Seventy Third Visit to Taft

We're in countdown mode now, so everyday when Ron calls and says who the call is from, he says a person representing how many days he has left. On day 56, he was Joe DiMaggio, on day 54 he was Brian Erlacher, and on Friday, day 53 he was Bill Romanowski. Sunday morning he was Dick Butkus. I can't wait to see who he is next. It's a game he can play with himself, coming up with a clever name or person for each of the next 50 or so days. He's extremely bored now. Basketball is over, TV is essentially over for the season, so he spends the evenings listening to the radio, either music or Dr. Drew.

Last week I touched on the topic of FEAR. For any man or woman entering the prison system that is their biggest concern. Not loneliness, finances or anything else. Fear is at the top of the list. Will I be safe? Will there be fights? Is there racial tension? These are the things Ron was most concerned about before he went to Taft. Luckily he had someone to talk to who had been incarcerated prior to arrival, because he had a million questions. Although he had not met Michael Santos (www.michaelsantos.org) prior to arriving at Taft, he read his articles over and over again, to really understand what he was getting into. Michael's articles about his prison experience should be required reading for anyone going to prison. Only someone who has walked the walk can really help you. Michael also turned out to be one of the first men Ron really connected with at Taft, and I, over these many months have spent many hours with his wife Carole. When Ron is released, one of the things he wants to do is counsel men heading for Taft on what to expect. It takes the fear out of the process.

There is nothing to fear at Taft. There is no violence of any kind. There are basically 2 types of people there, white collar and drug dealers(many of who were also users). If you misbehave in any way at a camp, you are sent to another prison and can never come back to a camp. No one wants to have that happen, so everyone, even those that in other circumstances might be aggressive, are not. There is a lot to be frustrated about in prison, but you have to bite your tongue and often, swallow your pride. Many of the systems are inefficient, and the high intellect of most of the white collar campers means they are always thinking of better ways to run the operation. Remember, most of these men are doctors, lawyers, CEO's, accountants, or involved in stocks or Wall Street. It's hard for these type A personalities who have been in charge most of their life, to have no control over anything. Until they give up the need control, they are unhappy. There are many men there that never come to terms with this and go through their sentence angry or heavily medicated.

So, as Ron gets close to just 7 more weeks, he is well adjusted, accepting of life at Taft for what it is, yet he hasn't lost his sense of humor, his ability to tell great stories and plan for the future. He has a mind like a steel trap, and although he hasn't written down the many stories he has to tell, he assures me he remembers everything, much of which I hope to share with you in the future.

No hot water again. It's been almost 3 weeks, and all they have is luke warm water from time to time. I can't remember what is wrong with the water heater, but it appears that it won't be fixed until after Ron leaves. In the meantime, he'll have to try for midday showers to have any chance of warm water.

On Friday we were busy planning our first lunch together when I pick him up on July 27. I think he's settled on Brett's Barbeque in Encinitas, as he hasn't had anything like that in 18 months. I can't wait.