The Fourth Year 2009 - 2010
 

This program is good because. It helps people to get to know us better, not just look at us as just inmates or bad kids. People are so quick to judge you by their first impression, but this program lets people in on things that people don’t know about us and that most of us don’t share. And it might change the way people look at us. People judge a book by the cover, but you don’t know what that book is about until you read it.
 

I like to write because it helps me to express my feelings. It is easier to write to get out stuff than to talk about it. Writing also takes my mind off the stressful things. It makes my time and days go by fast, and it stops me from thinking about what the judge is going to do or say when I get court again. I think about what’s going on in the world on the outside. Sometimes I try to sleep all day, but I can’t. Doing the same thing everyday makes me want to be a locked in. I wish I could have a big plate of home cooked food, lie in a big bed, and chill with my friends again. Writing helps me to ask myself was it worth it.
 

Lavon

 

Music in jail? Maybe on your small commissary radio, but that’s about it. To me playing music is limited to whatever can come out of your mouth or be banged on the table. The drums and other percussion instruments that were provided to us were a very good way for some of my problems. I felt like I was actually doing something good for a change. That is not always so easy when you’re in a place like jail. You almost lose hope at times, but while I was in the drum class it was the complete opposite. There was not a second where we were not smiling. Also the cooperation that was needed to create such a synchronized rhythm is a rare thing. I think if I had something like this to do while I was free it could prevent me form getting into trouble. I would really enjoy a type of music transitional class when I return home. Thank you for allowing us to have the steel drum class it was a very good time, I learned a lot, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes music. Pleas make this program available for others.
 

Nick

 

Writing to me is not just writing.  

Writing is more than words on a paper. It’s life.  

Writing is the way you tell it in black and white. 

It’s from your mind above and beyond.  

You love and hate.  

Writing is your faith in you.  

People say are you feeling it,  

but I say it’s your mind 

thinking from the back to the front and to the front to the back.  

Now this is what writing means to me. 

Why did I never write? 

I never wrote before.  

I really can tell you that I was scared and, 

I didn’t know what to write about.  

I always thought if I wrote it was never going to sound right, so I never wrote. 
 

Derrell