The journal of John Dittoe
Entry 1
This is the shit we dealin with or just accepting cause we can't do shit about it.
Way back when they said okay we gonna take out all tobacco out of TDC "but" we gonna give y'all "good time & work time". When your good time/work time adds up to all the time you have then you're done, we let you go. Now they changed it up and say we'll let you out on parole. That is our short way. Wehn we come in we get a line class & that gives us so much good time. That automatically says if you keep this line class by being good you will get out at this date estimated by how long your sentence is. That's the day you'll make parole. Your long way is to discharge all your time. You got a dime, you do a dime! You lose your line class, you lose your good time & either got to act according to the rules or discharge all your shit. Now they, "Texas", is saying yet again "We can take your short way at any time without taking your line class." What the fuck is that about? You ain't got in no trouble, been a model inmate & when you're supposed to come up for parole, instead you got to "interview" for parole! Instead of doing what you're told getting all your good time & walking out the gate on the day your paper say you go see Parole. Now then wait 6, 7 months & you'll either get a F.I. or a set off. If you get a FI 1 or 2 or 6 whatever that's how many more months before you can walk out the gate on parole. If you get a set off you'll do another 2 years at least & come up on a new date for another "review". Mother fuckers ain't done shit wrong 6 or 7 years without no trouble & get a setoff. Did we get our smokes back? Hell no. Where's the Good Time at? That is a major issue right there. This other is fuel to the flame. No outside business. If you're a book writer, paralegal, artist, you can't sell your shit. If you write a fiction novel about shit that has nothing to do with TDC or your crime you still can't make money on it. If I draw art & send it out I'll get into trouble if it looks like I'm sellin' it & getting money to support myself while I'm in TDC. If you're doing paralegal for a lawyer & they find out he's sending you money for your own hard work, your paper, your typewriter that TDC sells you for $150, you'll get into trouble.
Medical? It's controversial, I agree. Should we pay? I'll only tell it like it is here. We pay $3.00 every time we go to medical. We go in, the nurse sees us, resets another date, the doc sees us & 80% of the the time tells us it ain't nothing or you'll get better or if your not better in 7 days put in another sick call. I would not mind paying so much if I got results. In the free world you pay. If you won't like the diagnosis you go to another doc. We only got one.
They took away our in-cell art cards. So if you got a little hobby to pass your time, you don't no more! No little models, no small wood crafts, no painting, no pastels, nothing. If you want to watch TV you are forced into a very overpopulated day room where it is so loud & racially unfair it'll be sports any time a spot is on. "So long as it ain't outdoor sports". Most staes sell or allow small TVs to be sent into avoid this problem. We've lost all adult magazines. No pay phones. Me make one phone call every 90 days. There is not more ferlows. You got to get your GED to make parole. Due to a drastic cutback we've lost teachers but gained more guards. What's that about? We do most all road & park maintenance in the prison's area but we do not get paid ANYTHING! We make all our own clothes, furniture, grow our own vegetables & raise our own cattle & horses. We fix TDC vehicles, we drive our own semis, we do everything but guard and drive the Bluebird. Still don't get paid for all this cause we get "good time"! Texas is the biggest prison industry in the country. Despite all this free labor they say we need another cutback. We don't got enough funding. How about letting mother fuckers make parole? Now if you're a goodie goodie snubbing me thinking we should work for free and pay our medical & you think I'm just making it out bad to get someone to notice us, then fuck you! I'm living this... Picture yourself having to live like this for the rest of your life. Hey, I've done a decade. I've watched this all coming down. I'm going back to the trailer park soon. Long way discharge. But I think a couple years, five, ten years, it's tough but it'll put a dent in us & send us back to the park with a different outlook. That's life. Everyone is so supressed here. It's like the slaves before the war. We had 200 slaves to one owner getting done any kind of way & they accepted it. Why? They could have easily overrun the place. If they all would have stood up they wouldn't have ever needed the union. Hell, it would have been like Africa or something? What would an institution like this do if it's slaves just laid it down. No violence. Just stopped turning out. Do you realize how much it would cost TDC to cook, clean, do maintenance, tend it's own gardens & cattle, plus guards? Millions. Why don't we see it? Supression. But you can only supress something so much before it explodes & although I'm glad I won't be here I hope it does. TDC needs a lesson. The big lawsuit that was brough against TDC so long ago that was supposed to change so much only made it worse & the fools that brought it dropped it 1/2 way. They mysteriously were granted parole on life's! We're so caught up on racial issues in Texas we don't see the big picture. Even to our embarassment, we don't get free world clothes, boxers like other states. We wear whites, females wear pullover shirts & men wear button ups. Now TDC changed % we men also wear the female shirts only! & What'd we do 'bout it? Nothing. Man, I'll be glad to get out of this pussy-ridden system & go back to the trailer!