Dear Ruby,
Hey Sweetie! I hope everything is going well with you. I know school will be starting up soon, are you excited? Are you staying at SVMS? I sure hope not.
Well, I’m finally gone from the county jail. For probably the next 3 weeks, I’ll be at Stateville Correctional Center /NRC. We got woke up in jail at 2 AM, packed up and waited downstairs until 5 AM. Then, we drove in the back of a van to Joliet (2 hrs 20 min). Then, we waited at the gate until 8:30 AM. Then, they put us , and all the other non-Chicago (Cook County) people in 3 cages (out of 6 avail). They gave us a bologna sandwich and an apple juice. Then, 10 at a time, we went to another room and were strip searched and given brown prison clothes to wear. Then, we filled out paperwork. Next, we went through “The maze.” It is basically checkpoint after checkpoint. 10 + finger print, blood tests, dental Xray, medical history, investigation, mental health, drug counselor, regular counselor, then back to the cage. Finally, they give us our 10 and cell assignment and walk up to our housing units.
I got lucky and got a good ole boy from Quincy as a roommate. He’s super funny, so at least I got someone to talk to. He has been here for 9 weeks waiting for a bed at Sheridan. That is a prison that is for getting help with drug addiction. I have 3 months too much to go to a place like Sherian, but once I get where ever I’m going, I’ll try to go there or South Western. You get 8 months for every 12 you do there. Plus, if I get a job, its 4 more months for every 12. So, 1 year after every year I’m there.
We only get to shower on Friday and Monday. We only get one call on Wednesday and Sunday. We are supposed to go to yard on Friday and Monday too, but my celly said they haven’t been out in over a month.
There is almost always someone yelling out the chuckhole to a different tier on the other end of the corridor, so that is kind of annoying. But, so far as I can tell, this won’t be as bad as people made it out to be. Oh, you only order commissary here once a month. I got about a week and a half until we can order. But, so far, the regular food hasn’t been too bad. There is a lot of it, too! I guess you never get all you order. Spend $100, they only give you about $50 worth. At least they don’t charge you the whole $100.
I’ll write you back with any updates of news I get. I may write you some stuff I’ve been learning from the Bible.
I love you and I hope to hear from you soon.
Love,
Daddy
Letters to Ruby 