Randoms…

Mail Call

Mail time in jail is similar to the old mail call scenes from the infamous war movies of the 1940’s and 50’s – it’s a time of great hope and anticipation – the inmates call it “getting love.”  So to all of you that have showed the love by writing and sending cards and/or letters…THANK YOU!!  Your words of encouragement and promises of prayer mean a lot!  You have no idea.

And to those of you who have commented on the blogs and/or sent emails or Facebook messages to Lump – thanks and appreciation to you as well.  It’s encouraging to know that our mess has blessed.

TV

Ever wonder what inmates watch on TV?  Probably not, but I’ve come to find it quite interesting as well as amusing.  You’d be surprised to know that their choice of programming does not match the rough and ready to throw fists portrait depicted so often on the prison shows.  So to defuse the hardness of the hardened criminal bit, I thought I’d shed a little light on their “must see TV” choices.

Day time: Yes, you guessed it…you bet…Soap operas.  Like a housewife from the 1970’s, some of the guys never miss an episode of General Hospital or the likes thereof.  Oh too, to hear them chat it up about who did what to whom as well as talk about the characters as though they know them personally always brings a sly little grin to my face.

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Additionally, a day wouldn’t be complete without them catching the latest skank and skanket on Tyra, Jerry or Maury.  Want to draw a crowd in jail?  Put on an episode of midget strippers or “who’s the daddy” and watch them flock to the tube.  It’s simply amazing.

Here’s one that will probably sock you – believe it or not, but Rachel Ray (no kin) is a favorite too.  Not that any of them do a lot of cooking.  Hmmm….let’s see…maybe it has something to do with the “special guests” Rachel has on there from time to time.

News time:  The news also draws quite a congregation – but the local and national happenings aren’t the draw.  Neither is it the weather or sports – and it’s certainly not the local commercials or more that pull them in.  So what’s the draw to the six o’clock news? … the local crime report of course!  But they don’t watch it so much to see what crimes have been committed – they watch it to see who they know.  The funny thing is 9 out of 10 times somebody in the group knows the accused culprit.

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Night time and/ or weekends: These are guys, right?  So you’d think that there’d be a lot of sports watched. NOT!!  Shocked? … me too.  Oh don’t get me wrong; when the cars that continuously turn to the left come on the tube, they’re there in droves rooting for their favorite NASCAR driver.  But other than NFL football and the occasional Friday night “smack down”, sports are pretty much amiss.  That leaves a lot of air time to be filled during the evening and weekend hours.  So what do these hardened criminals watch to fill all those vacant hours….

CHICK FLICKS!

Can you believe this?  I mean, not that I’m above sitting and watching a chick movie with the Lump and all that, but to sit with “Bubba” and the boys and watch Beaches…?  There’s just something with this reoccurring scenario that screams “this is totally wrong!”

And who’d have ever thunk that while a countless conglomeration of females across the nation gather in front of their tubes on Monday nights to watch The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, that the boys behind bars would be sitting shoulder to shoulder discussing amongst themselves who they think might get a rose this week? 

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Are you kidding me?!

It doesn’t stop there.  I was shocked to walk into the “day area” one night and find them all nestled together watching…Dancing with the Stars – but I was absolutely floored when I realized…THEY WATCH IT EVERY WEEK! 

How these choices must befuddle the Nelson Ratings folk.

So there you have it, instead of the People’s Choice Awards, The Criminal Choice Awards.  Slightly different than you suspected, huh?  SO the next time you see the portrayal of inmates as hardcore unreachable, unrehabilitatable citizens, just remember…

there’s a softer side to the sentenced.

…from the inside…ray-ray