As bad as I want to name, names, it's safer that I don't. They know who they are, those ranking officials that concoct wrongful and false cases on inmates to keep them here or out of retaliation for a filed grievance or a lawsuit.

The Administration is powerful, if they want something done, they have the whole state behind them. It's run more like a mob ring, one person with a little power signs a paper and everyone's for the idea or the rule.

Some cover-ups are serious. Such as, when an inmate dies behind bars, strange how somebody can just come-up dead. That has to be a gross and sickening feeling to get a call from a unit warden and him telling you that your son/daughter has died at their unit. HOW? That's the main question on the parents mind and the one thing that want to know the most is the thing they most likely will not get. THE TRUTH.A warden will tell you everything but what you want to hear.The true facts.

Wrong medications, improper medical care, angry guards on the loose with guns, and deliberate indifference to serious problems are what kills inmates. TDJC-IO is quick to lay the blame on someone who cannot be sued for Wrongful Death claims.

I don't think I remember how to work one. About every 90 days, if you're lucky and you don't have any cases, you can use the phone for approximately 5 minutes. Not alot of time to say I love you to that special someone. I would like to see phones in the galley part of the buildings, just think how much money TDJC-ID would make from them. It would be better for TDCJ to make money off of the phones instead of all of y'alls taxes.

Just the sound of that makes us the forgotten people happy, the idea of seeing your family. To sit and talk and see the love they have for you. To notice the changes in one another. Visits tear me up. TDCJ has a fair visitation plan, they make accomodations for families traveling to farms over 300 miles one-way. Accomodations? Like special 4 hour visits for both Saturday and Sunday. Meantime where are they suppose to stay?

It's no secret that a prisoner's most powerful weapon is his family. How? It's the outside help-the phone calls to the units(my unit # is (806)872-6741), the letters they write to people like Wayne Scott, P.O.BOX 99, Huntsville, Texas 77340-0099, the calls to Gary Johnson, Director of Institution Divisions. These calls are a concern for TDCJ-ID. WHY? Because you are the powerful public.

Texas-Inmate-Family-Association(TIFA)(P.O.BOX 181253, Austin, Texas 78718)(Voice Mail: 512-448-6368) deals with these monsters almost every day. I also know that they are the prisoners ADVOCATES, some also have family member(s) behind bars. Everyone messes-up once in their life. I'm a first time offender, I'm surrounded by convicts and the likes of that have 5-6 years more time put in than me. SCAREY? Only when something goes wrong.

Another group is the Prisoners Labor Union. That doesn't help Texas offenders. WHY? Because no matter how much I work, I'll never get a penny. Kinda reminds you of slave labor? ME TOO!!!

Then there is the fairly new group Mothers Loving Mothers (MLMTT, P.O.BOX 28362, San Antonio, Texas 78227, (210)623-7263). What a beautiful, warm name. Although I'm not sure of their purpose, I read in the ECHO (prisoner's newspaper) that they help mothers deal with their feelings concerning the incarceration of their child/children.

One group that I hold in the highest merit is More Communities in Action (MICA)(P.O. BOX 3842, Austin, Texas 78764 Att: Ann Shepard). They assist newly released individuals with shelter, jobs, clothing,and food. It's sure nice to know that someone in the community really cares. Through the help of this organization and ones like the aforementioned it really helps us not to become repeat offenders. Thank God for them and their help in keeping criminals and ex-cons out of more trouble by trying to provide what they need and will need to get their lives back.

Here is another group Legal Investigative Services of Texas(LIST)(P.O.BOX 742351, Houston, Texas 77274) of which I am a member. The LIST helps with LEGAL ISSUES and they provide books. They don't have the means to offer classes yet. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) helps a large population of inmates with civil rights violations. To me all of these groups indicate that there is a problem. The PROBLEM is within these walls. There are the many codes of silence and threats that keep them imposed, but I ignore the threats and will continue to tell the public the truth. If I mysteriously die behind these bars in the care of TDCJ-ID, at least everyone will have had the chance to know the truth. It would be an attempt to silence the whistle, but there are many more like me to carry-on with the cause and they will fall into my place. They can't kill us all.

There is one large issue of which I have taken notice throughout my time in prison and that is the two juxtaposed positions of the public. The community demands harsher sentences on criminals and yet it develops groups to help offenders re-intergate into the community and function as law-biding citizens. It's like two positive forces but yet opposites, slamming together and spinning out of control. This creates a strange force, TDCJ-ID looks at it with an opportunist eye, like this: The community demands longer sentences, the population grows, more prisons must be built, taxes go up and new taxes are introduced. This sets the climate for gross spending and graft in the penial system. Then the community goes balistic. They call Legislatures, Senators, and everybody possible but the only other alternative is to let us go!!! What to do?

Take me for instance, I am 22 years old, a first time offender, my crimes are serious, I hurt some innocent people, (not totally innocent but in this particular incedent..)Note: "Some" innocent people, but before prison I had it fairly together. Where my big mistakes started was when I dropped out of High School to help my family at age 17, that worked for a while as long as I had work. Then I went to work on obtaining my GED and getting into college my major was to be "Criminal Justice". HOW IRONIC. I intended to start Montgomery College in the fall of '95, the year of my crimes. I had hopes, dreams, plans, goals and I visited the College site before it had even opened and while it was still under construction. But the same old story happened, stress, drinking and the need for money drove me over the edge. I snapped. I lost my sense of living and let a rich sinister red-head lead me into a short life of crime that landed me in prison and let her go free.

This is what some courts refer to as abnormal behavior, a SHOCK, out of character. I don't want to kill, I want to go home. Trying to kill someone is not an addicting or reccuring crime. So now that you know me would you let me out?? Look at it as a tax cut for everyone. If I cost $35,000.00 a year to keep locked-up, yet I want to work and repay society, why not consider the two possiblities?

The definition of this word in Texas is: The discreationary and conditional release of an eligible prisoner from physical custody if the prisoner agrees to serve the remainder of his/her sentence under the supervision and control of The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles Division. To a normal person or a newly incarcerated person this sentence might bring back their hope to live, to dream and succeed in life, but to those of us that know the truth it's a lie. Parole a convict means a setoff. WHY? Because parole is a fraud, it is millions of dollars a year for nothing. Most aggravated felones are going to do at least 3/4 of their sentences. Look at it another way, I have 9 years to do, I don't come up until I do half of that, Febuary 25, 2000. After I come up for a hearing and get a 2 year setoff I will have 6 and 1/2 years left. Texas parole rules state that they can issue a "Serve All" when an offender has only 3 years or less left on a sentence. So I expect a "Serve All" after the second year setoff is up. There is no parole, I petitioned the Board with a parole plan that I have built with caring, feelings and hope. FOR WHAT? To give Victor Rodriguez a job. Well, ain't that just great!!!

I can't be present during a parole hearing, not my family or my attorney has the right either, to be present during a so-called hearing. What good is parole then? Only recently had parole rates gone up from 17% to 25%. Most states paroles double that and still have a lesser crime rate then Texas. Other states actually have a hearing for the inmate. Maybe, that's why the other states parole rates is higher and more effective. MAYBE? If you have any comments on parole, send them to Victor Rodriguez, P.O. BOX 8610 Shoal Creek Blvd., Austin, Texas 78711.

This is a very brief subject, but I love this department! David Doerfler, State Coordinator, runs this operation and he needs HELP, support and if any money is/was going to be given away, Davey here deserves it. I wanted to make amnends to my victims, so I contacted David Doerfler and got excited. Just to find out that we hit a brick wall. If you or someone you know was/is a victim of crime, please, for the sake of yourself and the rehabilitation of the offender, contact David at: Victim Offender Mediation/Dialogue Program, TDCJ-- Victim Services Office, P. O. BOX 13401, Capitol Station, Austin, Texas 78711 or CALL (800)848-4284, Locally, (512)406-5423.

TDCJ-ID has really messed-up this state with prisons in almost every city on the state map, how trashy. You can drive through most states and not see a penitentiary but Texas is crowded by them. It reminds me of that video game on the computer "Sim City". You build up these cities all over the little landscape and hope they make money. TDCJ-ID has done the some game plan but has lost countless tax dollars in its doing. They continue to build prisons everywhere due to the fact that they only hold 500-2000 inmates, that's a waste of money. Consider that the state could just build several large units holding 5000 inmates. We are now at 141,000 inmates and it's hard to maintain 120 units ++ instead of 50. TDCJ-ID could save on transportation cost, construction contracts, inmate and state labor, tax money, valuable time and many other aspects. It goes back to the free spending of easy acquired tax dollars accompanied by graft. The new units create large construction bills, while the older units are left to fall apart. I know that the units down south are old and in dire need of repair. So TDCJ-ID continues to ask for money to build units. Yet, get this, they have never built the Maximum Segregation Unit out here. The material has been setting on the site for 2 years and you are paying for it to be guarded. If most of it hasn't been stolen.

PART OF THIS PAGE IS MISSING!!!It has been mysteriously edited...Naturally it was the juicy part about guards and stolen building materials. When I finally make parole I will fill these pages with all the knowledge and experiences that I have gathered while on the inside. Until then...Always Jeridebo. PS-With more & more to come! Ever wonder how contraband and drugs get into prisons? Wonder no more I am about to tell you. I actually earned good time served when I acted as a Narc for the prison system. When it was all said and done 2 trustees and a cook were busted along with several prison gaurds that turned out to be distributors. Since I have been paroled I have had several run-ins with parole officers which has cost more than several thousands of dollars. The penal system is beginning to be corrupted through and through. There is no bastian of honesty at any level. Well now that I am out I have been married for 2 years to the girl that I was dating before I went in . Plus, after a few not so great jobs, I got on with a nation-wide large equipment rental working with all guys.I am making great money, have beni(s) and all med insurance. Life's a beautiful thing.

Guess what, life moves along faster than you think. Within 10 months of my getting this job, me and my wife bought our first home. Though a modest 1900 sqft and located on 1.7 acres, it is also a very modest price. You could not even rent a 1 bedroom apartment in the hood for the mortgage, $500 a month. It is truely our castle and fortress against the storms of the outside world. A beautiful retreat of flowers and evergreens and a 7' fence with a cattle gate. Still updating, it's now May 14, 2009. We've been busy getting our garden in,with topsy turvys, a small orchard and the shed is under way. We have a yard full of toys, like ATVs, riding lawn mower, garden tractor and vehicles galore. Life's Good. It's fun when you have someone.

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