FACTS, COMMENTARY, RECAP BACK IN STRIDE AGAIN

   I have been down this week due to the lost of my daughter Tee.  We were close,

and her memory will always be with me.  She also left me with five children in

her memory.  I miss my daughter, but I must make a better life for my grandchildren

and plan to expand my writing career on all levels. 

   Ofcourse the devil is busy.  In prison is no different.  I had my number one inmate

hater constantly say that Tee died because it was a generational curse.  I started to

snap out on her, but then decided to let God fight that battle for me.  She is a mother

also, and both her parents are 80 years old.  I just hope that when Satan comes for

her people, her spirituality has grown.  Prison is a dark place, but it is also reflective

and what you make it.  Evil is everywhere, in staff too.  Sometimes staff are so

vindictive, that they create all kinds of bad karma for themselves.  I am not afraid,

nor is my spirits broken.  I will be back with your normal prison soap opera soon,

but continue to pray for me and my grandkids.

Rhonda Turpin

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Week Six, Episode 12 - FACTS, COMMENTARY, RECAP

Week Six, Episode 12

FACTS, COMMENTARY, RECAP

     What a week?  I always receive so many blessings daily in this storm, and this week

was no different.  President Obama published a survey and new rules on clemency/

commutation of sentences. The survey was on our computer, and of course I applied.

This system is broken, and the President and Eric Holder understands this.  Will

I be sitting at the table with my children and grandchildren, and the rest of my family

this holiday?  It is always a possibility.  See, the thing is, you never know what God

has in store for you, so therefore how I spend my days is by being right with the people

around me, remaining positive, and busy, and capturing everything that comes my way-

I don't know what is for me or not. 

     Mother's Day is a very big week in prisons throughout the country, and it is no

different in Danbury.  Most of the population are Mothers and Grandmothers.  There is

usually a big meal, a special dessert, and even a movie played just for mothers here.

Where are the children and grandchildren, and how are they?  That's the question.

Because Mothers/Grandmothers are in here on this day, who is doing Mother's Day dinner

for 200 families/many children and grandchildren?  That is what the feds never considered.

There is a serious domino effect to having a parent or grandparent if that is your support

system, being locked up.  The New York Times posted statistics recently that said children

with at least one parent in prison is 6 times more likely to end up in prison themselves.

The same article talked about how each America that is paying FICA/federal taxes pays

about $260 a year in taxes to keep the $80 Billion dollar prison farce going.  This is not

about community safety, and it surely is not about rehabilitation.  If you do not have the

drive to rehabilitate yourself, then Hip-Hop Atlanta, Housewives, Scandal, and several

other shows become your world of reality in here.  I don't blame the women that escape

the pain of missing their children by pouring hours into the big screen televisions we have

here.  I feel their pain, and everyone deals with it differently. 

    It is just that because 25% of all Americans are convicted felons and America is

definitely a prison Country, I would like for it to do better- we are supposed to be so much

better, especially on Mother's Day.

My Mom is gone- Fellas, if your Mom is living, give her a hug today. 

     For you mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day, and I would like to serenade you-

    "Be glad that you are free, cause many a man whose not, be glad that what you had

ain't what you got."  That is Prince/Roger Nelson/The Artist, or whatever his name is-

I loose track, but this Sunday, cherish your freedom and time with your children/grandchildren,

cause thousands of women are in prison, missing their children, and mothering on the

telephone.

 Rhonda Turpin

May 7, 2014

Danbury Prison Camp

author, publisher, prisoner

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Week Six, Episode 11 - MISUNDERSTOOD

Week Six, Episode 11
MISUNDERSTOOD
          I have concluded many times that I must look extremely soft.  In one of
my previous episodes, I shared with the readers about how inmate/fool Donita
Good bitch slapped me, and the results of her rediculous actions.  
        Would you believe that a few days ago, a disgruntled co-worker was also
feeling a wee bit froggy?  I could not believe it.  She was relocated from working
beside me by the administration.  They had their reasons.  I attempted to go
hard for her, to no avail.  Because I have lots of cowardly haters in the building,
one got in her ear, and tried to get her riled up.  Ofcourse they told her that
I had her moved, giving me too much credit as an inmate.  
     I was sitting at this same computer that I am sitting at now.  She came and
sit at the computer next to me, that is not even one foot away.  She weights close
to three hundred pounds, which brought her body even closer to mines.  
     "I am fed up.  I feel like just smacking a bitch in here."  She said, while looking
at her computer monitor before signing in.  
     I started to address it, but instead I waited to see if there was any real meaning
to her words. I halted typing just in case, and put my feet flat on the ground.  She
didn't know it, but she was about to get a seasoned ass whooping if she would have
put her hands on me.  
    She did the right thing.  She finished typing and waddled her big beach whale 
butt out of the computer room without looking back.
   See, the thing about prison is that people are always judging a book by its cover.
  Especially female inmates, and they shouldn't.  I am probably the most misunderstood
because I am introverted, educated, soft-spoken, even-keeled, and love to spend time 
with myself.  Inmates keep reading that as a sign of weakness, instead of what it
is.  Real bosses move in silence, without many words, and that is the way I was
brought up.
Rhonda Turpin
May 4, 2014
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Week Five, Episode 10 - FACTS, COMMENTARY, RECAP

FACTS, COMMENTARY, RECAP

       This week has been a good week so far, but also an emotion week for me.

 For any of you that has already

read my book titled LIVING IN PRISON WITH MARTHA STEWART, you know that my

grandson Ricky was in the car with me when I self-surrendered to Alderson Prison

Camp 10 years ago.  He will be 14 on July 10.  He used to live with me before I came

here, and was my first grandson.  Today he is my part time media assistant, and

I am hoping that eventually he becomes my career manager.  He is extremely smart,

and makes the honor roll every report card.  When he is going through life's trials,

I do also.  He was sad about something minor at school, and it sent my entire

world topsy-turvy.  I walked it off, and worked it out in the gym, but still I cried for

him before I went to sleep and could not find peace that night.  Its a lot of mothers

in prison and grandmothers.  As I said repeatedly, this is NOT a game, and it is not

funny.  My grandkids quality of life is affected by me being in here, because I am their

support system.  Guess what Ricky wants to be?  One guess?  A criminal attorney!

When your children or family members are traumatized by any events that happen to

you, they sometimes develop a passion for whatever you were lacking.  Doctors sometimes

had relatives that were seriously ill; police officers suffered family crimes often; Families

of cancer patients develop movements to fight cancer, and the list goes on.  I do not

want my grandson to be an attorney.  I do not like attorneys, and I have never met one

that was a person of his word for the long term.  It is almost impossible for an attorney

to be wealthy and 100% truthful to all clients- it just doesn't go together. 

     It has been a good week because I am truly blessed in this storm.  When one door

shuts, another quickly opens, therefore I am always receiving blessings.  This time

is hard, but not impossible, thanks to God carrying me on many occasions when the

load was too heavy.  The blessings raining down daily lets me know that I am still in

His favor. 

     It has been a good week for meals also.  In federal prison we do eat well most days.

The day I began this writing, I had chicken parmesan, with spaghetti, garlic bread, and

home made lemon tarts.  I could never afford to eat this well at home, three times

a day.  At most, I would have had a turkey bologna sandwich, with all of my fixings on

a week night.  I do not like to cook, and I hate microwaves, so at home I take the

easy way out often.  I would rather be at home, working and paying bills, and eating

a bowl of cereal for dinner, instead of being fed daily in preparation of my

psychological slaughter.  It is a method to prison.  It is meant to break your spirits,

and many fold. 

       A group of us had an observation.  After four years, it is standard for the majority

of your family and friends to abandon you.  Sadly, we used to look at someone coming

in and predict the decrease in their visits, letters, emails, and money.  It was almost

like clockwork.  Why do some families do that?  One of my blessings is my two daughters

and grandkids. They love me unconditionally, and that is very rare.  Then God keeps

sending me angels.  Eva Tan, a visitor from the PVS program is one of those angels

that comes to see me for the last two years once a month, keeping me spiritually

grounded, and in touch with the outside world.  Leticia is another angel who comes

to visit me and keeps me on top on my game, and well connected to the outside world.

Where did these angels come from?  There are many more.  I have a new angel named

Rachel also, who has stepped up as a friend.  These are a few of the blessings that

I never saw coming, and what makes this time mild most of the time.  Prison was

designed to break your spirits, and punish you, but when you are surrounded by angels,

its impossible.  I get stronger, inside the walls of prison.  That's amazing.  I know.

I want to go home, and I am ready today, and will remain ready.  In the meantime,

I will keep you entertained!

     President Obama and Eric Holder put out an initiative for Clemency this week.  I

may be eligible to get my sentence commuted to time-served.  The thing is with fighting

your sentence is you must apply for everything you think you are eligible for, and every

case is different.  I have won 2 direct appeals on my own, and received a hearing from

all nine justices last year in the Supreme Court of the United States.  Do you know how

it felt to get mail/direction from Chief Justice Roberts?!  I was speechless, and carried

the letter in my hand for a few days.  I am inching forward, toward home. 

     That is really all that matters. 

  Rhonda Turpin

  April 30, 2014

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