“Jessica” is a student pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She’s also an incarcerated person at the Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW). Jessica is a leader in her community. While her job at ORW is to be a student, Jessica also has taken on a myriad of other leadership positions at the prison and she is studying to be a Priestess in her faith community.
This is a typical Tuesday in her life:
4:30 Wake up. Jessica makes a cup of instant coffee, although there typically isn’t any hot water to make it. She says that she’s just learned to drink it cold.
5:00 Jessica goes to the common room to do yoga. There’s no class, so she just does the exercises on her own, or with a friend.
5:30 Time to shower and get dressed.
6:30 Jessica wakes up the rest of her “house” (it’s a group of 6 whose beds are arranged near one another).
7:30 Everyone in the dorm is expected to be up, dressed, and getting their area tidied.
7:35 The whole dorm gathers for “Community Unity”, a mandatory daily meeting. One guard leads the morning announcements. Incarcerated people can submit a quote for the guard to read – they rotate who gets to pick. They also read submissions from “Motivational Mike,” a place to put accolades about your fellow incarcerated people.
8:00 After Community Unity, most people go to Central Food Service for food. Jessica chooses to buy food from the commissary and make it herself. She notes that her entire diet is mostly chicken salad, but that she doesn’t have enough time in her day to go get food at Central Food Service. She is allowed to sign up for one 10-minute microwave slot every three days; outside of that, she has to eat her food cold.
9:00 Jessica goes to “Building Communities”, a course that’s offered three times a day per dorm. In the group, incarcerated people role-play high-tension situations that are often seen in the dorms and discuss what should have happened in each one. They work on being responsive instead of being reactive. Later in the day, she’ll lead one of the other “Building Communities” groups.
11:00 It’s the first count of the day. Every incarcerated person is required to return to their dorm and be counted. This can last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half.
** After count, most people go to Central Food Service for food. Jessica skips this and goes to her many afternoon activities.
If there is a college class on one of the days, Jessica doesn’t go to her afternoon activities. She explains that she made a commitment to her OSU courses and they take precedent.
4:00 It’s the second count of the day, so everyone goes back to their dorms.
** Once again, Jessica skips food and just eats when she can. She’s much too busy to walk to Central Food Service, wait in line, and eat.
After count, Jessica may lead any or all of these 1-2 hour classes: Building Communities (the role-playing course, but now she’s leading it), Strings and Things, or 9 Virtues (a class she developed about the Virtues highlighted in her faith community).
8:30 It’s the last (awake) count of the day. Two more will be conducted overnight. After that’s over, it’s lights off and no talking. 4am comes early and it’s not easy to sleep, but Jessica does her best to get as much rest as possible.
