It has now been five years since I left Sullivan Correctional Facility for Shawangunk...
Of course, it only seems like two or three years since I was placed on a transfer. I had been at Sullivan for twenty-eight years. Before this I spent about ten years upstate in Attica and Clinton prisons, both of them far removed from New York City. Attica and Clinton appear almost prehistoric now. They're relics of an era when the guards ruled those facilities with clubs, and by brute force.
It was on April 12, 2016, when a correction officer came to my cell and told me to start packing my possessions. He seemed to be just as surprised as I was. I had become something of a fixture having been at Sullivan for so long a time.
I had to hurry because my ride needed to leave as soon as possible. There was no time to say goodbye to all my friends. The church fellowship who'd known me for so long would see me no more.
I've been on transfers before, but this one was traumatic. I'd been at Sullivan for almost three decades. Having been there for so long, I got to know a lot of the staff. They trusted me, and I had some good jobs. I lived in the prison's general population, and I never had a problem with anyone.
It wasn't easy to adjust to a new facility, but God has been with me. He has prospered me and has granted me success even in a difficult place.
Now, five years later, I work as a clerk for the prison's chaplain, I am also assigned as a trained "mobility assistant," which involves working with and assisting those who are handicapped. For the most part my forty-three years of incarceration have been productive ones.
D. B.
It was on April 12, 2016, when a correction officer came to my cell and told me to start packing my possessions. He seemed to be just as surprised as I was. I had become something of a fixture having been at Sullivan for so long a time.
I had to hurry because my ride needed to leave as soon as possible. There was no time to say goodbye to all my friends. The church fellowship who'd known me for so long would see me no more.
I've been on transfers before, but this one was traumatic. I'd been at Sullivan for almost three decades. Having been there for so long, I got to know a lot of the staff. They trusted me, and I had some good jobs. I lived in the prison's general population, and I never had a problem with anyone.
It wasn't easy to adjust to a new facility, but God has been with me. He has prospered me and has granted me success even in a difficult place.
Now, five years later, I work as a clerk for the prison's chaplain, I am also assigned as a trained "mobility assistant," which involves working with and assisting those who are handicapped. For the most part my forty-three years of incarceration have been productive ones.
D. B.
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