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How is this rehabilitation?

Hi there! Here's a peek at a day behind the fences. Please note, I'm diabetic, so my day is slightly different (more busy than the average nondiabetic inmate). Times in 24 hour format, because that's the correct way. :)

  • 4:30 - Wake up, hygiene, and equip my Class A uniform (Prison blue shirt and pants, a jacket, footwear), which is required to...
  • 4:55 - Leave dorm module to stand in the sally port, await release to go to medical for glucose check and insulin.
  • ~5:15 - Go!
  • ~5:30 - Return to module, collect a dietary breakfast tray.
  • ~5:32 - Lament the presence of grits, steadfastly refuse to put them in my mouth. Eat the rest... usually. My tray has a protein guarantee: medical deems it necessary and required, so I usually have eggs (scrambled, only way this place serves them) or a sausage patty (I am reasonably certain it's TVP, because this is a pork-free facility), and typically two slices of white bread. Other entrées include oatmeal, and rarely, a cold cereal (corn flakes). Milk, if you're lucky (or buy powdered if you can afford it at $6.30 a 12 serving bag).
  • 6:00 - Return to bunk, because it's time for count, an institutional staple.
  • 7:00 - Count is clear check for callouts (institutional passes to leave your dorm and do things on the compound). Most days, find none.
  • 7:05-10:25 - Lay around and do mostly nothing. Before I got a tablet, this included 15 minute visits with 60 minute lockouts to the kiosk to check our message system, starting at 8:00. It also includes reading whatever I have, and sometimes trying to draw. Maybe eat a few Maria cookies.
  • ~10:30 - Lunch! I collect a tray, eat its contents if I can stomach them, and...
  • 11:00 - Return to bunk, because it's time for count, an institutional staple.
  • ~12:00 - Count clears. Resume do pill, lay supine** until...
  • ~14:30 - "Insulin, insulin, to the sally port." Shuffle to the sally port, shuffle to Medical for the afternoon hand jab, gut jab combo of glucose checks and generic insulin glargine, plus a fast acting (R type) insulin because I got stuffed with high glycemic index carbs for yet another meal. Mmmm, lousy pasta and white bread, why you do me this?
  • ~15:10 - Return from medical. Guess what time it is?
  • 15:30 - Return to bunk, because it's time for count, an institutional staple.
  • ~16:15 - Count clears. Time to shuffle over to my table, because it's about to be...
  • ~16:30 - "CHOW TIME, CHOW TIME. ONLY ADA AND DIET TRAYS RIGHT NOW." Collect diet tray, return to seat, curse violently if it's either an Oven Baked Chicken Tuesday or a Fish and Grits Friday because they won't send me the vegetarian alternative tray I requested on Monday or Thursday. Give away the entrée on the tray if that is true, try to eat the vegetables on board, await my medically issued peanut butter sandwich.
  • ~16:45 - receive medically issued peanut butter sandwich that comes as part of my diet tray. Packet of peanut butter is about... 28 grams (1 oz), half the size of the ones in our commissary. This is to be my night time bridge snack to minimize low blood glucose events.
  • ~17:00-18:55 - More do nothing. Some of the nothing-do blocks have me listening to NPR, because it's the only way to get intelligent news here while the inmates squabble over what channel to watch. But then...
  • 19:00 - Return to bunk, because it's time for count, an institutional staple.
  • ~19:45-20:55 - If this count clears, more do nothing time, but then...
  • 21:00 - Return to bunk, because it's time for Master Roster count (ID check, roll call) an institutional staple.
  • 22:00 - Count is done, good night.

Why do I hate grits so much?
Multiple reasons, of which they deserve a blog post from my past to detail. For this post, suffice it to say I don't consider them a valid food item. That square on the tray is considered to be dirty filthy and summarily ignored.

With the chicken, there's no flavor at all, and it becomes hard to stomach. Chewing it makes me queasy, and this makes me sad, because I loved chicken on the outside. It was my go to meat when I wanted meat. All of the chicken dishes make me queasy here. :(

With the fish, understand that it is a constructed patty that is thickly breaded. It triggers nausea and shortness of breath. I worry there is shellfish contamination going on -- I am painfully allergic to shellfish. As in "Deploy Epi-Pen NOW." allergic.

I hope this gives an interesting view of what prison is like here. In future posts, I hope to tear apart some of those blocks, show what is inside.

For now, have a pleasant local time of day. :)