Transcript
I am closing in on my 4th year in prison and I will see parole and was hoping to make my first parole but I received a major case for possessing prescription drug (omeprazol) a heartburn medication. Back in January I was given a job that I didn't want working in medical with people who could really care less if every offender here died. So I told the chief of classification that I wanted to quit. But he said that I could not even though we are not even paid to work. And if we have a medical issue we are charged $100.00 from our own personal accounts. Gifts really from our family and friends. Without our consent mind you. It's a state law that violates federal law of discrimination, but yet it still stands. So I acted out and ate a nurses ice cream and received a minor disciplinary case and was moved to a little more rowdier part of the prison. Then I caught with the generic prilosec and placed in medium custody as retaliation for the $2 dollar ice cream. So I appealed the decision through the grievance process and now I am told I never filed them. This issue has really damaged my faith in God. The people assign to protect me while I'm in prison are now out to make my stay here most uncomfortable. I have suffered from depression since 2012 when the mother of my child left me and took my daughter and refuses to establish a dialogue with me. I feel like the main problem with prison is staff thinking it is their job to punish us. Why they feel this way I do not know. I have written over 30 letters and it is as if no one cares. My family doesn't write me and I wonder is God involved or am I getting what I deserve. The prison system in Texas, TDCJ is modern day slavery from my point of view. Free labor, they don't even offer medical insurance or anything. The good time + work time you earn does not even shorten your sentence one day. No one has any incentive to be good other than to make parole and if you have no address the half-way houses are full. If you are indigent you receive a tooth brush + toothpaste once every 3 months. No deodorant, shampoo, lotion, dental flossers, Q-tips or anything. You get a roll of toilet paper and 5 to 8 little green lye soaps a week, oh and a razor. That's it. And you have to work or receive disciplinary cases. TDCJ makes everything and controls everything. You have to buy their sub-standard products at outrageous prices in commissary and wait forever to go. We normally go 2 times a month. Then when your released to parole they give you $50's and a bus voucher or $100 if you complete your sentence. Okay good luck, try not to rob anyone. No work release of any sort. If you wish to be rehabilitated you have to figure everything out for yourself. TDCJ loves return customers (slaves) to make them money. Jason Olivarez
