I am happy to say that I am writing this month’s entry comfortably with a full stomach of Ramen and an ice cold Kool Aide! That’s right, I am out of Segregation finally! I completed a total of five and a half months and was released early for my good behavior while in segregation.
I’m not gonna lie, it seems a lot different out of seg after so many months stuck in an 8 by 12 cell 24 hours a day, only coming out 3 or 4 times a week to shower or to go to another similarly cramped dog cage like “yard”.
For starters, I went into seg weighing aprox. 225 lbs. I am now 198 lbs. Instead of sleeping all day and staying up all night, I now wake up around 8:30am and enjoy my day, going to sleep around midnight. I went to the Rec yard for the first time in over 6 months and played a game of 3 on 3 basketball.
I may sound dumb when I say this, but I felt like the old man in the movie Shawshank Redemption, who, upon getting released from prison, sees the world moving by faster than anything he’s seen or remembered while serving 20 years in prison. It was as if my eyes had to readjust to the speed of another human moving past me while bouncing a ball. It was such a change from the slow-moving life I have lived, where the fastest movement recently has been a worker walking past my cell door sweeping the floors.
But the greatest change to being outside of segregation has been hearing my wife’s voice over the phone. After nearly 6 months of writing letters weekly, sometimes even 5 a week, I finally have the luxury of coming out to the dayroom, picking up the phone, and having a conversation with her versus what used to be me writing a 10-page letter, waiting 4 days for her to receive it, then another 5 days to get a response from her, all while hoping that she answers all my questions or touches on all my points, so as not to have to ask it all over again in the next letter and start the waiting game over again.
I truly felt discouraged during these past few months, not because of being locked down, but because of losing the privilege to call her. She is my rock, my support, and my escape from reality. A lot of women in her situation would have gone their separate way when faced with their man not only in prison, but now in a prison inside a prison, with no calls or visits.
We both look forward to being reunited soon in person when she comes to visit now that my visiting privileges have been restored. I’d like to dedicate this entry to all the prison wives, brides, and faithful girlfriends who are holding down their men whatever the cost. They are a rare breed and deserve to be recognized, appreciated and loved. They pay the ultimate sacrifice, ultimately doing time right alongside their man voluntarily as it is sentenced by a judge right along with us.
About the blogger: Daniel Patrykus is a Mulatto-Millennial, born in 1996. He's incarcerated in the Illinois DOC. A native of Wisconsin, Daniel recently began residing in Chicago. He loves sports, music, and travel.
I lived with Daniel in Oshkosh around 2016 when he stayed at my buddy Jason’s house for a few months. He is a smart guy and has the potential to do good, but I think trouble finds him. I hope he can get through his sentence and stay on the straight and narrow path once he is out.