I got to talk to a "mentor" this morning about 8:30am. "Down" for 47 years. He had some insight into getting work and staying busy. He was encouraging about keeping a positive attitude. The thirty minute meeting went quickly. I also called my daughter who accepted the call with her mom demanding her attention within a couple minutes of my calling. I advised her to decline if it isn't a good time for fifteen minutes to talk. I wished her goodbye after telling her I loved her as soon as I heard the all too familiar hostility in her mother's voice. I cannot be there to make anything better and definitely don't want anything to be worse for my kids. Then, about 10:00am, I go to staffing. Very frustrating to hear the authorities peddle more lies. In the report the staffing agent read to me, it said a number of things that were patently false, including a claim that the missing guy was disposed of in some deep quarry and that I put GPS trackers on people's vehicles. The false claims continued to be promulgated and I am defenseless. Having attorneys has so far proven ineffective and there is no way to shield myself from the collateral damage of all of the repercussions of a wrongful conviction. When I refuse the details of what she is reading she tells me that she is just reiterating information in the document sent to her and I could probably request a copy from the court. I explain to her that a lot of people have strong feelings about the case and that I have been told it is probably going to be an issue with people reportedly saying they will be looking to fulfill their or my "destiny" when they catch up with me in prison. I don't have many "government" names so she says there isn't anything that she can do about were I go or who I am housed with. Well, fine. I mean probably not, but my safety is the least of anyone's concern that work in the justice system so it isn't a shock. The only thing I am thinking about at the moment is how many inmates have heard of what corrupt Kenosha did to me and offer me some type of friendly greeting or acknowledgement when they see me. Although I didn't write about it, yesterday, I had gone to legal access to get some things sent to my attorney and a guy with a shaved head and impressive beard sat down next to me. He commented about an appeal and said he was in Kenosha on the day of my sentencing. I saw him again today when he was at clinic and nodded a hello. I don't know what strangers will collect affinity but I cannot deny what great people it has made part of my life and am hopeful that there will be enough good people wherever they send me. If not, I will do my best, come what may.
It is warm and a little uncomfortable in these cells without air conditioning. The neighbor in cell 48 (I am in 49) gets a new cellie today. This evening they get into it because the new guy took all his clothes off but his underwear. It made the guy who already occupied the cell very uncomfortable and he complained. Comparatively, exiting the showers without having clothes on is a ticketable violation. When the inmate complained, however, they ended up taking him to the hole. Perhaps I had missed some detail about their exchange, but when they removed the complainer the guy yelled "ha ha!" really obnoxiously which clearly indicated he was doing it to be antagonistic. It just seemed so backwards that they force an inmate to cohabitate with another that strips down to his underwear and the guy that gets punished is the one who is uncomfortable in the confined space. Is that not somehow backward? So weird. It isn't something that happened to me, but being locked in a cell doesn't offer much action. Well, unless you are interested in a cellie that doesn't wear clothing. I got a couple messages today! I think it was Tuesday and now Friday I got some messages. Huge highlight to my day. People just really could not possibly understand how big of a difference it makes. There are still some people that I am eager to hear from who have not contacted me yet. Perhaps they expect me to but I don't have many addresses and the phone is my only option to contact my daughter at the moment. With these infrequent calls, I do not end up with many extra that aren't otherwise necessitated for legal communication with family. I am sure they can tell you how most calls are a fifteen minute monologue of things that need to be done. Very little time to just chat. They know I love them and would not ask for things I did not need. I am really looking forward to getting to my regular joint to get more phone time though. I heard that after two years of pay scale progression, a prison inmate job you can max out at 47 cents per hour. 50% of all incoming money goes to restitution and court costs. 10% goes to a trust fund set aside for release and 25% is attributed toward child support. The guys in here say "you are 85%" when you have child support obligations. I have no idea how taxes affect prison income but in two years I should be able to earn $18.80 per paycheck and have $2.82 left for me to use. That is less than three calls per week. Maximum pay potential will require two and a half weeks just to cover the cost of going to see the dentist or doctor/nurse with the $7.50 copay. That is interesting that if an inmate gets sick or needs his teeth cleaned that he cannot afford to call his family while working full time on behalf of the institution. And the tis the MOST we can make? As long as inmates feel that working hard is not going to offer them a way to take care of themselves and their family, then how would they be willing to reform or rehabilitate? I cannot make any sense of this system. 15 cents per hour to start out. Wisconsin Penal System: How to do as little as possible, burden tax payers, and what? disenfranchise some significant percent of the population to essentially slavery? Indentured servitude? Which is basically using debt to effectuate slavery from what I remember of history class. Having been stuck in jail for three years with no practical way to pay toward child support, I think I owe about $18,800 (for simplified math). When I make the maximum achievable pay rate, it will then take 40,000 hours to pay off (at 100% of the income) the debt completely. Assuming I never go to the doctor or need to pay for a phone call, or buy a new toe nail clipper, then I think I could almost get it in about 20 years. Except court costs and fees, and a stack of "DNA surcharges" that are applied for each charge. Why each charge? Because they can. It's not like the DNA isn't already collected but someone opened the door for convicts to be preyed upon with that as well. At the prescribed rate, it will take 40 years because it is split in half with the other obligations. No wonder people commit more crime. All the really smart people can't solve recidivism? I would say the people who have designed and implement this system are more concerned with making sure people will always be criminals. I am seeing quickly and easily how the success of the system is not about "corrections" but about exploitation.
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aboutThese are the journal entries of Zachariah Anderson. All entries are originally handwritten by Zach and then transcribed on his behalf. Please note that occasional misspellings and grammar errors may be fixed during transcription for the sake of making the entries easier to read and sensitive information may be redacted. Archives
July 2024
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