Prison Visitation

This past weekend I went to visit the prisoner, aka, my boyfriend, Eric.  This was my fourth trip down there and the timing couldn't have been any better, considering what had happened to both him and I in the past week.  Eric was put in the hole last Tuesday (also known as the shoe or solitary confinement) and is now under investigation for "threatening another inmate", which according to him is completely untrue.  What can I say, I believe him, one hundred percent, in the 6 years he's been incarcerated he's never once been in trouble.  If there is one thing I'm learning, the federal prison system does some shady things.  Let me give you some background.  One of Eric's good friends turned himself in to the hole because of some stuff that was going down in the yard, and when he was asked why, apparently he said he felt threatened.  The thing is, he had no one to point his fingers at, no name to give when he was asked, so the guards or whoever makes these decisions pulled two guys off the yard, Eric and the driver of the other white "car" (it's long story - the whole "car" metaphor). The interesting thing about this is the "other driver" had absolutely no ties to the friend who put himself in the hole.  In fact, this fellow, Randy, left the prison yesterday because his sentence is almost up, he's headed to a camp for the rest of his time, so the fact that they pulled him off the yard, a week before his release, looks a little suspicious.  Why would they do that?  Why would they pull Eric?  Probably because they were such close friends.  We will never know.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have become closer friends with the wife Eric's friend.....  I don't know, but I've thought about it.  I've been warned not to talk to Eric, on the phone or through e-mail,  about who I know and who I associate myself with that has any involvement with prison.  It's messed up.  Why would it matter who I talked to when I came down to see him?  What's even more ridiculous is that once you are out of prison, you are to have no contact with anyone that you may have met while in there.  Messed up?  I think so.  Why are you not allowed to stay in touch with other people who had gone through the same torment as you?  You spend day in and day out with the same people, creating a friendship and trust over the years.  Part of me thinks this whole thing happened to split up Eric's group of friends.  It's messed up and just makes his time left more of a headache, but there is nothing anyone can do.  He's assuming he will be let out of the hole in the next week or so.  I guess there is a mandatory 7 days that you have to stay in the hole.....  I'm suppose to raise hell if he's not out in a week.  I'm scared. I hate calling the prison, but I'll do it if I have to. So, what do I now know about solitary confinement.  DISCLAIMER - I asked permission from the prisoner before I blogged about this.  Well, first and foremost, Eric SHARED a cell.  With none other, but the other "driver", Randy (I guess he's way up there in Hell's Angels rankings....  I ALMOST asked for his autograph).  I didn't get the exact dimensions, but it's a small room with two beds (bunks???  IDK!) a toilet and an open shower.  I guess the guys made a shower curtain out of a pencil and a sheet.  WHAT?  This is Macguyver stuff all the way, I'm telling you!  This stuff really happens?  Yep.  You heard it here first.  I also learned about "fishing".  You make a "fishing line" out of shredded sheets that you spin until you have a type of rope, then you tie that to a weight, which you make out of the bottom part of a toothpaste bottle, packed with soap.  Seriously.  I think my mouth was hanging open when Eric told me.  They have THE BEST IDEAS, those prisoners.  I am confident that Eric will always be useful in making the things we may need with the supplies we have handy, and yes, he says he can make a weapon out of nearly anything, not like he's had too, but he knows how......  This is a low security prison people. So, what did he fish for?  I guess you may want to know how they use it.  It's like the prison system is asking for these guys to do these things, because it just so happens that there is a gap under the door.  Eric explained this way better, but you shoot out your weight to whatever door you want it to go under, and they put things under the weight, and you "reel" it back in.  He got stamps, paper, magazines, I think he even mentioned coffee.  No big deal.  lol.  It's not funny, but you can't help but laugh.  I really do enjoy learning about these things, and you'd never know, unless you knew somebody on the inside.  That man has promised me that we can write a book when he gets out.  He's got some stories!   The first day of visit went relatively smooth.  Of course they had changed the way you went through security.  Now there is a number system, it's like going to the DMV, you draw a number.  The annoying thing is that they wait to put the little number machine out.  The first two days it wasn't too bad, it was day three when it turned into a shit-show, but we wont get into that right now.  It was a completely different group of security guards this time, and for once, the female guard was really sweet and nice.  Thank god.  I totally beeped when I went through security, but they didn't care THIS TIME.  See?  I don't like how the rules are constantly changing.  It's more than annoying.   Since Eric was in the hole, I had to wait longer for him to get there then normal.  It usually takes 5 minutes for the inmates to come out, and I waited an extra 20 minutes.  The other sad part about him being in the hole, is our visit is cut short by an hour and 15 minutes.  I'll take that, it's better then not seeing him at all.  They brought him through the front door, and he's cuffed, such a criminal.  It's ridiculous.  Like if he weren't cuffed, he'd fight off the guards and go somewhere OTHER then visitation.  I'm the highlight of his month, he wouldn't be heading anywhere else.  He's so   dangerous, watch out!  Actually, if I were a guard I'd be scared of that 6'5" 260 pound man too.  It's his size that's intimidating, nothing else.  He's a teddy bear, although he likes to refer to himself as a Grizzly bear.  I can't wait for him to find out I wrote that! HA!  Either bear aside, I was more excited than I have been in any past trip to see him, cuffs, no cuffs, khaki or todays apparel, all orange.  When I say all orange, I mean ALL ORANGE.  Orange jumpsuit, orange undershirt, orange socks, orange shoes (which I would totally sport, they were SLICK).  Why so much orange?  Just in case he broke free, there would never be any doubt that he was a prisoner.  "Well, you know that orange jumpsuit looks suspicious, but see, he's wearing orange shoes, he's got to be an escaped prisoner." We spent the day catching up, since we hadn't talked in two whole days!  Did I mention when you are in the hole you are only allowed one phone call per week?  No e-mails, only snail mail.  Two days is a long time for him and I to go without talking.  He filled me in on what the hell was going on, it's scary not knowing exactly what is happening.  Even though we talked on the phone Wednesday, he couldn't necessarily tell me everything.  Nothing like the being listened to during EVERY conversation we have, via phone or e-mails.  Constantly being watched.  I've gotten used to it.  Go ahead and listen, I've got nothing to hide, well, except those pills I smuggled in my bra.......  (that's a joke).  We didn't do much more then talk, and eat that terrible food in the vending machines.  People are starting to notice just how much Eric can put away.  He's like a garbage disposal, but when you are that big......  What he doesn't understand, is he doesn't need to split everything in half.  He keeps trying to share everything with me, he's funny.  I have to constantly remind him that I'm half his size. Eric's cellmate, Randy, also had a visitor this past weekend.  Turns out there was something messed up and the guards tried to segregate our visits.  When Chris (Randy's girlfriend) came into the visitation room, the guards told her that she would have to wait until 11 to visit Randy, and I would have to leave at 11.  I had not been informed of that, and honestly, it made no sense, they are cellmates, why would they have to be separated?  F'd up prison system.  Thank god for Chris, she raised hell and asked to talk to the Warden (didn't know you could do that, but apparently you can....) and within 5 minutes she had sorted out the mess, the whole time, Eric and I completely oblivious to what was going on.  I told Chris later, that if that had happened to me, my reaction would have been to cry, because THAT'S WHAT I DO..... I noticed that Randy had a braided pony tale with what looked like white ribbon woven in it and I asked Eric about that.  It was the elastic from his sock.  SERIOUSLY.  The things you wouldn't realize could come in handy..... I can't get enough about these things you can make, out of other things.  I love it.  I think I could publish a "prisoners craft book", it's a good idea..... I wont bore you with the details of my three days of visitation.  They went as smoothly as they could and solidified our relationship even further.  Something about this prisoner has got me memorized.  When I'm with him, the rest of the world shuts off, my mind feels clear.  I know if I could just bring his shoulder home with me, I'd finally get a good nights sleep :(  We talked about my accident and he told me how he could tell, when he'd call me and I had been drinking, which made me sad, I thought I was covering it up.  He said when that happened, he knew right off the bat that it was a wasted phone call, because he only got a part of the real Kristal....  And as I write this, on my flight home (which I nearly missed because I tried to outsmart my GPS......) I feel as good as I have in the past two weeks.  I don't know when I'll be back to see him, but I know I will see him again, and I know I will be the one there to pick him up when he finally gets out.  What I need to do now, is spend this time, out here, bettering myself.  I thought that's what I was doing, but I think I just got caught up in the excitement that having a few drinks gave me. Eric described it best when he said, "think how many good ideas you missed when you were numbing your brain."  I'm now on my quest to see my full potential, and I'm very excited to see where I go from here.  What now?  (LOVE THAT!)  I am getting the best advice from your comments people!  Keep them coming!