The new guys in RDAP have started to get involved in the program and speaking in front of the group about their issues and struggles. Most of us get very nervous, when your new in the program it is very difficult to stand and talk in front of everyone, especially at first. There has been one young man who has really inspired and motivated me lately though. He is clearly very nervous and struggles articulating his thoughts. Rather than sit quiet he stands up and tries again every day, often times I don’t even know what he is saying. Each day goes by and he continues to try and wants to better himself. I don’t know his education level but thats not important, he is clearly motivated and trying. I’ve wanted to reach out and tell him how he has actually inspired me. Yesterday I was assigned a mentee to teach the program too, they give us a person from the new group of guys that just came in. Everyone is interested to see who they get because there are many different personalities and types of people here. I went over to the list and saw that I was assigned this young man that is inspiring me, I am really excited about it. I will take heart and try before anything else. It is my responsibility to make sure he knows his material and how to apply it over the next 3 months. After 3 months he will go through an interview to see if he transitions to the next phase, I look forward to it!
FSA credits are credit given to us for recidivism programs or classes we engage in. They are classes inmates can take that by taking have shown to reduce the risk of returning to prison. I have taken almost 40 classes, kept a job here the entire time and I am taking the RDAP program. The FSA credits get you time off your sentence. Between work, classes and RDAP I will have over 2 years taken off my sentence. They gave me updated papwork yesterday that shows a Aug 16th release date. Thats contingent on passing the RDAP program however its cool to have the date in writing. Right now I credits and days that I wont be able to apply because my sentence isnt long enough. If I would have received a 5-6 sentence I would have still served the same amount of time in prison.
Other than that all is good!
3/5/22 “Mentee and FSA credits”
