As I begin this web page as I am waiting for my 'password reset' from a website by the name of 'Offender Connect.' It is not an easy position, being the 'person on the outside' to an inmate in a correctional facility. But, I am my friend's 'person on the outside' and, I am his friend. That being said, I am waiting for my password information so that I may log into this system called 'Offender Connect', whereby I can send my friend some money 'on his books.'

In the previous paragraph I used one of the new expressions I have learned in my 'position' as person 'on the outside.' 'On his books' is the term for the financial account of a person in a correctional facility (prison). The inmates each have an account, known as their 'books.' This money can be used to purchase such things as, personal care supplies, food (snacks), radios, earbuds, even a T.V. However, having a T.V. - on the inside - is a risky undertaking, as it can very easily be stolen. To prevent this an inmate may purchase something called a 'lock box.' Which is, what it says, a box which locks, which may be kept under a person's bed. My friend has educated me on all of these things, and much more.

Our friend, he is a family friend, means a great deal to us. We know our friend through a program which helps recovering alcoholics... A program which is a large part of our lives, as recovering alcoholics ourselves. This is how and where we met our friend. He has been sober now, well, he reached his 'year of sobriety' while in prison this past June 2012, so he is coming up on his 2nd sober anniversary this June 2013. You may think that is easy, 'on the inside,' however when you learn about prison - you learn that just about anything is accessible, for an exchange of money, or ? whatever, on the inside. This would include mind altering substances, alcohol, or use your imagination. So, our friend's sobriety is not something we take for granted, just because he is locked up. We value his sobriety just as much as if he were, on the outside. And we help him to keep his spirituality in tact, just as we would in the regular world.

Nancy Koncilja Gurish
Your Health And Tech Friend,Editor

Devotional Doorway:
Some inspirational help for prisoners... A prayer for prisoners is below. God grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can, and; wisdom to know the difference. "... Hear our prayer which rises to You from within these walls and which longs to express to You our affection, our sorrow, and the great need we have of You in our tribulations - above all, in the loss of freedom which so distresses us. For some of us, there is probably a voice in the depths of conscience which says we are not guilty; that only a tragic judicial error has led us to this prison. In this case, we will draw comfort from remembering that You, the most August of all victims, were also condemned despite Your innocence. Or perhaps, instead, we must lower our... "