Thursday/Friday carryover from last week- I’ll try and be more concise:)
Thursday, December 5th
Woke up to a beautiful morning, no fog! So typing first thing. I emailed Michael Santos(Prison Professors) Monday morning to see if he wants to team up and work with me and apply (with our unique combo of BOP expertise) to DOGE. My thought is we could help with BOP regulatory fixes/cost reduction, and use my series “Facts of Life in the BOP”. If I don’t hear back by end of day tomorrow, I’ll ask my son to apply for me on X. I’ve been reading for years how experts “feel” about our $36 trillion debt and how it will be the death of America’s standard of living and leadership as a global power. Not sure what the number truly is, but I know if nothing changes we will be at $50 T in 10 years, and $75T in 8 years after that. Those are scary numbers for sure so I feel we need DOGE to really work and Congress to get serious!
Spent the morning typing on/off till chow at 11. Went outside 12-1 and 2-3. Beautiful 73 degrees , little wind. Really can’t believe its December 5th. After dinner, NFL and relaxed:)
Friday, December 6th
Still haven’t gotten my final appeal, sent 10 days ago. Incredible. My very special daughter in law in Florida just sent me pics I never received, and after a month she was notified they were returned by BOP. Ugghh…I heard this past month the head guard of the Mail Department was out for health reasons, which is why things have been so messed up. Hope that’s the reason!
Inmate.com, our rumor mill has been running rampant this past 4-6 weeks that Jan 1 all the “non illegals” like myself are being transferred to Bay area, the Dublin complex recently shutdown due to all the women prisoner abuse and how poor it was run. Here this is an ICE facility so guess we’ll see. Can’t believe more than half of what you hear around here:)
Excited to see my daughter and her boyfriend tomorrow, praying for no fog!!
Saturday, December 7
No fog and warm day! Had a wonderful 4 hour visit today with my daughter and her long time boy friend. Just nice to spend some quality time together. They’ll be back Sunday for some quality time as well.
Got outside 2-3 for a good hour walking the track before sitting the rest of the day. But after 3 hours of exercise yesterday needed a slower day:)
Rest of the afternoon/evening spent watching the college league championships games, what a good time! Georgia in OT vs. Texas,Clemson in OT over SMU, and my Oregon Ducks beating Penn State and staying #1. What a run for the Ducks, 13-0 going into the playoffs. I sure hope they meet Georgia in the championship and revenge the 49-3 whooping from 3 years ago!
Tonight was my girlfriends/partner Hanukah family celebration, felt terrible not being there, with and for her. As in every family, there always seems to be a little drama, this time no different. Not sure if its all the prep or the drama which is so tiring for her!. And my gifts didn’t arrive in time, so now they will be Christmas gifts:)
Sunday, December 8
Another shorter visit this morning with my daughter and her boyfriend. The closest thing to normal here is spending a weekend with visitors, both family and friends. Skipped church today, I’m really struggling with the weak sermons. It just feels like a waste, all the while sitting in a freezing auditorium(55 degrees). I get way more out of reading my devotional and Word every day. Don’t quite know what to do about it right now. Guess I’ll let the Spirit just lead me. Watched my fav QB from Oregon, Justin Herbert against Kansas City on Sunday Night Football, 21-19 loss for LA. Got to just admire Mahome’s, he really is off the charts special. I’m starting to get my focus back on priorities, so have a busy week to get stuff done:
1) update my release plan
2) write/send Christmas cards
3) send Canadian consulate follow letter
Plus my normal- write journal, blog, book and then type everything as well!
Monday, December 9
It was cold last night , down to 35! I started sleeping in thermal pants, time for thermal top as well. Even with 2 blankets it wasn’t enough!
Off to commissary at 7:30 am. Not so fast! Another Unit went first, so we didn’t start till 8:15. Since I know the commissary workers go to break 9-9:30, I didn’t want to get stuck inside the room just standing there an extra 30 minutes waiting. Finally went at 12. I only got $190 of my $205 allowed, and my list had $220 of items for just this issue of items being out of stock. I think time to find a new personal shopper, my guy is just too lazy to think about at least giving me more of what I did order and that they have like protein bars:) It’s not like we can buy more next time! All good as I got a lot of typing done all morning and posted another journal and blog. Taught class 2-3, credit cards were the topic. Good thing we had 35 minutes to cover!
Still no legal mail so day 12 and I still haven’t seen my final appeal, so annoying.
Tomorrow will be a productive day hopefully, working through my priorities from Sunday.
Watched Monday Night football and typed, on and off. Between Daniel Penny and his subway trial, and United Healthcare CEO shooting in NYC, pretty surreal what’s happening in NYC. And our DOJ is more interested in going after Mayor Adams of NYC for airline miles/petty cash than solving crime or having fair trials. Incredible. As I always say, if a prosecutor wants to, they can find something wrong/illegal with every American has done and charge them. Incredible power they have.
Tuesday, December 10
This weeks weather continues to be stunning, clear, no fog, sunny and 68-70 in mid December! Decided to mix up my schedule today, so went outside 8-9 then back typing on/off till 12. Off to library to make copies, get books, and do some research helping Nestor. He has an ineligible drug offence for First Step Act credits, and an eligible gun charge, and the BOP has consistently enforced a “No credit policy” if any of the sentences are ineligible as “they are treated as one sentence for Administrative purposes” even if consecutive in sequence so easy to track. That’s been their rule since 1984, but with Loper ruling from the Supreme Court giving courts the power to decide and the Chevron deference for Agencies now gone, Agency rules can be more easily challenged and decided by the courts. So will see if a Judge will step up or just rely on prior cases. Just saw a case on halfway houses where First Step Act(FSA) overruled another 1984 statute saying there needed to be halfway house bed availability, because FSA doesn’t require availability to get moved out of prison. Hoping same argument works here.
Had my best experience ever in Medical today! At chow a paramedic who was very helpful finding my hearing aid charger was in the mainline available for questions, so I stopped to ask about getting a makeup flu shot which I missed earlier. He said to come to medical at 1 which I did after library. Got my shot, and on way out, the head Clinical Director and the other senior doctor were coming back from lunch, saw me, and asked how my recent labs turned out. So he invited me to his office and looked them up. They looked pretty good, and since they didn’t show anything, he agreed to finally look at my doctors letter and labs from 12 months ago just before I surrendered to see why I keep pushing for treatment. He is open to finally better understanding my autoimmune diagnosis/low immunity issues. Hallelujah. So he invited me to come back with the letter after the Holidays:) Minor miracle:) On the way out again, a guard was delivering medical records to an inmate, so I got her to agree to check whether they ever sent my request for medical records to my doctor the second time. I’ve inquired 5 times since August with no reply, so just lucky seeing her. 3 for 3 in one day!
Skipped dinner and worked out 5-6:30 on a beautiful evening, followed by a little TV and reading the rest of the evening.
Wednesday, December 11
Hit library at 7:30-10:30 to continue working my Sunday list. A year later, I have a better understanding plus more facts to put into my release plan update. I’ll need by early January for my twice /year review with my case manager, who reviews time credits, date for transfer to camp and so forth.
Then chow and worked on my blog on DOJ/Congress , case law for Nestor on ineligible sentences, book to write and type.
12-2 good outside workout, I knew rain was coming tomorrow so did extra hour, then again 5-6:30. Skipped chow but then went to movies. Queen Latifah was the actress from 90’s, just a simple uplifting feel good movie with a message. Whatever happened to more of these?
Thursday, December 12
Day 15 no legal mail. I finally sent an email to the Director responsible for legal mail telling her no one all week got notice for legal mail, can’t be right. Then at 6:45 am, they locked us down so we could receive our Holiday package. Around 7:30 we got a plastic bag (6″X12″), full of cookies, chips, candy bars and so forth. I was pleasantly surprised at both the quantity and quality. Supposedly its an annual tradition:) Probably $8- $10 worth so $20k cost for the entire prison. The Yard stayed closed all morning for some reason, so focused on writing till 9, then once lockdown finished switched to typing till 12.
At lunch I saw the Director I had emailed so asked her again. Of course she felt there weren’t any issues on legal mail:) 12 days seemed normal to her as they have “lots of work” associated with legal mail. Not sure what that would be since they’re not supposed to open it:)
Outside 1-2 really cold and windy, here comes winter… Surprise, Surprise, at 2:30 my case manager called 2 of us to go get legal mail. Go figure! But I’m certainly not complaining. Received 2 packages, one with my 145 page appeal, and one with my codefendant Macritchie’s 80 page appeal. Spent the evening reading both during commercial breaks on Thursday Night Football, then finished the remainder thereafter:) I really feel both nailed it, and 100% on point. If 2 judges can’t agree then will be no reason to care about the law anymore for me that’s for sure!
Also received the recent new law governing the BOP Biden signed in August 2024. Some real teeth for the Inspector General to audit prisons’, rank them and rate them, with the BOP Director needing to reply on 60 days to the worst 25%. Also an Ombudsman that inmates and their families can contact to get help and that rule has real teeth, including onsite investigating authority.
Friday, December 13
Power typing this morning on my blog post for next week. I finished posting last week the three items for Year One that BOP should focus under my START Transformation Plan. Now I’m focusing on Congress and the DOJ. These next four posts will be what they need to do to help fix the BOP. Stay tuned:)
Beautiful morning so went out 9-10 and 1-2. Track and exercises. Typing in-between. At 5-6:30 went out again and did weights. 3 hours today, amazing how some days you have so much clarity and energy!
Made some progress with the 40 year old Gent, Jeffrey, who was proof reading our ABT book. I’ve been encouraging him to write down his business plan for a comedy business and write his daily journal and blog as well. I find people with limited education here tend to talk, not write which I’d never thought of before. So I gave him some of my book reports, journals, and blogs so he can see how simple they can be. So Sunday morning we’ll meet in the Library and review his business plan, slowly but surely… Separately he was praying to be part of Biden’s pardons, so he was crushed to not be part of the initial 1500. Encouraged him to hang in there as I’m sure its not over!
Evening spent on typing, as one of the guys hogged the TV with his logging TV shows:)
Praying for Freedom and Liberty and to see my Family and Friends soon. BJ