Monday, 7 July 2014

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
fb/rhondaturpin

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