This letter was written by a person incarcerated at CIW (California Institution for Women).
Dear UCI student,
I have been locked up in prison since 1998, serving a 19 to life sentence. I have one daughter and she is now 29 years old. When I came to prison she was so young and I could not share with her the why’s. It was hard for me to leave her! Today, I am so close to getting a date to parole and go home.
So every person gets older in life, we all tend to get sick in some kind of way or fashion! Some not at all! I have come down with a lot of things. Some of it is due to being in prison. I got sick from eating off dirty trays from the kitchen. I also have COPD from smoking for so many years! I have had several surgeries as well. At times of being sick, I have felt as if I was going to die because sometimes when you put in a co-pay to be seen and are sick, they sometimes do not take you seriously. I’m sure it’s because some fake it just to get out of programming!