Day 70 - 8/31/21 - Tue
- mainemoviepirate
- 51 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Journal Entry:
“Up at 6:20. HLR Drink, meds. I’m in the Library working on this Journal. Going to do some on Walking Distance, then back to motion research. Have to see the Case Manager for the updated Compassionate Release Form in the tiny availability window at 2:00 PM. The last one she gave me was from 2019. Pretty much useless with the new COVID changes. My 25% of sentence would be roughly a year from now. I need to work on that now.
Did all that I said. Got a pretty good (I think) motion for a new trial, rough draft. Now I have to type up my first draft and send a copy home and one to Steve. On the research level, move on to compassionate release.
LUNCH: Chicken Sandwich (two) with homemade roll, pasta, salad, bread pudding. Ate one sandwich, one patty in reserve.
This afternoon, going to work on the same thing but research it differently. Still upbeat. Even if Steve kicks it back, I won’t be discouraged. I have to push him to critique it, for my own knowledge. Might be useful later on. Probably wait till 5:30 to go outside. Seems a bit hot.
SUPPER: Steak strips with gross vegetables, white rice, green beans. Ate most of it.
I worked on the Motion, almost ready to type.”
Notes for Day 70 (Four Years Later)
Another short post. My fledging Jailhouse Lawyer career was sucking all my free time. It was okay, because it gave me an intense sense of purpose, rather than just ‘Doin’ Time.’ And these were just motions I was doing for myself; my real sense of accomplishment was doing other inmates’ motions.
As I neared typing up the final draft, I was struck by another cold prison reality: None of the typewriters actually worked. I would start hounding the other inmates for help or advice on fixing them. I immediately wrote complaints to the proper channels and even thought about contacting the A.C.L.U. or some outside sources about the poor state of legal material access. That last idea got shot down quickly, when another inmate or friendly guard told me, “So you can try to start that fight, but be prepared for your living conditions to change radically and in the long run, you will lose anyway, because the courts accept handwritten motions.” Hmm, it sounded like solid advice.
