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PRISON RIOT AT CROSSROADS CORRECTIONAL CENTER On May 12, 2018, Crossroads Correctional Center, a maximum security prison, in Cameron, Missouri, was put on lock—down—status after approximately two hundred offenders rioted. According to FOX 4 NEWS, the offenders took the dinning hall hostage for over two hours, during the evening meal, and destroyed food service and food service warehouse, totaling a million dollars or more in damages. A spokesperson for CRCC said that the offenders were retaliating against the administration for cutting their recreation and locking them in their cells for shortage of staff. According to skopesperson, the offenders said, "This time it was property, next time it will be staff." The administration responded by transferring over two hundred offenders. We have been on brown bags (cold food) for nine days now with no Sign of it ending soon. We are being provided a ten minute shower, every two days, one cell at a time. I've been through many lock downs so it's routine to me. I take bird baths every day, wash my clothes in the sink, and eat hot meals. I try to keep extra stuff for times like this. That way I'm never out of anything. I can sustain myself for about two weeks. These lock downs don't usually last longer than that. But this time I'm not so sure. I received an email recently from an old flame. It said, in part, "I want u to know that over the years this is how i always kept myself thinking & smiling of u— I will listen to this song! One of my all time favorites and I always remember our Love we once shared while listening: MAKES ME SMILE THIS BIG!" Then she copied a song from 3 Doors Down called "Here Without You." I called her and had to break the news that I'm married to the State of Missouri till death do us part, and Missouri is a jealous bitch. So she and I could never be again. I may flirt a little but don't put out. Besides that, I'm high maintenance, that she couldn't afford me. Plus, I'm needy, needing lots of letters, visits, and money for phone time. "One ought to love in such a way that emotion is held back, subjected to reflection, and not allowed to take its course until it has passed the test of thought." Sigmund Freud. Prison romances are more like open relationships, without the physical component. They are tough to maintain for a long period. But sometimes a really strong friendship is developed and make it worth pursuing long term. other times, it ends in pain and heartache, like any other relationship that doesn't work out. Over the years I've learned to love and give as good as I am loved and given to in return. And when the love leave like energy leaves a disposable double DD battery, I let go. Z.A. Smith 1 Love is a free flowing energy, an energy that comes in and out of our lives. We should just enjoy it while it lasts. This is healthy. We were never meant to hold on to someone and suffer. To me, contacting an old lover is like picking at a scab; it can't heal. It also means that we are feeling lonely and need to meet someone new instead. There are seven billion people on this planet. Surely there is someone for everyone, even me who flirts but doesn't put out, and is trapped in an unhealthy marriage to a jealous bitch named Missouri. Zachary A. Smith, #521163/4D-270 Crossroads Corr. Center 1115 E. Pence Road Cameron, MO 64429 Z.A. Smith 2
