The compound is closed this morning because of fog. Considering the number of geriatric inmates here, I wonder if the fear is of escape or someone running their walker into a crack in the sidewalk and falling, breaking a hip. Yesterday the compound closed down after the 9 am move. It was closed until the evening so we had no opportunity to access the yard for walking or exercise. The yard has re-opened as of this week, but has only been open for two mornings and one afternoon. It is a funny thing to get older and feel regret for having time to lounge around lazily. When I was in my 20s in graduate school, such days were the ultimate luxury. Now at 58, I feel that any day where I have a large stretch of time, especially on a weekday, unprogrammed, I have to do something to fill it up. Here, I have taken to reading, drawing, or preparing for the course I will be teaching next week. Still,I had a productive day set up for yesterday, that I had to push back to today because of facility closure, and now I found myself at loose ends again. I guess that may be the point behind prison and losing one’s freedom; your schedule is no longer your own. I hope for a clearing up of weather this afternoon so they may open the yard, as I do for a quick exit from the existential fog incarceration has foisted upon me.
