Saturday, November 16
Beautiful morning, looking forward to seeing my girlfriend/partner and her sister later this morning. Meanwhile enjoying College Game Day and doing some email/typing until then.
Had a great visit from 11:30-2:45 with them. Amazing how quickly the time goes. Back to lockdown at 3:30-5 and then the Oregon Ducks v. Wisconsin game at 5. My Mexican chef(I call him that affectionately) was making bone in chicken, rice with spicy Mole sauce which tasted terriffic. Ate during the game so didn’t have to miss any for chow:)
Unfortunately at 6:30 the guards yelled lockdown so we all had to scramble back to our cells for the remainder of the night. So I watched the second half of the game standing and looking through my 5″ by 7″ window in the cell door for 90 minutes. Too close a score for me, 16-13, but I’ll take a “W”. I sure hope this lockdown is only for tonight as my visitors are supposed to comeback at 8:30 tomorrow!
Sunday, November 17
Well 6 am came and the doors didn’t open, not good. More lockdown and no visitors. Worse, I can’t tell them not to come or anything. Plus now we both only get half the visit we hoped. Really sucks, especially when I know some idiots did something stupid to case all of us to be locked down.
The irony is that it’s the BOP selecting who qualifies for low security here at FCI II and clearly they were wrong, but we pay the disciplinary price! Wish they would just leave them in a medium facilty, but sometimes they want to get rid of people as well, go figure! One would be shocked how many BOP locations take a disciplinary inmate problem and ship them to another location. I get sometimes its for their safety, but often they just fight with everyone. And those of us trying to follow the rules pay the price on each incident…
After breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the cell, and 24 hours since we locked down, the cell doors opened at 6 pm-hallelujah! Should have seen 200+ guy’s line up for showers and same for phones:) Rumor was it was race/gang related and more about a nation wide concern(spread from one facility to others) than our location, but again that’s “inmate.com”.. Apparently happens from time to time, heard some last 2 weeks . Ughh… Unfortunately visits today were cancelled, so only our 2 1/2 hours from yesterday. Really disappointing.. Welcome to my life..
Monday, November 18
Normal start to the day and actually stayed that way all day! Had a good morning workout 8-9, felt so good:)
Stayed in the Unit the rest of the day and typed and read, and posted a new blog and journal.
Helped my 67 year old friend with his BP 11 wording to challenge his alleged weapon charge in Victorville where he claims he never got any incident report or a hearing, though so far each level of the BOP claims he did, but not providing copies of paperwork or proof. They apparently haven’t provided any copies and the other inmate with him at the time got his allegations apparently dropped. Will be interesting to see how the Office of General Counsel handles this one.
Good and bad news on the football front. I won the pool here picking all the NFL game winners but one,SFO v. Seattle. Bad news is I was way ahead of my daughter this week in Fantasy football and she rallied on Monday Night Football and beat me by 4 points!! Bummer:)
Tuesday, November 19
Looks like first big winter storm coming this weekend, so trying to get outside now as much as possible. Had a strong 8-10 workout on a clear but crisp morning.
Unfortunately while waiting for chow at 11, we went into full lockdown mode. So much for lunch! They ended up bringing us lunch in the Unit in clam shells. But then for some reason, 90 minutes later it was all over. Maybe its just me but sure seems they can be trigger happy here. At least they could have left us in the Unit if there was a small issue instead of a lockdown.
Good news is everything went back to normal at 12:30 for the rest of the day.
I ended up staying inside all afternoon, typing, met with counselor and case manager during office hours. BOP wants me to start paying $150/month restitution now. Basically they take $75 off a monthly total of cash received, and then want 50% of remainder, so cutting commissary in half as thats the only cash I get. And thats to cover email as well. Blindsided by this, I went to the program statement policy and they are supposed to review your personal budget which they didn’t do with me, so one more thing to add to my list to cover with my case manager.
Skipped dinner and went to education/library to do research on restitution, plus Health Policy statements for my friend the 67 year old gent. Helping him finish his BP-11. Separate from Victorville BP11, this one is for his failed urine test incident which he is fighting to get off his record as well. Hopefully once both off, he can go to camp.
Finished with evening reading. Just finished an awesome book, out of David Baldacci’s Will Robie series, now jumping back into my Mitch Rapp series with a new book just sent by me brother/sister in law!
Wednesday, November 20
Might be last beautiful day for awhile as a big front/storm is headed our way, so intend to be outside as much as possible. Especially since I can’t spend time on my appeal as as its been 10 days since draft sent and still not available to me. Frustrating…
Every once in awhile I reflect on my BOP experience, and this morning is one of those times so I thought I’d write them down so I don’t forget in case its something important:) First, its incredible how paper centric everything is. With no PC or electronic folders, everything is printed or copied. I literally spend 10 minutes(or more some days) going through all the stacks of paper under my bunk just to keep them organized/file things or to find things I need which I’m working on. The second thing is how hard it is to get things done through people on the outside. I’m very fortunate with my family being so helpful and supportive, and legal team as well. But everyone is busy and what might be a simple text I need sent still might take a week, so I’ve learned to be very patient, not my best attribute!
Rest of Wednesday was normal thankfully. Had a great 8:30-10 workout plus a 1-2 on what will be one of our last fall sunshine/warm days. Big storm in the NW, a second wave hitting them and apparently us this weekend. Here we go with rain, wind, ending with a fog cycle. Really has been nice having no fog for past few weeks. Longest streak I remember so far this year!
On the track this morning I had my brain spinning on my appeal, even though its Day 7 since part of it arrived. For some reason the issue of confusion by the court and government, and therefore the jury, on the difference between an omission and half truth really struck me. So I put in a few hours framing the examples I feel might be helpful for the 3 judges for my attorneys to consider. I have a call tomorrow with them, so will see what they think. Hopefully they’re way ahead of me:)
Fortunately late last night , after 8 pm, the callout report showing our appointments the next day came out. I was finally there for legal mail at 11 am, and 1:30 for my legal call. Now I just hope we don’t have some random lockdown to mess everything up tomorrow!
Thursday, November 21
One of those days where schedules went to plan, always a nice feeling. Seems like I write about this a lot, but its really one of the biggest annoyances being an inmate, you just have zero control over your schedule, and there’s no communication when things change and/or as to why,..
Morning was typing and outside 9-10, followed by picking up legal mail at 11. Two packages finally! While I picked up during chow and missed our move, the guard was cool and let me go after everyone as its the best lunch of the week, rotisserie chicken:)
My 1:30 legal call expanded to an hour thankfully as my counselor was accommodating today, as he had requested limiting to 30 minutes. Having a follow-up call Monday and still 2 more sections/packages in the mail somewhere. Hope they come soon as we file next Wednesday, so final inputs by Monday.
Afterwards, spent time reading the paperwork and typing comments. One section on why we should have had separate trials was much better law than I expected, as apparently its hard to win this argument. The other portion was on the judge ruling against us continuously to prohibit cross examination of witness about the PPM and other disclosure materials they got. He blocked that repeatedly, which hopefully we can show he was wrong doing so, thus violating our constitutional rights.
The 3rd section is on Improper Theory of fraud. I feel the legal team did a masterful job laying out why, and I pray the Appeals court agrees. Its a biggie to overturn the verdict. I feel there was always a lot of confusion about evidence and rulings around omission as opposed to half truths, and the team really exposed this.
Friday, November 22
Still beautiful weather, despite the NW storm headed this way. Focused on writing notes for counsel on the first 2 sections I received today, finally sending them this afternoon.
Otherwise productive afternoon. Library 12-1 beard trim 1-2(yes it only takes 5 minutes with 55 minutes wait time:)), and workout 2-3 on a beautiful afternoon.
Evening was spent back and forth between football for 20 minutes, then email for 20 minutes. Rinse and repeat on Section 3, Improper Theory of Fraud. Made a lot of progress tonight, but will print in the morning first thing, go back through all my research one last time in notes and case law, and do one more round tomorrow morning before visitors.
I’m excited to see the family from Florida this weekend! First time to see the little 5 month old, plus her older sister I haven’t seen for 5 months, oh and the parents as well:) I haven’t seen my daughter in law in 11 months, since last Christmas, just seems crazy how fast time flies!
Praying for Liberty and Freedom and to see my Family and Friends soon! BJ
