From Dragonfly: Little Red Card

It's the size of a business card and has your vital information. It can be used to check out a book, receive goods, and even fly on an airplane. It is your official U.S. Department of Justice I.D. On the bottom right corner, it says, "INMATE" in large capital letters. It has your picture in front of the famous height chart. It lists your name, eye color, and height (although mine says 5'2" and even if you don't take my word for my height being a mere 5', you could just look to that same height chart behind me, where the wisps of my hair get me to that 5' line...). Some older i.d.'s also list birthdays, but for some reason, that was taken off - perhaps women didn't want others to know how old they really were - lol.

The little red card is considered a "part" of our uniform. We are supposed to carry it everywhere with us, and if we can't produce it when asked, we can get in trouble. We must show it upon entry to indoor rec. I find that interesting, as it's like flashing your membership card at a work-out club... but in our case, we are members for the mere fact that we are HERE. It's just one of those rules, and so we do it. The card used to be used at commissary, but now they have fancy fingerprint reading devices, that work for the majority of us, so the card stays in your pocket just in case.

I was mentioning to a friend, yesterday, that we are supposed to take our little red cards out with us when we go home. It's to be used as i.d. for our bus/plane tickets, etc. I have a valid license, so I will not have to use the i.d., but it did get me thinking about ways NOT to use your prisoner i.d. once you are home. The following would probably NOT go so well, if you did:

- obtain a bank loan
- lease a car
- rent a car
- purchase real estate
- lease an apartment from a landlord
- give to an officer when you are stopped for speeding
- hire a stock brocker
- guantee rental equipment
- introduce yourself to your new neighbors
- make business cards of your i.d.
- during your in-person interview for a job
- at your kids' pre-school
- apply for a new credit card
- during a PTA meeting
- meet a new doctor
- on your election promo signs for city mayor
- blown up in your store window
- obtain a bid card at an auction
- the first time you are on a date
- as your photo on an online matchmaking program
- as your facebook profile picture
- actually, anywhere on facebook!
- a new instragram photo with your daily update
- obtain a passport
- travel to a foreign country
- try to get into Canada

Well, once again, you get the drift. I imagine many people dump their i.d.'s as soon as they are out of the gate. Mine will likely go into my box of "things." It's a box with keepsakes of all types. Some people walk out of here and never want to look back. For me, I always want to remember, seeing my frown and the fear in my eyes as they took my picture, as another reminder of why I am in recovery, why I must make the healthiest choices, and that I survived this place.