PRISONER EXPRESS

"You have to maintain," are the wise words always passed from prisoner to prisoner. But we all know that it is easier said than done. It is also very easy resorting to the pen and pad for expression rather than openly verbalizing it. Some say if you do the crime then do the time. I want to believe that doing time should be about rehabilitation, should be about setting new personal boundaries and reinforcing those boundaries through dedication, determination and self-discipline. Unfortunately, once you are isolated to Ad. Seg. then struggling to better yourself comes all the more impossible.

When you are being deprived of the required sensory input to think, to learn and to function as a human being then everything else becomes secondary to surviving mentally-even those newly established 'personal boundaries.' So other than living in the so-called real world and being productive (somehow) to the family and friends that are being supportive while you are in prison, your mind is somewhere else at war with very skilled and clever enemies. Enemies with names like 'anxiety', 'depression', crazy thoughts, hallucination and the ultimate foe being called antisocial behavior.

We all have mental battle wounds, and somewhere behind the darkness our minds are also mending those wounds; always fighting to reach the pinnacle of our personal growth and development, our personal boundaries. Again, it's easier said than done, but we have to keep to the old proverbial words: you have to maintain.