The following letter is from a state inmate who was serving time in Durham jail until he suffered a major hip injury in an altercation with other inmates.

Hey —,

Got your letter, thanks. I also got a letter from — that’s part of IOA. He liked something I said. It made me happy. It is a true blessing to have found like-minded folks out there. It was strange for years, I was like, “Are y’all reading this shit?” All my friends like to drink. It has destroyed my life. They maintain. They agree, but it is hard when you are fear stricken. Where I lived with my buddy for years in Durham on Vickers Ave, walking distance to the jail in 10 min. Anyway, we got tickets for having a beer on the sidewalk while we were working on a broken truck. Cops came in the house while we were at a bar cause door was open they said and nabbed a fat sack of weed. All kinds of terrorist shit. I was not even on my ruckus scooter when I got arrested (for DWI). That’s some shit. I try to take responsibility for my actions, but 3 fucking years in this torture house for that shit?!

I have a major problem. I speak my mind. I try hard to treat people the way I want to be treated. I am not a patriot. I don’t believe in democracy or institutions of any kind. I stayed away from buildings. I don’t like them. A natural aversion. There is always devil’s work going on inside buildings somewhere. Anyway, all that said I have a real hard fucking time staying calm. I lost my cool with the — gang for bullying and not letting others get a game. I snatched one up and punched and then all hell broke loose and they jumped me. My hip was fractured but emergency surgery because they were worried about an artery in there. If you want to go to prison like I did this is a ticket. Even these officials are like that is ridiculous leaving me in a jail for 3 years. It ain’t set up for that. Prisoners are calm and respectful of each other most of the time. We all got time to do and it sucks. Humans starve for affection. Can you imagine not touching someone in a friendly loving manner for x amount of years? At least in prison you can hug family. It still sucks really bad, but jail, no. When a man starts associating the touch of another person as wrong or violating you create monsters. I know some that have lost all ability for affection. This is state-sponsored or funded madmen.

To answer your question, once the state gets you you go where they say. They don’t deal with county jails. It is weird. Some $ thing prolly. Yeah, — is right (link). Keeping detainees with prisoners just ain’t right. I dunno. They are going home a lot them, making bond, that creates a riff. It’s hard to see people leave every day when you’re serving time. Jealousy I guess. Also, housing kids with adults is shocking. That’s who got me. I’m talking about 17, and I have seen 16 year olds in there. If I hurt him is that child abuse? They are mean. I swear our future is going down the toilet. Yes, if prisoners were housed in their own pod, for sure things like that would not happen. Keeping kids in separate areas, also. All jails I have been to always kept kids separated. Also, I had to drag myself out of court and yell to get these guards’ attention. All they do is sit around and gossip. Then they tried to make me walk. I was like, ‘I can’t,’ and they acted like I was bullshitting. Made me walk with support but it was so painful. Then the cop that took me to hospital was like slamming my foot in the door of the car and was mean as hell. I wanted to bite his face. I fell out of the hospital bed and he wouldn’t help me. Just left me laying pain for 3-5 minutes till the nurse came. People have to understand that these cops now are trained sociopaths. No officers don’t meddle or care enough about your status as a state inmate or detainee to cause conflict. Poor things are just part of a warped system and have been indoctrinated with hate, poor judgment, laziness, everything that is piss poor about this democracy. I was raised in it, too. I am not a patriot. Fuck Amerikan Democracy. I got your letter and thank you. I consider you a friend. I need them. Thanks. Tell everyone at IOA hello and thank you.

In struggle,

Eli Davis