Member-only story
Small Comforts Keep You Sane When You’re In Prison
This facility is so disorganized, you can’t count on having them.
Before I went to prison, you would never have caught me reading much of anything. I’m dyslexic and always struggled with reading, as I never learned any tricks to help myself get through it. No, there isn’t a cure, per se, for dyslexia, but there are some ways to struggle less. Where I grew up, the school system isn’t big on helping kids who struggle so much that they push them through the system.
But I refused to be the inmate who sleeps all day or gets in trouble throughout their time in prison, so I decided one way or another, I was going to find something to occupy my time — reading seemed to be something that would help me do that.
Words I never thought I would say — I love to read. Now, I understand why my wife, Demeter, always had her nose in a book! Good storytelling can take you somewhere else, and when you’re in prison, that’s something you want to experience regularly.
The camp where I’m housed limits the number of books we’re allowed to have in our rooms to 10, which is different from other facilities. As there are some books I won’t get rid of, like my Bible, dictionary, and one self-help book, this means I can only have seven other books at once. I usually have…
