I wake up to the reality that I’m in a cell no bigger then a walk in closet. Relieve myself using the bathroom then proceed to wash my face while brushing my teeth.I have to move within these confined spaces due to the fact there is another man in the cell with me.I guess after awhile you kinda get use to the way of how to maneuver around certain situations.They say that we as humans learn to adapt to our environment, though never did I expect to adapt to this.I know and believe that God would never put upon us what we can’t handle. Once I’m finished getting myself together I read my daily bread,prisoner to prisoner (another daily devotional) and end with a prayer to begin the day.I’ve been doing this faithfully for the past 15 years.The c/o’s would call chow which means time to go eat breakfast. I’m a really picky person when it comes to eating things but the luxury of choices have been long gone which I have to eat what is available to survive. After eating depending on if I have any passes I have to go back to my cell.I’m pretty much in the cell with my cellmate for majority of the day.Sometimes the passes I have will be for recreation, music,or religious services. If I don’t have passes depending on the day they may let us out our cells for the dayroom. When we can be in the dayroom we have access to the phone,kiosk machines, or microwave to cook.Most of the times I use the kiosk to jpay my friends and family or I’ll play some cards. Whatever I do I try my best to keep my self busy which helps my day go quicker.Now if we don’t have dayroom sometimes they call us for recreation to go to the gymnasium or if the weather is over 60 degrees we go outside to the yard which is sooo huge it like the size of 10 whole football fields put together.When in the gymnasium we can play basketball, ping pong,or corn hole.They also have a workout room where they have pull up bars,dip bars,and mats with stomach wheels. I’m most of the time in this area because I love to stay physically fit.Now if we’re outside that’s a whole different choice of things to do,for instance there is a running track that circles the whole yard.We can either run the outside of the track or play football, soccer, soft ball which the field is set up with bases. We also can play basketball or handball on the other side of the yard.One of the craziest things I’ve seen was seeing two guys throw a frisbee across the yard.If I didn’t put the fact that I’m in prison you would’ve thought that I was at some kind of resort.Well the words may seem like it’s extravagant here but this is not the case. After I partake in whatever it’s time to either come back or get into the shower which is another obstacle because there’s only 3 shower heads for 80 guys per range.Wow!!! huh but I’m one of the lucky guys that has my cell right next to the showers lol. When I come out I make sure my celly gets in or it’s vice versa depending who gets in first.The day usually comes to a close after I eat dinner unless we have dayroom that evening then I’m not locked in my cell till 9:00pm.Once in the cell for the night I’ll fix something to eat then watch some of my favorite TV shows like Chicago PD, Good Doctor, Lucifer, Gothom, or a few reality shows like the Bachelor,The Voice,Jerry Springer, and Big Brother being that we don’t have access to cable.Before I go to sleep I make it an issue to pray for the day thanking him for another one.I want to end this by typing that I used to always plan things ahead of time but being in this circumstance has taught me to appreciate living life DAY FOR DAY!!!!!

Shawn Diaz
DOC #A473-104