I just wanted to write and tell you about an incident that happened here at the prison last night. This is something that is unfortunately pretty routine at times in here and it’s one of those things that if you play…eventually you’re going to pay. A man lost his life in here last night. Not to violence. Not to a peaceful passing. He lost his life because he fooled everyone into thinking he was sober, clean and getting his life together.

What am I talking about right? That doesn’t even make sense…

The man who died was a dope addict. Meth. Heroin. You name it. He was very well known in here and when we saw him out and about it was usually hanging on some cop’s leg trying to convince them he deserved “such and such privilege back”. That was him. He was always getting dirty UA’s and that was just kind of the norm for him. So get to the point right? How did any of that kill him?

He convinced the cops here to allow him to have visits back. They had previously been taken away as a result of the many dirty UA’s. Anyways, during his visit he swallowed drugs in an attempt to smuggle them back inside and he overdosed later in the evening. He died.

Death isn’t a pretty thing. It’s unfortunate and sad and even if that’s what he intended to do, it still has devastating effects on his loved ones. Imagine how they feel today. Imagine how the person who smuggled him the drugs feels knowing they brought them to him. Imagine the children that will only remember that their father died in prison. I think the point I’m trying to make is people care about us out there and it’s not fair to them when we continue down destructive paths.

Take care.

James