From Dragonfly: A Communication Move

They'd been telling us for months... then they did the wiring... then the units came in and sat empty... yesterday it happened... They moved the email computers into the housing units. Four per unit - which is a little unfair, as some units have like 100 people and other units, such as mine, has about 300 people. In fact, my current unit is the largest. Last night, the line to use the email took over 45 minutes. In the main hospital, I never waited more than 20 minutes and usually it was much shorter. I have a feeling that the excitement of email at our fingerprints will soon die down, though, once people use up their funds faster. It does cost 5 cents per minute of use, so many people can only use the computer for a short limited time. I try to not be on email for more than 30 minutes - $1.50 - per day. That's approximately $45/month = a lot of money when in prison!

The other thing I've noticed is that all the computers were put into these little desk units that lock. So, now, I realize, email can be taken away from us if people misuse them or are causing a ruckus in the unit. We all get the punishment, even if just a few are causing trouble. I pray that people will see this as the privilege it is and do nothing to get them locked down. For me, writing this way is a great way for all my communication with the outside world. I've slowed on my phone calls. It's just so hard to hear voices, sometimes, and it is also difficult to never be delivering very good news. Plus, the lines for the phones remain insanely long most of the time (except mornings, but I doubt anyone wants me to call at 6am).

Such a simple move of the computers, but it will actually impact my day in many ways. It's amazing how we fall into a routine in our lives - kind of like if that coffee shop you always go to on the way to work in the morning is now closed, you have to shift your routine and sometimes it's difficult. For me, my routine always started with my going to email and waiting for Freckles to meet me about 6:40am for breakfast. But now, there will be no where we are allowed to just "stand" or "sit" to meet one another. After breakfast, sometimes I would go back into email before work and see Lola. Now, there's no where to automatically see Lola in the morning either. After lunch, I usually went into the email room to do personal emails or write, but now it would be in my unit, which is much less convenient and would have longer lines. So, everything changes with this little movement of where email is accessible.

I hear that most the prisons put email in the units. Honestly, I do like it. I feel like it's a little more private, there are doors that separate us between units so we can't just read each others business. We can use it later in the day and during times that we would need a "pass" to access it during the day. There are certainly benefits. I think the only "kink" is with my own head its OCD of not enjoying inconvenient change, but, then again, it's been made into a convenience in a different way. Perplexing as that is, I will still enjoy my time on trulinks.