The journal of Robert Friedley

Table of Contents:

5 March 2005

Dear Friend,

Well today is like every other one time passing on. Well I got my newsletter today from Prisoner Express. I was happy to see it and the stories in it. I try all the Resources in it and write back ones that work. I write this Journal of mine like Past and Present times like a letter to Dear Friend is my Journal.

Well to start I was a green-eyed red-head kid. I was very interested in space growing up, loved everything about the lights in the sky. Now I try to read all I can about the planets in the sky. Well I was four as far back as I can remember. We lived in a small Ohio town. I loved the snow; me and my brother Richard would come home and build forts out of snow or go sliding for hours on end. I think that was the best times in my childhood. As I turned five I had a bad accident. I was playing in the yard and running behind the riding lawnmower with my brother and sister as mother cut the yard for my birthday. Well she seen what we were doing told us to go sit down. My brother and sister went to sit down but the red head in me would not listen. Well I slipped behind her and she ran over me with the lawn mower. I bloacked out, woke up thought nothing was wrong. Try to get up and fell back down again. My mother was screaming something as she picked me up and ran to the house. I remember waking up again in the sink with blood all over me and my legs were wrapped up in towels. Passed out again. Woke up on the kitchen table with my uncle saying every thing is ok. Well I woke up in the hospital. They were looking at my legs and were saying he lost a lot of blood don't think he's going to make it. Well I was told when I got older that I had died twice in the hospital.

Well that's enough of me for now. Well here at the unit they came to work with chips on their shoulds so if they see you sleeping they slam the cell doors and try to make it as hard as they can. Well I was working in the kitchen handing out kitchen food supplies. It's a good job. Worked my way in to it. Was a cook then a baker, each about two years a piece. I want to say sorry for the miss spelled words trying to get hang of writing again. Well this unit is about 1300 people on it. It's a hard place to do time not because of other prisoners. It's the guards that make it so hard to do time here. When nothing is going on why start by messing with people like don't come out the cell without a shirt on he was going to shower, dang. Or why you have all this art work out here in the day room tables was working drawing. You would think they would have other things to do. Well they don't. Well Friend, I will write again in a few days. For now, later.

-Casper

9 March 2005

Well Friend, back again. It's been a few days since we've talked. Weather has gotten cooler here. Got off work a little bit ago. I work at 1am till 8am so I have to try and sleep with all the TV noises and people noises. Well we had about 17 people get a second chance at life on the outside. They hit the chain bus this morning.

Well last we talked about me I was hurt pretty bad and in the hospital. Well I guess you can say I did make it but life for me just took a turn for the worst. Well at that time I had one brother Richard and one sister named Diana and one named Debbie. Well we lived in a two story house Victorian style and we had a big barn. Yes we lived in the country. Not too many friends around us growing up. The house was white, big. We had bedrooms upstairs. Well it took me almost a year to get out of the hospital. I seen things a kid of my age shouldn't have seen but life went on. Met another boy who lost his leg. The same one. He lost his by a train. His father told him to be home at a certain time. So a train was coming. He was on a platform to unload the trains when it went by. He said he thought he could jump the flat bed. Well he made it ok to the other side but not far enough. Train wheels cut off his right foot and left him for dead. Well we were best friends in that hospital. We gave the nurses hell when we were able to get out of bed. We were in wheelchairs for about 6 months learning how to live again. They gave us a big party the day we got out and I was never to see my friend again.

I got home. It was the worst time for me. My mother didn't have too much to do with me in the days ahead. Well that's enough about me for a while.

This place is going to hell. Guards are quitting left and right. All we see these days are little kids as guards and they think that them acting tough is going to help them. That's the worst thing to do. These guards would come do a job like security and go home instead of trying to show what an ass they can be. Me, I try to stay out of their way so I don't have to deal with them. They write you up for the stupidest things like having extra socks and pillow cases. Stupid things. I guess it gives them something to do. Well I read a lot; that's how I got started in Gary's program a year ago been getting books from them so if you are reading the thoughts and history of me, please help Gary's program. If I could I would. Without them I've got nothing so please help. I've been locked up almost five years. Family used to write a lot. Now not at all. My daughter still wrties to me every so often but I can't blame them. I'm here, they're out there living life. Well, till next time, Friend.

-Casper

9 March 2005

Well, Friend, bach for a few lines. Hurt my leg, twisted my stump on my false leg, hard to walk around and work. Went to medical. Boy o boy was that a joke. Spent two hours so they could check my weight and blood pressure and tell me they would see me in a few days. I was sure glad I wasn't hurt too bad. Some dude got beat down yesterday was hurt pretty bad. He didn't come out of his cell. They came looking for him this morning. Didn't know what cell he was in but just kept looking till they found him. He wasn't going to say anything about it bust someone went down and told there was someone banged up. Now they have us locked down till they find out what happened. Usually it goes like this - I didn't see or hear nothing but there is always one to tell.

I always knew my mother loved me but I think she always thought it was her fault. Me, I know it wasn't her. It just was a kid trying to have fun. Well like I said, lived in a very small town. School was hard to come back to as I was a leg short and kids were kids. Asked a lot and some were afraid of me. Because of it I was on for a long while. It was hard becuase I could see kids playing but couldn't go out and play. I first got me a false leg one year after. Took me very little time to learn how to walk again. Well that's all for now, Friend, till next week.

-Casper

18 March 2005

Well, Friend, how have I been doing? Not too good. My penpal hasn't written but I can understand. She is very busy with school. Well today was pretty hard on me. My legs been hurting a lot. Trying to get medical here to get my medical boots but they would like to see someone hurt instead of paying out money. So we don't get hurt. Well I think our kitchen captain is leaving us. That's a real bummer because he is what a good boss should be. Someone that talks to you like you are a person, not trash, and he lets you alone to do your thing, just so you not messing up. We got a lot of Bible Thumpers here, meaning they look at the words but don't use them.

I was so happy as a kid when I got my first false leg. But in school teachers would always baby me and I didn't like it so I set out to show them I was just like everyone. My parents had thought don't let him do that or that, he's going to get hurt. Well we moved out of the farm house little after I got out of the hospital and moved in town. My father was a cop back then. My mother worked as a butcher in a meat market. The town was very small that I remember. About ten mom & pop shops and one big store. Would go get hair cuts on Sunday with my Father; back then it was 50 cents for a crewcut. That's what me and my brother had to get as Dad got a flat top being out of the Air Force. My uncle was living with us for a long time. He had a glass eye. He got it shot out in the war. Well gone for now till next time.

-Casper

24 March 2005

Well, Friend, it's been a little while. I've been trying to heal up my false leg stump. I can't get it to heal right as I try to tell medical here the boots I need are hightop boots so I don't turn my ankle but no one wants to hear that around here. I've been sitting up for the last week trying to heal but it is a slow thing as I get up there in age. I go back to the MD tomorrow. Think she's going to keep me out of work for another week. Well we have prairie dogs here that we feed from our windows. They are pretty cute. They come right to you now that we've been feeding them. Don't think the birds like it too much. They get most of the food these days.

Last we talked about my home town and us moving. Well we had a police dog for a pet growing up. his name was King. He was a brown and black German Shepherd. He was tied up in our back yard. He had a white dog house. He was tied to a big oak tree. We had a chain fence around the yard. The neighbors yards were right next to each others. In the back of all the houses was a big field we all played in the winter time. In the summer weeds were so tall you would get lost in them. Had a friend named Brian. We lived on one of the great lakes, Lake Erie. We used to go fishing all day on the weekend. I don't think we ever caught any fish but we had fun trying. Sat on the end of the dock, just watching the fish and talking. But I do remember we were two peas in a pod. When one was sick with chicken pox, the other was. Me and my brother didn't play too much together as he was older and dumber at the time. Sisters went their ways and I guess back then we all pretty much did our own thing. Well, we will se you later, talked enough for now.

-Casper

4 April 2005

Well, Friend, it's been a hell of a week here. We went on lock down. If you don't know what that means, you stay in your cell 24/7. That's a lot of time in an 8 by 12 cell with two people in it and they feed you like you are two years old. Here's a days meal: one pint milk, one small box cereal and 2oz of raisins; lunch - two corn dogs; dinner was two chicken salad sandwiches. And that's all we get. To shower every other day and they bring fresh clothing to use the same every other day. You pretty much just lie there in your bunk then when your building is called they take you to the gym, have you line up with all your things and they take everything and go through it to see if you have things that you should not have. They throw bottles and stupid things away that you shouldn't have. Too many magazines? They throw them away or you can send them home. Most people just throw them away. They have 5 buildings to do at this unit and we live in 3 buildings. So they have 2 more building to go before we get to get out and about. It's really not too bad just the food is and I work the kitchen and for one will find out that's up. I think it's because they cook the food and have to work for a change and they don't like it. They also have to sweep out the dorm building. Everyone throws out the trash into the day room so they have to sweep it all up. It looks like the dump after a days worth of junk. In my building we have more handicapped people than most of the units but we get no respect and teated as we are always up to something.

Well I haven't heard from my penpal. It's kind of saddening because I really enjoyed talking to her. Well last we talked about how me and my brother and sisters didn't play too much together when we were young. Well there was a few times we did do things like go swimming in Lack Erie. We had lots of fun. I remember one day when I almost drowned. I jumped off the platform and landed hard in the sandy bottom and my leg stuck in the sand. I thought I was a goner but my Dad grabbed me by the head and pulled me up out of the water. All I could do was just look at him and spit water out of my mouth. He kept asking "you all right?" I finally told him yes and he let me go back playing. There was no more jumping off of that platform for me. Dad always came with us when we went swimming because the snakes were bad. We all kids didn't think about snakes. We lived in our new house for about three years.

Well, that's all for now, later. -Casper

16 April 2005

Well Friend, it's been a while. Now got out of the habit of writing. Not too much is going on around here. We at the kitchen are having hell as one guard likes to bring his home problems to us and we got a peanut butter bandit. He's been stealing it and they have been finding it all over the unit. So my captain has told us in the back with the supplies there will be no more peanut butter at all in the kitchen. Well we can't say too much about it. I myself can't stand the stuff.

Well I had a little joy come in to my life. My penpal said she wanted to keep writing to me. That in itself is worth gold. As in here little things like a letter means a lot to us. Well, I've got to drop a few pounds. MD said getting too heavy for my false leg. I'm at 220, 6 foot tall. He said too much so dieting. I hate it to watching what I eat. Well these guards we are getting over here in West Texas are getting younger and younger. I seen one last night he couldn't have been more than 19 years old.

The new house was very nice. We had a tight group of people in the little area of the house. We as kids were middle class you could say. We had a pond down the road from us and was always in trouble for going swimming in it as it was on someone elses property. My father one day chased my brother in to the pond one day. Can't remember why but my brother wouldn't come out of that pond for nothing in the world as Dad was going to kill him. Well he did come out. I think he spent about 4 hours waiting for Dad to leave and go home. Little did he know the old man was already at home. He just left his car there. Like I said, he came home, got his butt tore up and that was that. Me and my brother used to steal watermelons out of a farm's patch. In those days would eat till we were sick. I think the farmer Tom knew we were eating watermelons as he never run us off till we were all done eating what we took. Well I got a job with my brother throwing papers one year but it didn't last long; he got tired of it.

Well that's all for now. -Casper

22 April 2005

Well I've wrote some of the book places and things in the newsletter but no luck so I will just wait. Been reading a lot. Reading Dean Koontz' Odd Thomas. It's a really good written book. I have enjoyed it. Been getting got out here but still cool in the night time. Everyones sinuses are going crazy out here. People are going to visit today. That is so hard to be here so far from hom where family and friends can come see you. My family lives over 6 hundred milkes a way and a lot of others here have the same problem. Well the chain has come in with new people so our 84 man dorm is moving around. They shift people in and out of cells a lot here. Me being with one false leg I kind of stay in one place. It's not too bad. I hate moving around all the time.

Well let's see. Where were we in my childhood life? Well with the paper money we made I got a new bike. My brother on the other hand bought junk. So then he was always taking my bike. Got in lots of fights with him. Me and my sister Debbie on day found this red stick in the house. Out in the fields we got to playing with it and got the end of it lighted and it started to blow smoke. I thought it was dynomite so I threw it inot the field. Well it wasn't dynomite, it was a road flare and it burned the dang 2 miles of fields up and we dang near set the community of houses on fire. Well little to say we said nothing about what had happened. Us kids were a handful growing up. My brother, when I was very small, climbed down the roof of our two story house and got a lighter and went back to his room and started a small camp fire in the middle of his bed. My sister selling smoke tried to wake my parents. They told her to go back to sleep, she was dreaming. When she started screaming, they finally got up and my Dad was running back and forth through the house with buckets of water throwing it on my brother's bed. Why my brother was sitting in the hall watching the old man run back and forth. He thought it was funny. Little did he know it was going to cost him his butt and he slept in the closet till they fixed his room.

Well Friend, till next time. -Casper

30 April 2005

Well Friend, I'm back. Its been a few weeks. Just wanted to write a few lines tell you what's been going on here at this unit. The hoe crew goes out to the fields of cotton again now that it's getting hot again. The medical over here is so messed up. Get you an appointment for 6am. Don't see anyone till 10am and then they ask what's the problem. You tell them then they say we will put you in to see Doctor so by the time you get to see the Doc in about two or three days you're not sick or your bad off. Well I've been working 7 days a week here trying to stay busy trying to make the time go fast. It seems to help but you get tired of hearing grown men cry about this and that so we started taking two days off.

Well I'm going to write the prison project today to see if they might have a calendar and books on Mars and the planets. I love to read anything about them.

Well we left my brother sleeping in the closet. Well he never played with fire ever again. Well we lived in that house as I said for about 3 years then we moved to Texas.