Journal Entry: Dennis Zeedyk-01/29/2025

Journal Entry

Today I helped someone type a message to his cousin. He asked me to help him because he said he did not know how to type and I would be faster. Of course, I agreed to do it. The message was so short that I now realize I don’t think he knew how to read/write and that is why he asked me for help. I saw evidence of this in another case a few days ago in the library. An elderly inmate brought in a letter that appeared to be from his son. The librarian was reading the letter to him.

There are probably about 100 inmates here in FMC Lexington – many of them without limbs, appear to be very sick or very elderly. I don’t know why the BOP keeps them here. It is obvious that they cannot or wouldn’t be interested in committing more crimes. To stay with the subject of the above paragraph, you always see people willing to help them out by holding a door for them, pushing them through the chow hall (hard to hold your lunch tray when you have to move your wheelchair) or most importantly, pushing them up the long ramp from laundry or commissary. It doesn’t matter the race of the person in the wheelchair or the person doing the pushing – in this case, people just help out for no apparent reason.

When new inmates come in, they do not have all of the stuff they need. For example, it took me a week to get a new pair of underwear when I came in. It is somewhat suprising to see the level of generosity extended from one inmate to another during these times of need. We are all in a small microcosm with limited resources and most people in general step in to help – even here in prison.