Listen to Ambassadors Alliance
Monday, April 12, 2010
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
CSEBlogs.com - Tribute to Kent Hovind
Dear Joyce,
Thanks for your kind letter. Getting encouragement means more than you could ever know. See Pro. 25: 25 and Matthew 25: 34-35. You asked me a lot of questions about what it is like being in prison so I think I will use this opportunity to give a looong answer to your short questions : )
After being locked up just under 3 years I am sure no expert, but I have been in 5 different facilities and can tell you what has happened to me. The way world events are shaping up I think it would be wise for everyone to be prepared to come here. I pray the rapture comes before that, but persecution is already happening to believers all over the world. See www.persecution.com or www.christianpost.com for examples.
A few minutes after the jury pronounced me guilty, the marshals handcuffed me and led me out to a holding cell in the court house. In a short time I was taken to the county jail in handcuffs and went to the intake room where they take away your belt, shoestrings and anything in your pockets. They asked me a series of questions like, “are you suicidal?” I later discovered that if I had said yes, they would strip me down and lock me in a special cell for as long as they like. The intake area was freezing (to keep down on germs), so it is wise to wear warm clothes if you think you may be arrested.
After intake – about 4 hours! – I was taken to the county jail intake cells. It was a room about 100 feet by 60 feet with a TV area, 3 open showers, tables, and upper and lower rows of cells. Each cell was for 2 men, but due to overcrowding, there were three in most with one man sleeping on a mat on the floor. These cells were about 7×10 feet and had a small stainless steel toilet and sink. They were locked at night. It is a claustrophobic feeling to hear the huge door slam shut and lock! The sleeping bunks are steel and about 78” x 30”. The mat is a really old bag of lumpy cotton that takes a long time to get used to – if ever. All types of prisoners were mixed together in this intake cell from drunks to murderers. We were out free in the larger room during the day for showers and meals and TV or cards.
After 2 weeks there, I was taken to the regular jail cells. I was in G20 which means green tower, 2nd floor, orange door. This one had the typical steel bars on one side and three concrete block walls on the other three sides. The room was trapezoid shaped, had 16 beds with a 4 foot high “wall” of steel to separate them into “rooms”. Each man got his own 7 x 6 room with a small steel desk and bed. Same mattresses. There were two open showers and two open stainless steel toilets. Due to overcrowding there were also 6 extra men in the room on bunk beds. We were free to roam around the room at all times except when they count everyone at 4pm and 12 mid. I would guess the room was 60’ x 35’. I was there for 4 ½ months and led Bible studies at the steel lunch table 3 or 4 times each day and saw great revival! Some of this is covered in my early Dear God letters on CSEBLOGS.COM. Men would come and go, but about 18 were saved while I was there. God was good! We were supposed to get out 1 hour each day for recreation, but they seemed to have a long list of reasons to cancel it – cold, rain, not enough staff, etc. Mail call was the highlight of everyone’s day! Get a list of prisoner’s names and sign them up to get anything! Church bulletins, newsletters, tracts, Bible studies, etc. Some are locked up for years and get no mail ever! See Ps. 142:4!
During the 4 ½ months I was there, I only saw one fight between inmates. I felt safe all the time. When there was a problem or argument, the staff would take the men to the “tank,” which was a holding cell downstairs with nothing but a toilet, sink, and steel benches. They would be left there for 8 hrs. or more till they “cooled down.” Everyone wears jump suits and very thin blue tennis shoes that are sort of like house slippers. The food was pretty bad. I lost 20 pounds in the county jail. Men pass messages between units by tying strings to a bar of soap and sliding them across the hall to the next unit. The gap under the door was about an inch so any magazines, food, books, etc. that could fit was pulled back and forth under the doors. The one guard on duty was normally at his desk playing on the computer, reading, or sleeping, so it was no problem doing this.
Visits at the county were twice a week for 1 hour. You talked through a screen and could make no contact. Medical was pretty much a joke as I have discovered it is at nearly all prisons. Serious problems were treated, but minor stuff was ignored. Several of the men had staph infections for weeks. One man in here broke his collar bone playing baseball. It was over lapped 3 inches and his shoulder pulled in. They gave him a sling and 9 months later x rayed it! By then it had healed wrong, had to be rebroken and reset.
The emotional roller-coaster in prison is hard to describe or deal with. Sometimes the various emotions of despair, loneliness, and discouragement come in waves and seem to overwhelm you. Singing hymns and prayer take on totally new depths of meaning while here. I pity those who do not have scriptures or godly songs memorized to fall back on during times of despair.
One of the biggest hopes men have is the hope that appeals will be granted or that laws will be passed to lessen the time. The prison system is a giant money making business and has very little to do with the actual corrections. Please get a copy of “The Kennel” from Denis Thomas 160 Indian Ridge Dr. N. Augusta, SC 29860; 803-613-1527; dthomas@usa.com. The book is only $6.50 including shipping and exposes many of the injustices in the prison system. Just as “Animal Farm” exposed communism using pigs taking over the farm, The Kennel uses dogs. Everyone who has read it loves it!
After 4 ½ months in county I was transferred to the Prison Camp in Pensacola. To transfer, they take you to the tank for a few hours till they gather up all the ones being transferred that day. Then they put handcuffs and leg shackles on you to move you into a car or van where you are locked in the back.
At the camp, I was released to the intake officer who did a strip search and issued new clothes. Then I was free to wander the huge open camp till the 4pm count and after that till 10pm. It was the first time in 4 ½ months that I had felt a blade of grass, a tree, worn normal clothes, had tie shoes, got really good hot food, been able to run, lift weights, play basketball, pool, ping pong, piano, get a real haircut, feel the sunshine, be able to walk away from the TV blaring “You are NOT the father!” and sleep on a real mattress! I got real, full contact visits every Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday every week. I got to hold my new grandson for the first time! The visiting area was great. They had lots of books, games, a sand box, an outdoor play area that included a walking track, small soccer field, squirrels, birds, and a great selection of food items in the vending machines. The dorm was a converted military base from WW II. Each room was originally designed for 6 men on 3 bunks but we had 12 men on 6 bunks. They had private toilets and showers with a door! Food was MUCH better than county jail.
Everyone went to several days of orientation when they first arrived then they were assigned a job at the camp or in the neighboring military bases. I worked in the kitchen for a few weeks then was moved to work at the Eglin Air Force Base 60 miles away. I worked in the dog kennel where abandoned dogs were kept to be adopted. Next I was put in the tool room to check out tools to all the maintenance people every day. I learned many very valuable things in each position and thank God for the experience and training.
Then, one day at work, they came and got me and said, “You are being transferred. Come with us.” I said, “What for?” They said, “You are a separatee and cannot be at this camp.” I said, “Who am I to be separated from? I get along with everyone. What is the problem?” They said, “We cannot tell you.” And, just like that I was put in shackles again, and put on a bus to Marianna, FL, for 8 days. My wife was in the women’s camp at Marianna, but they also have a medium security prison next door. The prison bus used to transport us was just like the one used in the Chris Tucker movie, “Money Talks”. We had a chain around our waist and the handcuffs were attached to the chain. This makes it very difficult to eat or drink or go to the bathroom. At Marianna we were strip searched again and given jump suits. They told me they were overcrowded (What’s new?) and the only bed they had open was the suicide watch cell. For the next 8 days I was alone with God. The room was 7x 10 with a small steel toilet and sink. In the middle of the floor was an oval shaped concrete platform for a bed. There were steel rings all around it to chain down people who were suicidal. The mat was a foam pad about 2 inches thick when new but had compressed to about an inch by the time I got it. I sang every song I knew and wrote several Dear God letters. My Family did not know where I was or what had happened to me. After 8 days I was taken by bus back to Pensacola to pick up more men, then back to Tallahassee to a pretty new transfer center prison. There we were locked in two man rooms from 10pm till 6am but were out the rest of the day in a large clean area like the atrium in a shopping mall. We had about 80 men in the area, lots of books, good food, outside recreation for 1hr. each day and freedom to play games, write, read, etc.
After 8 days there, I was taken by prison bus to the old Atlanta prison. This place is the armpit of the prison system! I was in a room 24hours each day except for 5 minutes to go get food and bring it back to the room 3 times each day plus 1hr. free to shower, use the phone, exchange laundry and get new books. The prison is old and has rats and roaches everywhere. Many rooms had 3 men with one sleeping on the floor.
After 8 days there, I was taken out at 4:30am to ride the bus to Edgefield, SC. I had never heard of this town, but it has quite a wild and wicked history! We were processed in at the medium security prison next door where 1600+ men are locked up. After the usual strip search, filling out the same forms for the 7th time and getting my picture taken for the 10th time we were brought to the camp about ½ mile away.
The camp is about 12 years old, was designed to house 256 men but had well over 500 when I arrived. Most camps do not have a fence but this one has a 10 foot high fence topped with razor wire. I would guess about 10 acres are enclosed. We have a nice ball field, 4 handball courts, basketball court, Bacci ball, 1/3 mile walking track, several treadmills and exercise bikes, 8 guitars, two way-out-of-tune pianos, a well-equipped law library, copy machine, small regular library, video room with 3 TV’s and several hundred religious videos and DVD’s. Each dorm (there are 4) houses up to 130 men. Each dorm has 6 TV’s. Each works the sound through a radio channel so you must have a radio to listen. There is a large open pavilion outside with tables for men to play cards and talk.
Many men read, walk, play games, watch TV or work out all day. It’s like a really long extended vacation. About 90% are here for drug related crimes. If America simply decriminalized drugs, these men would be home with their families. Prison punishes children and wives MUCH more than the men who come here! Each dorm is about 60’ x 220’ and is divided up into 64 two-man cubes by 5 ft. high block walls. Each 8 x10 cube has two beds (some have 3), a desk, and two lockers 36”h x 24”w x 18”d where we keep all our stuff. Some camps have bigger lockers and better beds. Each dorm has 16 nice showers (w/doors) and about 20 sinks and toilets. Everything is kept very safe and clean here. Each dorm also has 3 washers and driers, a card room, mop room, counselor’s office, and 4 telephones. We get 300mins/month or about 10mins/day to call.
At about 7:30 each morning, M-F, about 60 men leave to work outside in one of the warehouses, in a town nearby or at UNICOR. The other men have jobs in the camp that usually take less than an hour each day. I go out 2x each day to clean the parking lot for about 30min. each time. It is a blessing to feel free outside the fence! Our beds here are 78”x 30” w/thin foam pads designed for temporary use by people less than 140 lbs. Since the law does not define “temporary,” they are used for years. Most are now about 1” thick in the center.
This camp has a very nice, clean chapel area that seats about 65. There are 5 Christian services, 3 yoga classes, 1 Catholic, 1 Jewish, and 3 Muslim services each week. When it is empty I go in to pray or play the piano.
Several classes are offered for those who want to take them. VoTech offers Pest control, forklift, safety and floor care. Education offers GED, HVAC, Spanish, ESL, typing, and several other self-taught classes via audio. About 90 men are in the drug program, which lasts 9 months, but gives them up to a year off their sentence.
If a person breaks one of the hundreds of prison rules, they might be issued an “incident report,” which can have a variety of punishments from losing phone use for 6 months, no visits, no commissary, going to “the hole” or being transferred. I was called into the office on my birthday 1-15-08 and asked if I had written a song on the internet abut the warden. It was a homosexual song to the tune of Johnny Cash Folsom Prison Blues. They had a black suit body with my head on top and had signed my name at the bottom. I read a few lines and said, “I don’t even think this way, and I would never talk this way. Plus, how could I put a song on the internet? I’m in here!” They decided they must do an “investigation,” so they put me in “the hole” for 20 days! While there I wrote a book and many Dear God letters. The hole is a cell 7’x 14’ where you and another inmate stay 23hrs./day. There is a shower, toilet, sink, and bunk beds. They feed you through a slot in the door. The food is not bad, lots of books to read, and plenty of time to pray and write! More about this in “The Kennel.”
Evangelism is easy here! Many men are broken and eager to talk. About 100 of the current 450 claim to be Christian and attend at least one of the Christian services. We also have “movie nite” Sunday where we show a Christian, or at least non-heathen, movie. The guys donate drinks and snacks. They are showing the “Christy” series this month. The guys love it! I would guess I have led about 25 to the Lord here.
I have tried to use my time to glorify God. I have read about 350 books, over ½ of the encyclopedia set, and have written 20 books and booklets on various subjects. The 200+ Dear God Knee Mails will be coming out as a series of 5 books as funding is available. The first of the 3-book series “Help! I’m a Public School Student and they are Teaching Me Evolution!” is available now on www.drdino.com and the other two coming soon. I have also written over 100 stories for my grandkids. The first of the 7-book series “The Adventures of Danny the Dinosaur” is available and book two coming soon. Once this legal battle is over, we hope to accelerate the production of my prison writings.
The staff here varies wildly. Some are very kind and helpful while others typify Prov. 30:22. They really should not have a badge! They are meant to flip hamburgers! I often ask them, “Are we here AS punishment or FOR punishment?” Their answer speaks volumes!
One very frustrating thing about prison is the way they can always hide behind “policy.” They will say, “It is our “policy” that inmates within 500 miles as the crow flies cannot be transferred closer to home.” They have scores of these policies and can always make more in 5 minutes if need be. Anyone who causes them problems or embarrassment can disappear into “diesel therapy” where you are moved every few days to new prisons or jails for months at a time. Your mail, visits and phone calls will probably never catch up with where you are. Neither will your property or records.
Over all, to answer your question, prison life is easy on the inmates, hard on the families and is one of the dumbest ways to treat crime ever invented! About 95% of the men in here should be home with their families. They are no threat to anyone. This costs society a fortune and does no good except to provide good paying jobs to some people that are probably otherwise unemployable. When I rule and reign with Christ (Rom. 8:17), we will shut them all down and go to a biblical system. God’s perfect law (Ps. 19:7) calls for beatings, fines, and even execution for some crimes, but NEVER prison where families are split up like this.
In our current system, where they have a 98% conviction rate and brag that they can indict and lock up a ham sandwich, it is very easy to come here and hard to get out. Don’t be surprised if you or some innocent person you know ends up here. Hitler and Stalin had 100% conviction rates in their courts. Guilt or innocence doesn’t matter. If they want you, you will be here! Praise God for His promise that He will be the final judge and set everything straight (Heb. 9:227)!
I hope this answers your question. Keep serving the Lord! He is coming to set up His Kingdom! Even so COME!
In Christ,
Kent Hovind
Thanks for your kind letter. Getting encouragement means more than you could ever know. See Pro. 25: 25 and Matthew 25: 34-35. You asked me a lot of questions about what it is like being in prison so I think I will use this opportunity to give a looong answer to your short questions : )
After being locked up just under 3 years I am sure no expert, but I have been in 5 different facilities and can tell you what has happened to me. The way world events are shaping up I think it would be wise for everyone to be prepared to come here. I pray the rapture comes before that, but persecution is already happening to believers all over the world. See www.persecution.com or www.christianpost.com for examples.
A few minutes after the jury pronounced me guilty, the marshals handcuffed me and led me out to a holding cell in the court house. In a short time I was taken to the county jail in handcuffs and went to the intake room where they take away your belt, shoestrings and anything in your pockets. They asked me a series of questions like, “are you suicidal?” I later discovered that if I had said yes, they would strip me down and lock me in a special cell for as long as they like. The intake area was freezing (to keep down on germs), so it is wise to wear warm clothes if you think you may be arrested.
After intake – about 4 hours! – I was taken to the county jail intake cells. It was a room about 100 feet by 60 feet with a TV area, 3 open showers, tables, and upper and lower rows of cells. Each cell was for 2 men, but due to overcrowding, there were three in most with one man sleeping on a mat on the floor. These cells were about 7×10 feet and had a small stainless steel toilet and sink. They were locked at night. It is a claustrophobic feeling to hear the huge door slam shut and lock! The sleeping bunks are steel and about 78” x 30”. The mat is a really old bag of lumpy cotton that takes a long time to get used to – if ever. All types of prisoners were mixed together in this intake cell from drunks to murderers. We were out free in the larger room during the day for showers and meals and TV or cards.
After 2 weeks there, I was taken to the regular jail cells. I was in G20 which means green tower, 2nd floor, orange door. This one had the typical steel bars on one side and three concrete block walls on the other three sides. The room was trapezoid shaped, had 16 beds with a 4 foot high “wall” of steel to separate them into “rooms”. Each man got his own 7 x 6 room with a small steel desk and bed. Same mattresses. There were two open showers and two open stainless steel toilets. Due to overcrowding there were also 6 extra men in the room on bunk beds. We were free to roam around the room at all times except when they count everyone at 4pm and 12 mid. I would guess the room was 60’ x 35’. I was there for 4 ½ months and led Bible studies at the steel lunch table 3 or 4 times each day and saw great revival! Some of this is covered in my early Dear God letters on CSEBLOGS.COM. Men would come and go, but about 18 were saved while I was there. God was good! We were supposed to get out 1 hour each day for recreation, but they seemed to have a long list of reasons to cancel it – cold, rain, not enough staff, etc. Mail call was the highlight of everyone’s day! Get a list of prisoner’s names and sign them up to get anything! Church bulletins, newsletters, tracts, Bible studies, etc. Some are locked up for years and get no mail ever! See Ps. 142:4!
During the 4 ½ months I was there, I only saw one fight between inmates. I felt safe all the time. When there was a problem or argument, the staff would take the men to the “tank,” which was a holding cell downstairs with nothing but a toilet, sink, and steel benches. They would be left there for 8 hrs. or more till they “cooled down.” Everyone wears jump suits and very thin blue tennis shoes that are sort of like house slippers. The food was pretty bad. I lost 20 pounds in the county jail. Men pass messages between units by tying strings to a bar of soap and sliding them across the hall to the next unit. The gap under the door was about an inch so any magazines, food, books, etc. that could fit was pulled back and forth under the doors. The one guard on duty was normally at his desk playing on the computer, reading, or sleeping, so it was no problem doing this.
Visits at the county were twice a week for 1 hour. You talked through a screen and could make no contact. Medical was pretty much a joke as I have discovered it is at nearly all prisons. Serious problems were treated, but minor stuff was ignored. Several of the men had staph infections for weeks. One man in here broke his collar bone playing baseball. It was over lapped 3 inches and his shoulder pulled in. They gave him a sling and 9 months later x rayed it! By then it had healed wrong, had to be rebroken and reset.
The emotional roller-coaster in prison is hard to describe or deal with. Sometimes the various emotions of despair, loneliness, and discouragement come in waves and seem to overwhelm you. Singing hymns and prayer take on totally new depths of meaning while here. I pity those who do not have scriptures or godly songs memorized to fall back on during times of despair.
One of the biggest hopes men have is the hope that appeals will be granted or that laws will be passed to lessen the time. The prison system is a giant money making business and has very little to do with the actual corrections. Please get a copy of “The Kennel” from Denis Thomas 160 Indian Ridge Dr. N. Augusta, SC 29860; 803-613-1527; dthomas@usa.com. The book is only $6.50 including shipping and exposes many of the injustices in the prison system. Just as “Animal Farm” exposed communism using pigs taking over the farm, The Kennel uses dogs. Everyone who has read it loves it!
After 4 ½ months in county I was transferred to the Prison Camp in Pensacola. To transfer, they take you to the tank for a few hours till they gather up all the ones being transferred that day. Then they put handcuffs and leg shackles on you to move you into a car or van where you are locked in the back.
At the camp, I was released to the intake officer who did a strip search and issued new clothes. Then I was free to wander the huge open camp till the 4pm count and after that till 10pm. It was the first time in 4 ½ months that I had felt a blade of grass, a tree, worn normal clothes, had tie shoes, got really good hot food, been able to run, lift weights, play basketball, pool, ping pong, piano, get a real haircut, feel the sunshine, be able to walk away from the TV blaring “You are NOT the father!” and sleep on a real mattress! I got real, full contact visits every Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday every week. I got to hold my new grandson for the first time! The visiting area was great. They had lots of books, games, a sand box, an outdoor play area that included a walking track, small soccer field, squirrels, birds, and a great selection of food items in the vending machines. The dorm was a converted military base from WW II. Each room was originally designed for 6 men on 3 bunks but we had 12 men on 6 bunks. They had private toilets and showers with a door! Food was MUCH better than county jail.
Everyone went to several days of orientation when they first arrived then they were assigned a job at the camp or in the neighboring military bases. I worked in the kitchen for a few weeks then was moved to work at the Eglin Air Force Base 60 miles away. I worked in the dog kennel where abandoned dogs were kept to be adopted. Next I was put in the tool room to check out tools to all the maintenance people every day. I learned many very valuable things in each position and thank God for the experience and training.
Then, one day at work, they came and got me and said, “You are being transferred. Come with us.” I said, “What for?” They said, “You are a separatee and cannot be at this camp.” I said, “Who am I to be separated from? I get along with everyone. What is the problem?” They said, “We cannot tell you.” And, just like that I was put in shackles again, and put on a bus to Marianna, FL, for 8 days. My wife was in the women’s camp at Marianna, but they also have a medium security prison next door. The prison bus used to transport us was just like the one used in the Chris Tucker movie, “Money Talks”. We had a chain around our waist and the handcuffs were attached to the chain. This makes it very difficult to eat or drink or go to the bathroom. At Marianna we were strip searched again and given jump suits. They told me they were overcrowded (What’s new?) and the only bed they had open was the suicide watch cell. For the next 8 days I was alone with God. The room was 7x 10 with a small steel toilet and sink. In the middle of the floor was an oval shaped concrete platform for a bed. There were steel rings all around it to chain down people who were suicidal. The mat was a foam pad about 2 inches thick when new but had compressed to about an inch by the time I got it. I sang every song I knew and wrote several Dear God letters. My Family did not know where I was or what had happened to me. After 8 days I was taken by bus back to Pensacola to pick up more men, then back to Tallahassee to a pretty new transfer center prison. There we were locked in two man rooms from 10pm till 6am but were out the rest of the day in a large clean area like the atrium in a shopping mall. We had about 80 men in the area, lots of books, good food, outside recreation for 1hr. each day and freedom to play games, write, read, etc.
After 8 days there, I was taken by prison bus to the old Atlanta prison. This place is the armpit of the prison system! I was in a room 24hours each day except for 5 minutes to go get food and bring it back to the room 3 times each day plus 1hr. free to shower, use the phone, exchange laundry and get new books. The prison is old and has rats and roaches everywhere. Many rooms had 3 men with one sleeping on the floor.
After 8 days there, I was taken out at 4:30am to ride the bus to Edgefield, SC. I had never heard of this town, but it has quite a wild and wicked history! We were processed in at the medium security prison next door where 1600+ men are locked up. After the usual strip search, filling out the same forms for the 7th time and getting my picture taken for the 10th time we were brought to the camp about ½ mile away.
The camp is about 12 years old, was designed to house 256 men but had well over 500 when I arrived. Most camps do not have a fence but this one has a 10 foot high fence topped with razor wire. I would guess about 10 acres are enclosed. We have a nice ball field, 4 handball courts, basketball court, Bacci ball, 1/3 mile walking track, several treadmills and exercise bikes, 8 guitars, two way-out-of-tune pianos, a well-equipped law library, copy machine, small regular library, video room with 3 TV’s and several hundred religious videos and DVD’s. Each dorm (there are 4) houses up to 130 men. Each dorm has 6 TV’s. Each works the sound through a radio channel so you must have a radio to listen. There is a large open pavilion outside with tables for men to play cards and talk.
Many men read, walk, play games, watch TV or work out all day. It’s like a really long extended vacation. About 90% are here for drug related crimes. If America simply decriminalized drugs, these men would be home with their families. Prison punishes children and wives MUCH more than the men who come here! Each dorm is about 60’ x 220’ and is divided up into 64 two-man cubes by 5 ft. high block walls. Each 8 x10 cube has two beds (some have 3), a desk, and two lockers 36”h x 24”w x 18”d where we keep all our stuff. Some camps have bigger lockers and better beds. Each dorm has 16 nice showers (w/doors) and about 20 sinks and toilets. Everything is kept very safe and clean here. Each dorm also has 3 washers and driers, a card room, mop room, counselor’s office, and 4 telephones. We get 300mins/month or about 10mins/day to call.
At about 7:30 each morning, M-F, about 60 men leave to work outside in one of the warehouses, in a town nearby or at UNICOR. The other men have jobs in the camp that usually take less than an hour each day. I go out 2x each day to clean the parking lot for about 30min. each time. It is a blessing to feel free outside the fence! Our beds here are 78”x 30” w/thin foam pads designed for temporary use by people less than 140 lbs. Since the law does not define “temporary,” they are used for years. Most are now about 1” thick in the center.
This camp has a very nice, clean chapel area that seats about 65. There are 5 Christian services, 3 yoga classes, 1 Catholic, 1 Jewish, and 3 Muslim services each week. When it is empty I go in to pray or play the piano.
Several classes are offered for those who want to take them. VoTech offers Pest control, forklift, safety and floor care. Education offers GED, HVAC, Spanish, ESL, typing, and several other self-taught classes via audio. About 90 men are in the drug program, which lasts 9 months, but gives them up to a year off their sentence.
If a person breaks one of the hundreds of prison rules, they might be issued an “incident report,” which can have a variety of punishments from losing phone use for 6 months, no visits, no commissary, going to “the hole” or being transferred. I was called into the office on my birthday 1-15-08 and asked if I had written a song on the internet abut the warden. It was a homosexual song to the tune of Johnny Cash Folsom Prison Blues. They had a black suit body with my head on top and had signed my name at the bottom. I read a few lines and said, “I don’t even think this way, and I would never talk this way. Plus, how could I put a song on the internet? I’m in here!” They decided they must do an “investigation,” so they put me in “the hole” for 20 days! While there I wrote a book and many Dear God letters. The hole is a cell 7’x 14’ where you and another inmate stay 23hrs./day. There is a shower, toilet, sink, and bunk beds. They feed you through a slot in the door. The food is not bad, lots of books to read, and plenty of time to pray and write! More about this in “The Kennel.”
Evangelism is easy here! Many men are broken and eager to talk. About 100 of the current 450 claim to be Christian and attend at least one of the Christian services. We also have “movie nite” Sunday where we show a Christian, or at least non-heathen, movie. The guys donate drinks and snacks. They are showing the “Christy” series this month. The guys love it! I would guess I have led about 25 to the Lord here.
I have tried to use my time to glorify God. I have read about 350 books, over ½ of the encyclopedia set, and have written 20 books and booklets on various subjects. The 200+ Dear God Knee Mails will be coming out as a series of 5 books as funding is available. The first of the 3-book series “Help! I’m a Public School Student and they are Teaching Me Evolution!” is available now on www.drdino.com and the other two coming soon. I have also written over 100 stories for my grandkids. The first of the 7-book series “The Adventures of Danny the Dinosaur” is available and book two coming soon. Once this legal battle is over, we hope to accelerate the production of my prison writings.
The staff here varies wildly. Some are very kind and helpful while others typify Prov. 30:22. They really should not have a badge! They are meant to flip hamburgers! I often ask them, “Are we here AS punishment or FOR punishment?” Their answer speaks volumes!
One very frustrating thing about prison is the way they can always hide behind “policy.” They will say, “It is our “policy” that inmates within 500 miles as the crow flies cannot be transferred closer to home.” They have scores of these policies and can always make more in 5 minutes if need be. Anyone who causes them problems or embarrassment can disappear into “diesel therapy” where you are moved every few days to new prisons or jails for months at a time. Your mail, visits and phone calls will probably never catch up with where you are. Neither will your property or records.
Over all, to answer your question, prison life is easy on the inmates, hard on the families and is one of the dumbest ways to treat crime ever invented! About 95% of the men in here should be home with their families. They are no threat to anyone. This costs society a fortune and does no good except to provide good paying jobs to some people that are probably otherwise unemployable. When I rule and reign with Christ (Rom. 8:17), we will shut them all down and go to a biblical system. God’s perfect law (Ps. 19:7) calls for beatings, fines, and even execution for some crimes, but NEVER prison where families are split up like this.
In our current system, where they have a 98% conviction rate and brag that they can indict and lock up a ham sandwich, it is very easy to come here and hard to get out. Don’t be surprised if you or some innocent person you know ends up here. Hitler and Stalin had 100% conviction rates in their courts. Guilt or innocence doesn’t matter. If they want you, you will be here! Praise God for His promise that He will be the final judge and set everything straight (Heb. 9:227)!
I hope this answers your question. Keep serving the Lord! He is coming to set up His Kingdom! Even so COME!
In Christ,
Kent Hovind
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