As of this moment I'm living in a little mission field with dozens of spiritually destitute men who need a touch from Jesus...
As I'd written in yesterday's journal entry, I had to move to a different housing area because the cell I was living in is scheduled to undergo some construction. Therefore, albeit temporarily, I am now in E-South.
E-South is the prison's Special Needs Unit that's commonly referred to by staff and inmates as "SNU." I am in cell #ES-120, and I may be here for up to a week. Then I'll be sent back to my former cell in the general population.
It's a joy, however, to be in E-South. If it were not for the fact that about ninety percent of the men smoke, I'd want to stay here. This is because SNU is a much more open mission field then where I lived in D-North. For in the Special Needs Unit are men who suffer from varying degrees of learning disabilities, and who lack adult level coping skills. And their disabilities are exacerbated by whatever mental problems each man has.
Many of the residents at SNU operate at childlike or adolescent emotional levels. They'd have trouble functioning in the general population. In SNU there are additional correction officers assigned to the housing area, and the facility's Mental Health staff are more accessible, too.
Furthermore, because the educational levels of the SNU inmates are low, very few of them have sufficient reading and writing skills. Sadly they're a tragic mix of mental illness combined with varying levels of illiteracy.
The Special Needs Unit is a melting pot of messed up lives who need individual care and attention along with large doses of encouragement. For me it's a privilege to be here if only for a handful of days.
D.B.
E-South is the prison's Special Needs Unit that's commonly referred to by staff and inmates as "SNU." I am in cell #ES-120, and I may be here for up to a week. Then I'll be sent back to my former cell in the general population.
It's a joy, however, to be in E-South. If it were not for the fact that about ninety percent of the men smoke, I'd want to stay here. This is because SNU is a much more open mission field then where I lived in D-North. For in the Special Needs Unit are men who suffer from varying degrees of learning disabilities, and who lack adult level coping skills. And their disabilities are exacerbated by whatever mental problems each man has.
Many of the residents at SNU operate at childlike or adolescent emotional levels. They'd have trouble functioning in the general population. In SNU there are additional correction officers assigned to the housing area, and the facility's Mental Health staff are more accessible, too.
Furthermore, because the educational levels of the SNU inmates are low, very few of them have sufficient reading and writing skills. Sadly they're a tragic mix of mental illness combined with varying levels of illiteracy.
The Special Needs Unit is a melting pot of messed up lives who need individual care and attention along with large doses of encouragement. For me it's a privilege to be here if only for a handful of days.
D.B.
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