SCHOOLS OR PRISONS:
Very Real Decisions Are Being Made
with your money and your child's future at stake!

February 20, 2003:  My 1st grader had a play tonight at her school. I would like to share with you what was said. The principle told us parents that the school has to cut 250,000.00 dollars from their budget. They laid off all the part time teachers and the part time help that comes in the afternoon to help with the bus loading. Plus they had to cut a lot of other things.

 There was a lot of parents upset. But I made the comment out loud that if the government would quit putting so much money to the prisons and start letting inmates go that are non-violent and that are in there for drug charges then we would have more money that could go to our schools. Plus when people put Jeb Bush back in the office that messed up our schools more.

Parents were upset about our school having to cut such a big chunk. That is just one school in Florida and you know that there is a lot of schools that have to do the same thing.

I'm also gonna write my elected officials and let them know how I feel. I know in my heart I have to do this. I was gonna back away from all this prison reform stuff but you know In my heart I know that I cannot do that. I have to let people know about everything that I know about the prison system. Life is too short. In the last two years I have lost 5 family members to death. I just got home last night from my uncle's funeral. And I know that before I leave this world I want my voice heard.

I don't care what people think about me as long as in my heart I feel that I'm doing the right thing and I know that I have the lord on my side. I know that He will lead me to do the right things in life. There are some people out here that do care and I know that I'm a caring person.  I do not want to see our children in today's society not get the education that they need. What it seems to me is that Florida wants all there people in prison and that is why they are building more and more prisons and fewer schools. It needs to stop.

 Today I also called Tallahassee for a friend of mine who is in a prison in Region III. He was fixing to be transferred to Region II. I had to ask the  head of classification to stop the transfer and leave him where he is. They wanted to send him to Columbia CI Work Camp.

The officer told me that Columbia was a good camp. I had to let him know that I know that it is not a good camp. I told him how they love to set inmates up for no reason. And this inmate has less than 35 months left and he needs no trouble.

The officer told me that they need inmates to finish the annex at Columbia CI. I told him that I was under the impression that the annex had a halt on it because of the Budget. He said that they now have the funds to finish it, and they need all the minimum custody inmates that they can get to do the job.

They are letting inmates from other regions come to Region II if they are at minimum and they are DR free. And the reason is so they can finish the annex. That was told to me by the head of classification today in Tallahassee.

But trust me on this one. My inmate and myself did 12 months at Columbia CI and that was the worst camp I have ever seen. The guards there are worse than at FSP. They have it in their heads that nothing will happen to them cause nothing happened to the ones at FSP.  That came out of a guard's mouth at Columbia CI.

So you may want to put the word out that yes they are building on the annex again and any inmate that is looking for a transfer to a work camp in Region II, that's where they will be going.

I was told that there is no bed space anywhere else. But we know the truth is that they need that annex built. My friend that is in the other region will not be moving now. They did put a halt on his transfer. Thank the good lord above on that one. Well, I gotta end this so I can write to my elected officials.
 

Columbia Correctional Institution and Work Camp

MTWT Prison Index