ADJUSTING TO LIFE AT LOMPOC

Its been a week- almost – since Corey was loaded in the prison van and driven over to Lompoc. When a prisoner moves from one prison to another there are always some pro's and some cons (no pun intended) to contend with, some things will be better, some worse. There is generally always a trade off. One always hears rumors as well as reliable information re what these things are and we’d all been listening eagerly to any information that related to both Sheridans Camp and Lompocs, as we were fairly certain Corey would be sent to one or the other for the RDAP. Now that he is at Lompoc and was able to put to use funds on his acct, he’s called a few times but mostly taken full advantage of the inmate email system, called Corrlinks, that he can subscribe to by the minute. The cost of the system is 30 cents for 5 minutes use. So we will all learn to type faster, and use shorthand when we can LOL. We’ve been enjoying back and forth emails a few times every day, as he learns more and more about his new home for the next 18 months.

On the UPSIDE the food is a huge improvement over the food quality at Taft. We’d heard food in the BOP-run prisons was superior to that served in the private-for-profit prisons like the one at Taft, the ones run by the likes of CCA (Corrections Corporation of America, the single largest such company). Understandable. In order to increase profits private corporations are always watching the bottom line and cutting every imaginable expense, at the expense of the inmates in this case. Another upside was seeing the large ‘weight pile” at Lompoc. Prisons no longer purchase weight lifting equipment, new ones no longer allow it, but the older prisons have been allowed to keep what is there, but it is not replaced as it breaks down. So I imagine the inmates take especially good care of this equipment. At Taft Corey learned to work out using his own body weight in his resistance training. One of the things we most looked forward to was the change in climate! After 8 years in the desert at Taft, he is now breathing the clean, fresh, moist air carried on the ocean breezes. He is surrounded by lush green foliage, grass and trees. LOTS of them!

On the DOWNSIDE, accommodations has to top the list. At Taft Camp Corey had shared a two man cube, each cube had 5 ft tall cinder block walls. Inside each cube was a bunk bed, small desk, two plastic chairs, two full size lockers. Coreys cube, the last one he lived in while at Taft (over the years he was often moved from one cube to another) was a "perimeter" cube (there are also cubes in the center of the unit, back to back) had a tall narrow window with a view! Not the greatest view, but the window added the illusion of more space at least, and more light. Corey slept in the bottom bunk, so whenever on his bed, he had lots of privacy. There were two, 2 two story, concrete buildings each with 2 Units (A/B and C/D). Inside each housing unit (top and bottom) were special tv rooms and each inmate would take his own chair and place it in their “reserved’ spot (an “earned” respect), and the email computer and telephones were in the housing units. There was a laundry room on the main floor of each unit, and each floor had a ‘kitchen’ with several microwaves and enough space so inmates could prepare their own meals. Corey rarely ate in the chow hall, he mostly always prepared his own meals from items he could purchase at commissary every week.

Inmate housing at Lompoc Camp is essentially "bare bones", the two Units (Alpha and Beta) are metal warehouses, each sleeping over 200 men, in bunkbeds, "barrack" style, with very small lockers to hold their personal possessions. There are no kitchen areas in the units, no tv room. There are no microwave ovens in his unit (though he can walk to another unit to use one of the few available if he wishes, but apparently prep area is very small). The telephones are outside in the yard (covered kiosks) and the tv’s are also outside in a covered area, with metal bleachers where one can sit to view them (using headphones and his little radio). Half the year at least it can get a mite chilly at this "drive in" type tv situation. Corey says needless to say his viewing will be minimal, but looks forward to making more time for reading again. The meals at the Camp are actually prepared over in the adjacent Medium security prison and brought over for every meal. I cannot remember the reason for that, but it seems to work fine. So as you can tell, the differences in accommodations and "ammenities" are a bit stark, and as Corey looks back over the past 7 yrs at Taft Camp he's relieved he was able to serve the bulk of his sentence there.

The biggest difference he says is that Lompoc is a working farm. Taft was for “loafers”. Not that that was all that bad LOL. He says if one didn’t have an assigned job at Lompoc one would go crazy as there is little in the way of entertainment or hobbies. He says he actually is looking forward to being given his job assignment, for now he is relegated to small jobs around the yard, a few hrs a day, and then “works at” finding ways to pass the time the rest of the day. He has blisters on both feet from all the walking he’s been doing on the track, in shoes that were given him “temporarily”’ until he is given is own personal property he brought over from Taft with him. Overall he has to say he preferred Taft for its accommodations but the food quality and climate at Lompoc make it too close to call at this point.

If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want. ~Oscar Wilde