On the Line

By An Alvin S. Glenn Detainee

Some say jail is a thief of time. That the days are endured. That they are survived.
That the only significance of todays date is that its one less day towards a
release when life begins again.

I was one of those people. My only goal was to sleep as many hours a day as
possible in an effort to escape the horrific experiences that being incarcerated
entails. What a fool I was.

Through loving strangers like Jessica, Lisa, Zandarr, and the rest of the Lifeskills 101
volunteers, it was slowly revealed to me through the course of several weeks
that I was inadvertently wishing my life away. It was an effort to repress
memories. To dull the senses. To shut down the mind. I was on a collision course
with a spiritual sickness that would destroy me if it werent for a divine
intervention.

For reasons I cant explain, I was called out of my cell one morning
unexpectedly. I was then led to a small classroom where I truly met my guardian
angel. This may sound a little grandiose, but what else could you label the
person that pulled me out of a drowning state of despair. The very first day
Jessica taught me I had been traveling in the complete opposite direction to
cope with my situation in a healthy manner. Mindfulness was the word of the
day. As she passed out the syllabus with a heading from The Richland Library, I
began by reading the preamble. The first sentence set me aback:

This series of classes over a five week period is intended to provide a

foundation for self-sufficiency, enabling students to gain skills and
confidence in envisioning and creating goals for the future.

I dare her! She is like the multitude of others that believe I am a criminal due to a
lack of basic education. If only I were able to balance a budget, do some
meditation, set a few goals and exercise, then I could be the successful parent,
husband, and citizen that I longed to be. I am only a statistic, a burden on the
tax payer.

As the classes progressed I struggled to maintain an open mind. At the

beginning of each class she had the audacity to ask me for a check in number
that was to represent how I felt in the range of one to ten. How I wanted to
scream Hey, Im in hell! A zero is a value too high! But something miraculously
happened during those much too short classes. Something I cant explain.
Something that was more than a little retention of information. By the end of
each session my check out number relentlessly rose despite the bitterness I felt in
my heart.

Dont get me wrong, the information presented was incredible, but it was the
compassionate, loving, understanding, and patience of the instructors that
caused that number to climb. There is no doubt in my mind that the impact of
this brief program has not only changed my life, but also the lives of my four
beautiful children.

One day my learning experience in jail will be over and the light that has been
embedded in me from these past five weeks will shine on them breaking a chain
that will hopefully protect them from a personal jail experience of their own. Im
mindful that although growing pains have the ability to be very painful, they are
a necessary part of the journey to true enlightenment and wisdom. Whoever is a
part of that process, whether they be a student, a teacher, or merely a
supporter, they will be touched in a way that can only be felt, not described.

Some say that jail is a thief of time. I say its my salvation.

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Since January 2016, Richland Library has partnered with the Alvin S. Glenn
Detention Center to provide a series of classes to male detainees that focus on
life skills (both practical and personal) needed to create a mindset and real-
world plan that will lead away from incarceration. Based on its success, the
program recently expanded to the Department of Juvenile Justice and the
female detainees at Alvin S. Glenn. This program is made possible thanks to a
Library Services Technology Act grant through the SC State Library.