February 2015
(Post Five)
It was time to write Pat another letter!
I picked out 3 different pictures of myself to send because my hair color changes a lot. I couldn’t remember what color it was when I met him and I wanted him to recognize me.
I told Pat how I thought it was cool to get mail from an inmate!
I talked about his theories on freedom and incarceration.
“Your life is what you make it and if you philosophically break it down, everyone is confined and limited in some aspect.”
Ok technically he’s right about that…
“I can’t drive-thru Jack in the Box to get a double bacon cheeseburger; yet at the same time, you can’t fly to the moon to get some cheese.”
I think he’s pushing it a little on that one, but I get his point.
I still told him that I wouldn’t trade my freedoms for his.
I CAN drive to Albertsons to get cheese.
I mentioned his crazy neat printing. I asked if it was always that nice. He said his penmanship had been pretty good, but he’s improved it over the past 4 years.
He’d asked me why I wrote to him in the first place…
I told him it was because I found him interesting (not a lie… I wasn’t quite ready to tell him that I considered him a writing topic.)
I told him that I’d talked about him to some of my friends and that we are all impressed with his general attitude about his life, trying to help others and making the most of his situation behind bars.
I rambled on about Orange is the New Black again.
My second letter was a bit longer than my first. I felt more comfortable this time. Since he’d written me back so quickly, I knew for sure that he wanted to correspond with me. I mean yeah, I probably could have figured that considering his situation, he’d be grateful for anything to pass time (he is), but I wasn’t sure.
In Pat’s first letter to me, he’d said “If there’s anything you may want to know about me… Don’t be shy.”
Ummm yeah, I want to know stuff about you!
Did you kill those two people??
Did you cut off that man’s head???
I didn’t ask those questions…
Not yet, anyway. After all, I didn’t expect him to send me a written confession.
Actually, I wonder if the police do have a written confession from him. Everything I’ve read said he confessed to both murders when he was first brought in to be questioned about the Vet’s ATM card.
The police claimed he had been Mirandized (told legal rights; ie: the “you have the right to remain silent” speech) before he confessed. I just don’t know if they have actual proof of his confession or not.
If it’s not on paper and it wasn’t recorded, it seems kind of challenging to prove.
First Questions For Pat
The rest of my letter had a lot of questions (I didn’t number them in the letter though):
- So what drug were you using? I’m assuming your financial problems were probably related to your addiction as well? How was it in prison when you had to go cold turkey?
- Do you like your lawyer? I’m not going to ask you anything about the actual case. I know you can’t talk about that. I’m just curious if you are happy with the lawyer that you been given.
- What else do you do with your time?
- You mentioned trying to get reading supplies. Is the selection available pretty dismal?
- Have you ever felt like you weren’t safe in there?
- You mentioned inmates and their quest to find God. Are you religious?
- Do you get a lot of visitors?
Oh yeah, that’s right… I was putting out feelers to see if I could visit him.
I have, by the way.
Five times so far!