VINCE

My neighbor and I got six days each for the radio. Loss of privileges is just that. No phone, no outdoor activities. Since those are literally the only privileges we have it may not sound so bad, but that brings our out-of-cell time per day to meals and medication. They cannot prevent me from going to religious services and, I believe, AA/NA. This’ll really show us. I tried to take all 12 days but they said no. The neighbor shrugged it off. I’m glad about that.

I did sign up for the library last night and I hope we’re allowed to go to that. Reading is my only option for in-cell entertainment. They can’t take that away, can they? I tell ya. The service here is a home run!

—

Back to my first arrest. I sat in the cold, dark, disgusting holding pen of the SPPD only for a few hours until we were all chained together and driven to the nearby Ramsey County Adult Detention Center. They crammed us all in one room, which smelled like hot dogs and wet dogs, and left us for hours. Every now and then they would call people out. Bring more in. But not me. I stayed in there the whole night. I dared not use the bathroom in fear of contracting a mixture of rabies and syphilis. I now know the reason they did not take me out. It was my first crime ever, and I was going to be released after arraignment in the morning.

After I was seen by the judge, I was released right from the courtroom. I don’t believe they do that anymore. I walked from the jail to the place I was staying, a couple miles away, and sat on the toilet for a bit. That was a helluva walk with the internal waste containers full.

Eventually, through the legal system, I was sentenced to one year of Project Remand. Upon successful completion of said program, the charge would be dropped to a misdemeanor, and I would move on with my life, felony free.

Yeah. About that.

I wasn’t really ever one for following orders or obeying the law.

The first thing they wanted me to do was go to in-patient drug treatment. Since I wasn’t addicted to anything other than pot, I surely did not need treatment. And I was kicked out in under a week.

I immediately called my case worker and told her. I was not punished for that, simply told to follow all future directives. I think I lasted maybe a month and I started drinking for the first time in my life. Alcohol is the easiest thing to cheat with because it leaves the body quickly. What I didn’t know was that alcohol leads to poor decision making. And I eventually started getting high again and not showing up for my meetings. Turns out they get all pissed off about that sort of thing and issue something called a warrant. The first of many throughout my life.

That first violation was a slap on the wrist. The second time, a few months later, the judge re-structured my sentence. He changed my stay of adjudication into a stay of imposition, and sent me to the work house for a few days. My new sentence gave me one year and one day in prison if I didn’t complete three years of probation successfully, which I almost certainly did not. Stay tuned!