young man he saw who single handedly shot 5 Germans. He suggests they make flyers about him being a great sniper and make him a national hero. They follow his advice and the spirit of the soldiers is turned around magically. They are now fighting out of hope not fear.
Anyway, the same logic would work well with the men in here. Let me explain. Congress has passed laws that allow the BOP to give up to one year halfway house and one year home confinement to nearly all inmates. I don't know of ANY federal prisons that do that, but they could. Some give 6 months halfway house. Congress also authorizes the warden to give lots of furloughs for inmates to go home for a few hours or even a few days. Many prisons, including this one, rarely or never do this. I'm sure the BOP staff have their reasons and policies but let me explain how the men inside here see it.
They think it is all about the money. If we were gone home or to halfway houses a year early or were gone for a week furlough the BOP could not count us during count time and this would affect their budget. (See I Timothy 6:10) The men have no hope of getting home to their family early even though the law allows it. Feds give out double or triple the time that the states do for the same crimes. The "The Hole in the Fence" for why.
The men here all have the feeling that the staff wants to give them the minimum time off their sentence rather than the maximum allowed by the law. This breeds an obvious resentment and even hatred. Given the right set of circumstances the lid could easily blow off into a full fledged riot.
If, however, the staff honestly tried to give the maximum number of furloughs and the maximum time off the end of their sentence it would give them hope. If the BOP was known to be lobbying Congress for more good time and supporting bills like HR 223 and HR 1475 rather than always opposing them, the mens' attitudes would change. It seems to the men that the BOP is more worried about their job security than getting us back to our families. If this camp was known as a place that tried to help inmates in every possible way rather than punish them or make life miserable the men would police themselves and no windows would be broken.
I know some men are just plain mean and evil but my experience over the last 5 years has radically changed my views on prisons. I now see why God's Word never calls for prison as a form of punishment. Most crimes called for restitution like, if you steal a sheep you pay back 4 sheep (Exodus 22:1). Everyone goes home that day. Other more serious crimes called for beatings or even execution but NEVER prison. More about that in "The Hole in the Fence."
If I were warden I would implement the following policies as quickly as possible:
1. Order staff to give the maximum time off for halfway house and home confinement.
2. Give the maximum number of furloughs allowed.
3. Have a few key staff (by lottery) take a different man out to lunch (off campus) each lunch time and really listen to their concerns.
4. Remove the policy that says men cannot run legitimate businesses from here. They just want to help support their struggling families.
Then I would work to shut down or greatly scale back the entire prison system as quickly as possible. In the mean time I would order my staff to treat the inmates with respect. They are here AS punishment, not FOR punishment. I would work with other wardens around the country to get me transferred to camps as close to their families as possible or work to get a BOP policy implemented that the families of inmates more than 200 miles from home will get $500~ travel expenses once a month so they can maintain close family ties.
Since the warden has absolute power to simply release anyone he pleases, I would seek staff input and do interviews to release at least one man every week just because I can.
Hmmmm? Maybe I'll run corrections in the 1,000 year Millennium?
That was my day. I can't wait to see what tomorrow is like!
Kent Hovind
Bro. We love you and...we are praying !!!!!!!!
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