It may not be generally known to those on the outside, but every prisoner, Federal or otherwise, if he wishes not to repeat the calamity that was his past, has a plan. It's not a careless plan, either, but thought out, worried over, discussed with arm-waving intensity and worked on constantly as the years go by. A plan to regain a life. And he utilizes what has been made available to him.

For instance, an inmate may decide to become a Heating & Air-Conditioning technician. The pay's pretty good, the job market is fluid etc... So he plans to take the federal vocational course and do well.

But there's a hitch. He must schedule the schooling for the latter years of his sentence. Why? Because knowledge learned years before it can be used is cobwebbed, lying dormant, sure to go to waste. If I was to graduate as a
welder, say, then was not allowed to practice my new skills for years, there may not BE any skills when I gain my freedom. The BOP knows this. that's why they schedule their comprehensive Drug & Alcohol Program (DAP) for the last part of a man's sentence.

It may be difficult for free people to understand such years-long preparation, but a convict brackets his life like that because he must.

That's why I and 29 other Federal inmates have been seriously wronged. The action of the BOP (TRADING OUR BODIES TO THE FLA. DOC), make clear the lie:

They do not care a whit about rehabilitation. It's all a numbers game. No Florida State good time or programs can help us; nothing applies to us; We've been segregated from all the Federal rights, privileges and programs that we were counting on. My classification supervisors here in State
prison tell me: "Waid we're just housing you. Don't come to us for your concerns!'

We (the 30 feds) were removed from various federal facilities in a SECRET movement in order to make money for one agency (the State receives a rebate for every day we're housed), solving political problem for another (30 Marielitos are now permanent residents of federal facilities). And it was assumed our lives could be shit on because, hey, we're trash anyway, and a bunk is a bunk, and we'll probably be back on the street committing crimes, and what-the-hell, these guys aren't rocket scientists for God's sake, Fuck 'em!

Because of my GOOD record I was chosen. In addition, I'm a writer who's no longer allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment rights with a typewriter because the Florida DOC worries I may be too understandable, too clear thinking, too literate, overly organized. They'd rather I draw pictures of cartoon characters. They'd rather I point and grunt.

It's clear, then, that I and 29 other Federal prisoners have been betrayed.  We are all minimum-custody, non-violent inmates who's feet are no longer grounded on rules and procedures designed for us. We are unwanted chaff. We don't fit in. (I am now in a place that hates me for my whistle-blowing activity. I've received 2 odd, bullshit Discipline Reports lately and can go to the hole for doing something like owning an apple or losing a 'Pass').

Take the case of my fellow inmate (federal) Mr. Paul Mitchell. Paul has been down for eleven years. He's doing time for crack cocaine. They say he's a drug dealer.

But Paul is not a drug dealer.

He was a drug dealer ELEVEN YEARS AGO!

He's a different man now, just trying to cope, uprooted from all he'd been trying to achieve. Paul's 2 brothers recently died (last year). His mother is old and can't travel. In the Feds he was finally granted what is called a "Hardship Status." He was hoping for his hardship transfer close to home. After all these years he thought he deserved it. But with the BOP-to-DOC exchange, suddenly Paul doesn't deserve anything! "Fuck 'em," they might have said.

In the Feds he worked in UNICOR and had a substantial savings account. Suddenly he's in a state joint, broke, jobless, his money has not followed him, he and I have written a score of letters asking for help, all to various BOP or DOC offices who must be very entertained by the idea that Paul cannot afford stamps, tennis shoes, coffee. Calling home is now a budget decision.

State officials shrug, smile. The BOP says nothing. And people want to blame Paul for this. They don't understand that he's TRYING!

Paul and I watched as Officers of the DOC broke the law repeatedly, beating on inmates. We tried to tell the BOP, but were ignored. Now we have enemies.

And I have to watch my back.

Sincerely,
Gary Waid