Letter from Lancaster

This letter was written before I visited Ted on Thanksgiving.

Hey Mom,

I’m ok, just so you know. I was at Orlando for one week and five days and now I’m at Lancaster. My first two weeks are like boot camp.

You’re never allowed to talk. You can’t sit on your bed during the day. You have to make your bed perfect and there’s PT training. When I’m done with this orientation, I’ll most likely be going to the work camp across the street.

I don’t have time to learn a trade since I only have about eight months [left].

Oh yea, I got some good news. The books you sent me at Brevard were forwarded here. They said when I get out of orientation, I’ll get them. They said there’re four in my property I think.

I haven’t had my own pen or pencil for the last month and a half almost, but now I do, so I can write more than I have been.

I just talked to my classification officer and I will be going to the work camp for sure. I’m not sure if it’s a different address or not because it’s only across the street.

Other than that I’m just waiting to go to my work camp. I can’t wait. I miss you a lot.

Love Teddy

P.S. Need stamps and envelopes. Who knows where the ones I had are.

During visitation, Ted told me that during orientation, all the new inmates spend the entire day sitting on the concrete floor at the foot of their beds. They only get up to go to meals (a 10 minute march to the chow hall, 10 minutes to eat and a 10 minute march back), and to do PT. The rest of the day they have to sit on the floor without talking to anyone. They get up at about 6 a.m. and go to bed at 9:30 p.m.

Ted met another kid that he knew at Brevard who came to Lancaster a week after Ted arrived. The inmates at Brevard had their pens withheld for the last two weeks that Ted was there. The day Ted left for Lancaster, all the pens were returned to the inmates. Obviously someone didn’t want Ted writing about Brevard on the blog, so everyone suffered. Ted said he will write more about this.

I sent plenty of envelopes and stamps to all four of the places Ted has been. They apparently never made it to Lancaster. I also sent a total of 11 books to Lake Butler and Brevard.

I received an email notification from the VINE notification system saying that Ted had been transferred to the Lancaster work camp on Wednesday, November 2nd. The work camp is across the street from the main correctional institution and is only for inmates with a minimum security rating who have had no violent charges. Inmates in the work camp participate on work crews that go to surrounding towns doing landscaping and other jobs that the communities need to have done.

Photo: Lancaster Work Camp