As part of documenting my journey, and for your collective edification, I thought that I would give you all a sense of a pretty typical day for myself as a guest of the Bureau of Prisons.
Friday May 31st, 2025
I had to wake up a bit earlier that usual this morning to get to the pharmacy line and pick up my monthly prescriptions. Typically the lights go on here at 6 am and go off after a bed count at 10 pm. Typically, that is, when the man-children on premises choose to limber up their vocal chords and start shouting conversations with each other. Normally, I sleep with a soft cap pulled down over my eyes so I can eke out an extra hour before starting my day, but I decided to forego such guardrails in favor of getting my medication in a timely manner. Typically, the prescription line should be open all morning, but the staff here seem to follow the motto of ‘efficiency first’, which as they define it, means keeping the line open until 630 and then going on break for the next 2 and a half hours.
Medication in hand, I returned to the dormitory unit to make myself some instant coffee. We get all of our supplies through the commissary, which consists mostly of instant and dried goods, junk food, and other items with enough sodium content to give you hypertension from just reading the labels. I find that a mixture of instant ‘Colombian’ coffee, Swiss Miss cocoa mix, and non-dairy creamer creates a suitable substitute for real coffee. One of the impressive things about the inmates here are the various hacks and recipes for approximating real food on the outside.
Typically, coffee time for me is between 7 and 8, which is also the time I watch CNN and local news in the TV room. The volume is typically off, but the channels can be tuned in via radio. I may get a table with radio function in the future, but lack of internet or even prison wifi means your paying 140 dollars for a glorified radio and mp3 player. The prison economy will be the subject of another one of these little essays.
This day, I went to the library at 8 am to return a few books I had just finished and to replenish my stock of reading material. We are supposed to have ‘open moves’ on this campus, but we don’t, for whatever security reasons. So we typically have 5 minutes to get to anywhere we need to go on campus. Which for people like me isn’t much of an issue, but for the 200 or so men with walkers or in wheelchairs, you can imagine the difficulty. The library itself is remarkably well stocked with over 4000 volumes; mostly fiction donated by inmates, but not a bad assortment of non-fiction as well.
Around 9 am, I usually go to the gym and recreation yard for a work out or walk. The rec yard has a few softball fields and a perimeter track that provides a nice venue for a walk. Three laps are a mile, and I usually break up the walk with push-ups, squats, etc.. The gym and rec center have spaces for music, ceramics, pool tables, and a separate gym with basketball courts. There are no weights, but you can rent an exercise mat and 10 pound volleyball-sized medicine ball which is good for light lifting/ resistance work. I use those about 3 times a week.
I’m back to the unit by 10 am recall. Recall happens before lunch and before dinner so that the units can be called in some order to the cafeteria. I typically will have a shower when I get back and either get ready for lunch, or prepare something for myself. Today, lunch was broiled tilapia and tater tots. The tilapia was ok, but the carbs are really overdone here. Every meal is carb heavy with things like tots, fries, rice, pasta, etc.. That’s why I tend to limit myself to lunch and other meals I make for myself.
The afternoons and evenings are pretty open usually, and that is when I do my reading and book reports primarily. I also have started drawing again, and recently ordered items from the Blick art supply list. I usually alternate between 2 books and take breaks to draw this or that other item out of a library rental. Recently it has been horses, which my family will get a chance to see when I send the drawings to them in the near future. I’ll leave it up to them to share or mock me quietly and keep it in the family.
The days do drag a bit, but when the weather is good, I can go sit in the rec yard or go for a walk on the track. Also, I have joined the nerds in RPG gaming sessions run by a retired military intelligence officer and seven-time bank robber. The number our country does on our veterans is not to be believed. Today, I elected to stay inside and read. All in all, it was a decent day.
