30 Jun 6/30/21 Mail in Prison
The obvious part of a post like this will be how wonderful it is to get mail in prison, but I will get to that later. The part I want to address first is the challenge of writing letters in prison. It would be easy to think that with ample time, writing letters would be easy, an d it is, but the BOP has policies in place of which I have already learned to accept all and question none, resistance is futile.
To mail out a letter the “TO” portion of the letter needs to be printed on a label. To create a label you must first add someone as a contact, which you do via computer and TruLinks- the only thing you can access on said computer. Once you add a contact it takes 30-60 minutes before they are approved. Then you log back on to the computer and print the label by pressing the print button. Alas, that only puts your label printing job into the que. You must then head to a different computer on the compound to actually print the label. You can access that computer only during specific times, and you are only allowed to print 5 labels at a time. Only then can you mail your letter. Oh wait, you need stamps!
You may have forgotten to buy some at commissary, or you already spent your $180 bi-weekly limit. You just wait until it resets in 2 weeks and you can buy more. Then it’s just as simple as waiting for a controlled move which takes you by the outgoing mail box.
It’s quite the process, but I keep in mind that it simply is what it is. At least we are allowed to send and receive mail.
You’ll read every letter you get no less that 5 times. Then you save them, pull them out in a few days and read them all again. Thank you to everyone who has mailed a letter to me already and sent in pictures. It means the world to me.