JULY 25, 2025 PRISON CORRESPONDENT Exile from State Street, part two: "M Block" In case you haven’t read Exile from State Street part one, I will summarize it for you. Firstly, I am currently in the state prison, after serving time at Washtenaw County jail, and part of my sentence is being banished from Washtenaw County after my release in late 2027. Secondly, I am very sorry for my crimes and I seek opportunities to make amends for my behavior which occurred between 2019 and 2023. Third, the most active part of Washtenaw County jail is called the ITR. The ITR stands for intake, transfer and release. Fourth, my friend Wild, who’s now with me here in prison but also spent time in the Washtenaw County jail, is an excellent person who will do well when he returns to society. Lastly, I am thankful for this time to rest, recuperate and rehabilitate. I was living in a way that I was a hazard to myself and others. People spending more than a long weekend in jail are moved to various jail units depending on the seriousness of their accused crimes. Those with misdemeanors are separated from those charged with felonies. This separation first occurs after an arraignment with the magistrate. I was charged with several felonies, but I also had some poor mental health symptoms. Therefore, I spent the first month in observation. Observation is a separate unit where there are constant checks on individuals life wasn’t in jeopardy. I also craved the serotonin spike of getting away with it. An inmate who would like to remain ROBBIE FEBRUARY Groundcover contributor detained there. There are video cameras constantly on the individuals and they are dressed in “turtle suits.“ Turtle suits are padded uniforms that are secured with long strips of Velcro. They are awkward and form a shell to protect the individual contained therein. I didn’t mind the turtle suit when it was my time to wear it. It felt like a weighted blanket attached by duct tape. I was eventually moved to “M Block” where many of the individuals facing felony charges are housed. There are multiple reasons I am spending the next two decades in exile from Washtenaw County. There are none that I am proud of. I have chosen not to crowd the article with a laundry list of crimes I committed during the winter of 2022. One of the crimes I feel most embarrassed about was breaking and entering a daycare. I did it because I was cold and hungry, but I wasn’t starving or facing frostbite. My anonymous — we’ll call him Steve — is spending some time in prison with me. He has good things to say about M Block. “It’s a privileged block,’ he says. “Four-man rooms, it’s the best block in the jail except for K Block. They have a movie room and a gym.’ I had forgotten about the movie room. Here at Cotton, the facility in Jackson where I am currently housed, we have eight-man cubes. The summers are hot and crowded. Sometimes arguments turn into physical altercations. It’s easy to get pulled into someone else’s problems when you live in such close quarters. I recently completed my required course “Thinking for a Change.” It was an advantage to get it done early in my sentence. I learned a lot about emotional regulation and the links between cognition and behavior. Steve is being held up by a class right now. He needs to complete it before he will be released. He expressed some frustration with the process. He said, “In Washtenaw County jail, I learned a lot from the Dawn Farms and GED courses. Washtenaw Literacy was my favorite one. We were allowed to research and write on a topic we were interested in.” I asked him what he learned during his year in county jail. He said, “I learned how to deal with isolation and how to cope with assholes.” I recall the food at Washtenaw County jail to be sparse, but serviceable. Steve had a differing opinion. He said, “The food was horrible. Breakfast was okay, but every other meal was worse than any other county.“ We eat from a regular calendar of meals here at Cotton. There are eight days a month where dinner is served between pieces of day-old bread. It’s not all gloom and doom though. Highlights from the menu are biscuits and gravy, chicken on the bone, and spaghetti. I often wonder what I will do and where I will fit in society when I am released. I asked my interviewee about his post-release plans and he said, “I have never been on parole before, but Washtenaw County has really good programs like A Brighter Way.” He continued, “I am going to get in contact with Alcoholics Anonymous, and get a sponsor.” A few days after the interview, he got into an altercation with his cubee, and was sent to “the hole” for punishment. He lost his spot in class and will be detained for a longer time because of it. I wish him the best but I will ensure that I don’t run into similar circumstances during the rest of my stay. GROUNDCOVER NEWS 13 Creativity JALICIA HARRIS Groundcover vendor No. 484 Creativity is important to me. It’s important because it gives me a different way to look at things or a way to come up with something that is inspiring and different. I think that when you get used to seeing a certain thing the same way it can sometimes feel a bit dull. What makes you feel more creative? For me it's the sounds that change my vibration. Vibration is an essential concept in life because it is the fundamental building block of the universe. Every single thing in the universe is made up of energy, which is constantly vibrating. We can see that as we experience the world and all the things in it, from the air we breathe to the ground we walk on. And we can create ways to vibrate higher from being inspired by something in the world. Everything is vibrating at its own unique frequency. My creativity is something that makes me unique. I believe our vibrations connect at some level which gives us good, or sometimes bad, feelings. We should pay attention to giving off good vibrations (or energy) that are positive and create a flow around us. That creates good vibes for the world. I think that if you do that the universe gives it back to you. Our vibrations are created from our energy and I like creatively exploring things that are around me, trying to see from different perspectives each time I look at an object or person; or comparing things to see if I can view them in a new light, or create a new idea or thought depending on how I am inspired. Ancient Greeks believed that the world was made up of four elements: fire, air, earth and water. They believed these elements were in constant vibration and they interacted with each other and influenced the world around them. Everything in the universe is made up of atoms, which are constantly vibrating and emitting energy. This energy is responsible for the way we experience the world around us. So we are responsible for creating a good energy within ourselves to ensure we are giving good vibes to the universe. This also helps us to attract a good vibration from the universe, in my opinion. I enjoy trying to create a good vibration. It calls for good mental focus. Using my mind and controlling my thoughts or meditating. What’s your vibration? Have you ever spent time using your creativity? Creativity maybe hard to feel if you are experiencing a lack of inspiration. I suggest getting in tune with nature, by visiting a park or going on a gratitude walk or even listening to meditation music of different frequencies to help stimulate or unblock your creativity. Frequencies are the rate at which something occurs or is repeated over a particular period of time in a given sample, or the rate at which a vibration occurs that continues a wave, either in a material, as in sound waves, or in electromagnetic field, as in radio waves and light, usually measured per second. Listening to these frequencies will change your vibration over time, so listening to that frequency at different times may change the aspect from which you perceive, causing an inspiration that sparks some level of creativity. So take your time while exploring ways to increase creativity. Creativity makes the world a more colorful place. So get out there and create something with a positive vibe that will flow and create good energy around you! I’ve been working on using my creative mind to influence positive energy around me. I do this by, for example, feeding animals that come to my yard; or going on gratitude walks so that I can see different things that help me feel more positive; or hearing things such as a compliment from a person passing by, to help give off good energy and increase a positive vibe.
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