“Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.”
                                ― Honore de Balzac

Here’s a clip from my experiences in a drug and alcohol treatment program which was where all the acton was during my sojourn in a New York State prison. As a result of what is known among prosecutors as a Vindictive Prosecution — which I experienced courtesy of the now imprisoned D.A. Thomas Spota — for having written about corruption in the Hamptons. The real Hamptons which I wrote about is a darker place than its sunny beaches and the politicians could teach Donald Trump a thing or two about retaliation and revenge.

The following is a scene from the so-called ASAT program meant to prepare inmates for society. Our society.

(Massy and Roddy are the two program group coordinators)

The subject of the day was anger and the criminal lifestyle. Bigs slept, sitting upright, snoring on his chair.

“Do we buy beer now?” yelled one guy.

“Buy Croc,” said another tall, slim Spanish kid who liked to call crack and pronounce it CROCK with a German accent. 

Whatever, I thought.

“Lissen’, somea you guys gotta’ blame othas. Mufucka’s allays blamin’ uddas,” said Ingram, who was also known as Elevator. He was prolific. 

This was partly due to the fact that he was the Senior Coordinator who needed to be visible. One who would be getting great recommendations to aid his case going forward. 

“We gotta’ keep ah shit straight. Don’ say shit you know, dat could come back. You got rats an’ snitches allaroun’ ya. Keep allya shit ta yaself, niga. She ineyudda room, let’s do dis,” he confided when Roddy wasn’t watching.

“Okay,” said Dan the alcoholic, “so, whattawe talkin’ about. Anger, right?” 

“Yeah,” said Elevator, “so keep ya shit ta yo’self, cops read lips, guy nextaya’s lissenin’ so jes’ do what ya suppos’ta do.”

“Anger can come out in a lotta ways. I know I drank a lot cause I wanned  ta dull the pain,” said Dan.

“Gottany beer?” one guy yelled. “Anybody gotta joint?”

Bigs snorted in his chair and nearly slid off in a narcoleptic trance. He farted loudly.

“I don’ get angry,” said one black kid who called himself Jester. “I just make jokes.”

He was a drug dealer who’d been taken down by the cops after he beat the shit out of someone and put him in a coma for stiffing him on a sale. I was trying to figure out the joke.

At this point Massey entered the dorm and came into the room and decided to sit right next to me and took part in the group. She listened in at first.

Bigs woke up when Massey came in and decided to participate.

“I got anga issues,” said Bigs. “But anga’sfa’ dummies.” 

“I don’ wanna stress ma feelins,” he said. “I keeps it ta maself,” as he fought the urge to nod off.

And, I agreed with him, especially with 182 over 102 blood pressure. At over 300 pounds, he looked like he was about to explode. Medical care in the Infirmary was overrated.

“Anger is Good,” pipes in another guy.

Like greed, I presumed. He was no Michael Douglas.

Massey, the less verbal counselor, made a few comments which, of course, everyone agreed with and we were then rewarded with a video. It meant that no one had to come up with answers, fake confessions, pretend recovery speeches, and, above all, no one had  to talk to anyone else. 

Group Therapy was a video called Turning Point. There was a Barbara Walters segment about heroin use entitled “Hooked: Heroin – Hollywood  to Main Street.” Apparently, Barbara Walters led a second, undercover life and her expertise was heroin. She got a lot of cred.

A few guys slept, a few watched the video, and many watched it gladly. It meant that they didn’t have to pay attention to any “teacher” or confess on cue, or create for Massey or Roddy without being kicked out of the program.

THEN, Massey called  me into the glass-encased office. 

She handed me two sheets that basically told me that I’d been denied Presumptive Release AND Merit Board. But, the new date for my Merit Board was now in May. But, instead of getting Merit Board in May, for a certainty, there was the possibility of reconsideration.

In other words, because I took ASAT, my Merit Board was being delayed until I finished the program successfully. The program which I did not need but took to earn early release.

I then walked into the dorm where I got my mail and picked up another denial for Work Release. 

It wasn’t  my day.

Copyright 2022

__________________________________________________________________