by Michael Henderson | Apr 13, 2016 | Inmate Contributors
Some mornings when I wake for breakfast chow at 3:00 or 3:30 here in the County Jail, I canât help pondering the question of where they are able to find so many people with the same disposition; just dripping with contempt.
Even though itâs the same caliber people, and sometimes worse, in prison, thereâs a little more ⌠something … I donât know, maybe stability or at least knowing. I know all the nattering nabobs look at people who are held as prisoners and feel no compassion whatsoever. There is a story behind every prisoner and thereâs also a connectivity of sorts that links everyone who has experienced the absolute and incredible pangs of loneliness. You almost couldnât get an emotion to be so complete as that of being alone in a room full of people.
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by Leah Patterson | Apr 10, 2016 | From the Staff
You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. Literally, the world would not spin in exactly the same way without your presence on it. That is how important you are! ~Eckhart Tolle
I would love to tell you the story of how I came up with this idea, but there isnât space, especially with my tendency to ramble on (donât tell me you didnât notice that in my Newsletter article!). It was always meant to be kept a secret anyway, so Iâll forgo the explanation.
Suffice it to say, I was inspired.
After a few conversations with Missy about how many and fast the letters were rolling in, I mentioned to her that Iâd be thrilled to send cards with inspirational messages to those who were in need of contact. We made an agreement that she would get me a list of names periodically.
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by Melissa Bee | Apr 6, 2016 | From the Inside, News
Please share this story widely, this family needs answers.
Donna and her son Chuck Coma
On February 27, 2016, I received a devastating phone call from my mom. My mom is almost 74 and was diagnosed with metastatic bone cancer about a year ago.  It has been a tough road for her.  I could hear my mom’s voice crack when she informed me that my brother, Charles Coma, was involved in a incident at the Lewisburg Federal Prison in Pennsylvania.
My brother, also known as Chuck, is a Desert Storm veteran who was diagnosed with 100% disability due to post traumatic stress disorder. Because he never received the proper treatment, he made poor decisions and one of them was robbing a bank which landed him in a federal prison.Â
Mom told me that they did not expect my brother to survive. My heart dropped. Was this a nightmare? If so, I desperately needed to wake up. She said a chaplain from the prison called and told her. The chaplain refused to tell her anything else and said on Monday we would be told more. The devastation in my mom’s voice was painful to hear. To be told that your child may not make it is any mother’s worst fear. Over the weekend, my family called to tried to get answers but no answers came. So we waited… our fears were overwhelming. To inform a family that someone they love may die and then make them wait without any updated information was immoral, uncompassionate, and apathetic. That act alone let me know what type of facility we were dealing with.Â
When Monday finally arrived, I was so angry. No phone call came. We finally called them. We talked to my brother’s counselor. He told us that Friday night Chuck was found with no heart beat so he was moved to an off campus medical facility. He refused to tell us what happened. I said my mother is my brother’s power of attorney; therefore, under the law if my brother is incapacitated, she would make all of his decisions and you have to tell her what happened. He said that he did not. He claimed that Chuck is their ward and they will make all of his decisions.
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by Melissa Bee | Apr 2, 2016 | From the Staff
AI Newsletter Spring 2016
Page one is shown below, click the link above for the PDF file with clickable links.
by Martin Lockett | Apr 1, 2016 | Book Review, Inmate Contributors
Fascinating. Riveting. Provocative. The list of superlatives to describe this book could go on for pages. Johanson – the famed archeologist who discovered the 3.2 million-year-old hominid (human ancestry) fossil – has written a book for the ages with this one. This book chronicles his expeditions into the ancient sites of Eastern Africa for the discovery of hominid bones in a vivid and relatable way. He speaks candidly about his discouragement and discontentment with findings (and the lack thereof) and allows his readers to feel as though they are right alongside him as he traverses these historic sites where he luckily “stumbles” across the most important fossils to mankind to date.
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by Melissa Bee | Mar 31, 2016 | From the Inside, From the Staff
We received this handmade afghan from our friend Charles Farrar, an innocent man serving a 145-to-life sentence, based on lies told by the alleged victim (his step-daughter), who has since recanted her story (over thirteen years ago). See the full story here.
Charles has been in the Sterling Correctional Facility in Colorado since April 1st, 2002. Tomorrow marks the beginning of his fourteenth year in prison.
You can sign a petition to grant Charles a new trial here.
Justice For Charles Farrar Website
Write to Charles:
Charles Farrar 113856 S-C-F
Unit 1-C
PO Box 6000
Sterling, CO 80751
by Martin Lockett | Mar 30, 2016 | Inmate Contributors
This past Friday (also known as Good Friday) I volunteered to work in the visiting room. I’d been asked–along with several others–to man the table set up with freshly brewed coffee, assorted flavors of creamer, sugar, tea, instant cocoa, and all the utensils needed to prepare the drinks. Visitors–along with their inmate loved ones–were able to stop by the table and help themselves to what we had to offer.
Kids giggled as they walked up to the table because sitting behind it they witnessed two muscle-bound inmates ironically wearing harmless yellow bunny ears atop their heads. Yes, I wore the silly ears! But I reasoned that this was the lesser of two evils since another one of us had to dress up in a full white bunny suit–head and all! But he did it and the kids loved it!
The big bunny made his way around the visiting room (led by me because apparently the suit didn’t have eye openings), handing out Easter baskets full of goodies–ranging from chocolate bunnies to marshmallow bunnies to Nestle Crunch eggs–to the many children that were there to visit their father, uncles, and brothers. One little girl, who couldn’t have been more than a year old, clung to her daddy (an inmate) as she couldn’t decide whether to be terrified of the bunny or ecstatic that he was so close to her. She shrilled one second and laughed uncontrollably the next as the bunny entertained her. Indeed, this was the highlight of my time in the visiting room that day. This little girl was simply enjoying her interaction with a giant bunny with human qualities, completely oblivious to the environment she was in or the people it housed. All that mattered to her for those few precious minutes was my friend in his bunny costume. It was refreshing, innocent, and human–things I don’t get the privilege to encounter everyday.
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by Rick Fisk | Mar 27, 2016 | Book Review, Inmate Contributors
The Imperfect Hero: 1776 – A Review
 All men are flawed and make mistakes. Character is that quality in a man that transcends his flaws and propels him to success. In reading David McCullough’s 1776, one will become intimate with George Washington’s flaws and mistakes, flaws which might have been glossed over by historians more inclined to fuel legend than deeper understanding. Yet, because McCullough reveals so much of Washington’s error, the accomplishments and character of America’s first Commander in Chief are all the more astonishing than any legend.
Through priceless, archived correspondence of English and American soldiers, historians, reporters, and civilians (Washington, John Hancock, Abigail Adams and others too numerous to list here), McCullough weaves a complex tale, rich in detail, reading like a novel too good to lay aside.
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by Melissa Bee | Mar 26, 2016 | From the Inside
These are the postcards inmates in Arizona are forced to use.
by Melissa Bee | Mar 25, 2016 | From the Staff
We are moved beyond words to open our PO Box and see these gifts of cards and stamps. A very heartfelt thank-you to the angels that send them.
Send donations to:
Adopt an Inmate
PO Box 1543
Veneta, OR 97487
