Entry #10 - Petitioning for a Second Chance - 2.2.07

I’ve taken a couple days away from writing. This blog has proven to be good for me, which is evident in my absence. The fact that I’ve not had any pressing issues that I need to vent is a testament to the catharsis provided thus far.

I guess the only real pressing issue that I’m struggling with today is my desire for education. I suppose before I get into the institutional opportunities (or lack thereof) I need to cover some back story.

When my education career ended, I was 4 classes short of completing my degree. I took “incompletes” with the intention of completing classes that I’d failed to complete due to severe depression, which led to my imminent alcoholism. Unfortunately, both of my afflictions escalated, sending me into a grossly dysfunctional state, and hampering my ability to be productive in almost every avenue of my life. My dissension would ultimately play a major role in my decision to peddle illegal wares.

Today, I find myself stone sober and consistently awed by my newfound mental clarity, as well as my ability to engage materials and topics for extended periods of time. Now, I’m so hungry to learn virtually anything that the urge often manifests itself as physical restlessness.

In order to feed this desire, I take all available classes, which are tragically few. I even take a Spanish Class taught by an inmate, despite the fact that I already speak conversational Spanish. I take a vocational Horticulture class even though I’ve no interest in ever working with plants. (It is the only available course.)

Before I arrived in prison, I was told about how many different vocational classes would be available to me. Upon my arrival, however, I found that I showed a day late and a dollar short. Many of these programs have been cut. Aside from those pertaining to plants, institutionally offered classes are absent at this facility. Collegiate courses were once available, but these are among the first things to get cut in a budget crunch. People seem to resent the idea of felons getting a free education, yet oppose paying us honest wages for our labor, so that we could pay for the classes. Any available correspondence courses must be paid out of the prisoner’s pockets.

As for my collegiate degree, ultimately, I am hoping to petition Ithaca College to reopen my incompletes (which the college currently counts as failures.) Their agreeing to this is looking quite unlikely, though, thus I may have to return to Ithaca to finish a final semester.

This opens yet another can of worms. How shall I pay for my education? Due to anti-drug legislation, felons with drug cases are ineligible for federal educational grants such as Pell Grants. For somebody like myself who is going to re-enter the world nearly penniless, I’m baffled as to the logic behind this legislation. Especially since the earning of a college degree while locked down reduces recidivism to an almost negligible percentage. Statistics also show that, as a deterrent, the anti-drug policy is erroneous.

So enter the proposed “Second Chance Act,” as counter-legislation. This bill is the talk of the prison as inmates seem to believe that it would guarantee them more half-way house. This is debatable, as it is but a small part of the bill. The bulk of the bill discusses ways to fund grants and programs that make it possible for ex-cons to mainstream back into society. It should be voted upon this Congressional Session and seems to have bipartisan support. It includes the support for education that I need.

All and all, I’m willing and finally emotionally stable as never before. I don’t need the chips stacked any higher against me. There is an enormous part of me that may still want to give up. I pray for the perseverance to overcome. Given the opportunity though, I’ve become inclined to optimism. Let’s hope…let’s hope.

Playlist Song – Knock on Wood – Bosstones – Say what you will about ‘em, but the hometown boys for me reek nostalgia.

Magazine – UTNE Reader – Nov/Dec ’06 – “Celebrating A Media Maverick” excerpts from I. F. Stone’s collected works. The original blogger displays why he is the perfect iconoclast.