I have been convicted of Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud and I will be going to Leavenworth's minimum security camp in late May for 15 months -15%APR, more then likely. This will be my first prison sentence...

Does anyone have any info on this prison and security level?

I will take the government up on there offer to turn myself in after 30 days, but what should I expect when I get there?

I read a post by Fed-X to another person getting ready to go to a fed system, but I know a little more about my situation, so maybe I can get a more indepth answer...

I am a junior in college and I was needing to know if there was any advanced education opertunities? i.e. upper level college courses.

How bad will it be? How are the weight room facilities? Things I will need to do or know to watch my ass? Just anything?

Thanks
DJ Alexander

Opps, I responded to another post of yours, your going to min. That one is not as bad as the high security.
There is not any weights in there any more. There was but feds prettymuch took them out.
you might want to go to this site and see what you can find out on it more
www.bop.gov

if you want a pal to write to while being lock up, let me know and i would be more then happy to write you. Pm me.
Good luck and best wishes

Q. I am a junior in college and I was needing to know if there was any advanced education opertunities? i.e. upper level college courses.

A. Ohio University has a program for the incarcerated.
http://www.ohio.edu/adultlearning/incarc.htm

There are other schools but I don't know them.

okay, i'm confused, leavenworth minimum security in kansas, i've been told that i will have to go to a camp in texas or illinois, what's the difference?

harncw--thanks for the information on Ohio University....I'm having information sent to my husband as a result of you posting this..Again thanks!

Deb

Don't watch your ass to closely, people will start to think things, LOL. Just kidding.

Welcome to PTO.

I don't know anything about Leavenworth, except I lived there for awhile as a kid. I still remember seeing those walls, & Towers. Always reminded me of the old James Cagny & George Raft movies. If David (Fed-X) doesn't respond to this post, you may want to PM him. Give him a few days though.-------Ken

Thanks for the info on Univ. of Ohio. I have sent out for the information... And, the prices seem reasonable.

I received my Presentence Report today and my point total was lower then my lawyer and I thought so maybe, just maybe, I won't have to go to prison. Either way I am looking at less time; probably 366 days instead of 15 months...

mrsg, are you going to state prison or feds?

federal!! maybe that's the difference

mrsg,

If you are asking what is the difference between minimum security and a camp there is none.

In the federal prison system, the lowest security is a minimum security prison camp. To further confuse things these are often located adjacent to higher security prisons.

I'm so jealous I surrender in 17 days and I still have no idea where I'm going...

Harncw covered that one..
Here are the "main" levels...
ADX (no-human contact, down in the ground for a long time - scary)
U.S.P. (United States Penitentiary) aka. "High” Not a nice place to reside.. Lots of tension, many lock downs - controlled movements, one or two man cells depending on institution, etc.

Medium - Where I did my time.. Not so bad if you know how to act. 2 man cells, maybe more as they are removing two man bunks and installing 3 highs. Turning some TV rooms into mini-dorms. Controlled movements. More fights and gang activity than a low. Some lock downs.

Low - "Open Yard" most of the time.. Can move about more freely. Most of the time you live in a dorm with 100+ other guys in cube's.

Camp/Minn. - Most of the time there is no fence at all. Open yards, etc.

As for schooling, if you are a junior, I don't know if you are going to get any good classes to apply towards your degree. Depends on what the college you plan to graduate from will accept. Where I did my time they offered a couple classes from a local college but they were pretty much a joke. I took a Government class and though the prof they sent in was cool, he was basically only breezing through the curriculum so everyone, or most would pass. I'm sure everyone took something away from it, and there were many that were very serious and quizzed him relentlessly, but this was a freshman class and the prices were ridiculous.. I'm talking $240 sans the book prices if you were "local". If you were out of state, meaning that you were not from Texas (I was), the cost was around $800.00 for the class. Of course, you didn't have a choice on what the class was.. They would just post on the wall in the library that there was a Govt. 1301 class coming and to register if you wanted it. They didn't listen to anyone's suggestions.
If I were you, I would use your time in prison to hyper-focus on the classes/degree you are gunning for when you get out. You know what classes you are going to have to take, so get the books (not necessarily what you think the actual course book is going to be, because we all know how often those change) that will give you a head start on the classes and will allow you to excel when you get there. If you field is technology (etc), subscribe to magazines and so on. If you have business plans, research and plan on them when you’re on the inside.. You will have a lot of free time on your hand.. How you use it will determine if this prison experience was a waste of time or benefiting your future.
I spent 14 hours a day jamming the books, researching and getting my head straight.. This site was designed in a federal prison cell. It was just one of the things that materialized out of my stay and prove it wasn't a waste..
Just my 1000 cents.. ;)
David

Thanks for the info Fed-X. I spoke to my lawyer yesterday and he said that I will probably recieve 10 months on a split sentence. So, 5 months in and 5 months home confinement. My criminal past only scored 1 point so that helped.

Does anyone have info on home confinement? How it is? Etc.?

Fed-X - Why did you have so much spare time on your hands? I thought that you had to work while you were in. Didn't you have you own TV or anything? Can you have a TV in your cell?

What type of programs do they have to help someone lose weight and or get in shape? i.e. Weight Rooms? Track? Anything?

Thanks,
David

I ended getting 10 months... I am now waiting on the placement letter. All I can think of is going to prison and that is not how I want to spend my last free days. I only have about 2 weeks left and i am getting nevous... Oh well... All this and I didn't really do what i was convicted for. The system is f*cked...

I would like to tell everyone thank you for all of the replys and help that you have given me through this tough time in my life. The hardest part of this is not knowing what is going on and what is to come. This website and all of the amazing members has been a huge help. Thanks.

If anyone has a loved one in the Leavenworth Camp let me know and I will tell them hi for you... :)

djAlexander-

I sent a PM your way. I am facing mail fraud too, so lets talk some time.


B

hello. I don't know much about the camp at leavenworth. my fiancee is in the penitentiary there. I do know the camp is on the grounds and the penitentiary is maximum security. But when i go to visit i see people from the camp out on the grounds and up in the prison working. i think they also have evening visitation but not sure. People have said the visits there are much more relaxed and there is a place to go outside for visits. But not really sure. Be thankful your not up there. Sunday an inmate stabbed a guard and as of now the prison is still on lockdown and the only info i have heard is through the newspaper. I'm so worried about my fiancee. Every week there is something going on. I always pray that he'll make it out alive. I have another 3-4 years to deal with this.

djalexander--

If you want folks from here to write to you when you're in just post your address here in this thread or start a new one with your address. Good luck and YOU CAN DO THIS! And your right the system is f***ed with so many going in that are innocent and how many we're incarcerating....

Deb

I don't know my address as of yet, but when I get it I will post it. Thanks to all...

your address is

"your name"
inmate #
leavenworth prison camp
p.o.box 1000
leavenwoth,ks 66048

you might already have an inmate # ..go to www.bop.gov and do an inmate search with your name and you should be in transport but have a # already ..good luck

casey

David J. Alexander (Katzfey)
Inmate # 09472-031
Leavenworth Prison Camp
P.O. Box 1000
Leavenwoth, KS 66048

I will be going in on the 23rd of June.

If anyone would like to write me just to see how it is, I will be more then happen to write you back.

Or just write... Just because...

Thanks to everyone that have helped me. I now feel prepaired to go. I will be back out in late April 2004 and I will spend a few months answering questions on this website to try to give back a little.

Thanks
David

Best wishes to you David... I know it ain't gonna be easy, but hopefully you'll be able to take some of what you've found at PTO with you and that'll help things some. Take care of yourself...

You can do it David! Best wishes and stay strong.

Just a few days left and it is starting to sink in. Not much to do now...

David

Try to make the best of those few days left, even if I think it's not that easy !!

I stuck this thread so that we won't have to look for your name and address all over PTO. Be sure we won't forget you for Christmas and New Year.

I will also send you a card from Paris.

Hang in there David and stay strong !!
All my best wishes
Phil

Hey DAlexander.

I'm in the midst of writing a book on prisons. I'd be thrilled if I could tell your story. Any chance you'd be interested?

My AOL chat name is ccxnick. Let me know!

Either way, I'll be sure to send you some correspondance.

I would be interested in telling my story... I already plan to... People need to know what to expect when they go in. Send me information to Leavenworth; the address is in the forum. Don't send it out until Wednesday, June 25.

Man I am really starting to freak out... I just keep telling myself that it is only 10 months and I have the rare luxury of being able to count the days. Not to mention that it is only a federal prison camp. Most people that go to prison have it a lot worse than I.

I want to take this time once again to say thanks to everyone that has helped me through is stressful journey. I have learned a lot and I will be back on PrisonTalk.com in late April 2004 to help people and tell them exactly how it is.

David

David stay strong and keep in touch. I just sent you my address so please let us know how you are doing!

Pammie

David, we will be thinking of you! Best of luck- you'll definately hear from us!!!

Tanya :(

David,
You are in my prayers.. Stay strong and keep your head up! Remember, this is not forever... Take one day at a time! There are so many of us here at PTO pulling for you!

Shelly

Anyone who wants to contact me while I am "IN" for whatever reason please write after June, Wednesday 23rd, 2003. I expect that I will need a little time to get checked in.

Once again, my address is...

David J. Alexander (Katzfey)
Inmate # 09472-031
Leavenworth Prison Camp
P.O. Box 1000
Leavenwoth, KS 66048

David, I wish you the best. Hang in there and know your PTO friends will be thinking about you.

mrs. d

David the best of luck to ya! Will keep you in my thoughts!

David,

The best of Luck to you. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

You have plenty of people pulling, thinking, and praying for you here at PTO!

Has Anyone written to him?

I saw him last sunday when I went to visit my man..he is doing alright my man keeps trying to get him to do things but he isn't quite up to it yet. He will be out before he knows it.

-casey

i wrote to him last week and they returned the letter to me with a sticker on the outside saying "no longer here" on the outside. weird. was he released?

Yep! he is still there. My man sees him all the time.

how weird... i wonder why my letter was returned with a "no longer here" sticker on it then.

If you would like..you could send it to my man and he will give it to him..if you want to do that then PM me and I will give you his address or you could give me yours and I will give it to dave when I see him again?

-casey

I was at Leavenworth FPC for 18 months, but my info is about 4.5 years old so pardon any errors.
I self-surrendered, and was processed at the big house. One of the first people I met was a pathetic middle-aged officer, who was pretty wimpy and wore incredibly ill-fitting clothes. He tried to be very tough, saying in his toughest voice, "Welcome to prison." The effect was absurd, and I wanted to laugh, but the best course is to keep an unemotional face. You should understand that many, not all, of the guards have emotional problems that they try to take out on the prisoners. The only course is to keep your mouth shut and your head down.
I note from that other people have had different experiences, but in my case most everything was taken from me. I did have $100, which was a good idea, and was credited to my inmate account. My glasses were taken because there was nothing in my presentence report about glasses, and it took a while to get prison issues glasses.
I got my prison i.d. during this process, and was met at the exit door of the big house by the "taxi" driver, another camp prisoner, who drove me to the camp. Assuming they still use camp prisoners to drive the taxi, remember who he is because he can usually help you.
The camp is quite close to the big house. It is surrounded by fence topped with razor wire. When I was there, I got to know a guy, Everett, who had been there his entire 10 year sentence, and was there when there was not fence. Times have changed. They put up the razor wire while I was there. The camp was built to house 297 inmates, and with no real change in the facilities, it now house 545, so it will be crowded. While I was there we occasionally were over 500, and they had temporary beds for the excess numbers. You may get a short orientation from an inmate. I received mine from a great guy, Smiley, who has since been released. He gave me the run down on hours, clothes, etc., and helped me get my things. You will be shown the "bubble", which is the guard enclosure at the entrance to the inner compound, and where as a new inmate you have to report in the morning for temporary work assignments. You will also be shown your bunkbed, and be given sheets and pillow cases. You will have a small locker to store your things.
There are several things which should occupy your efforts right away. You want to get a good job as soon as possible. Don't wait for it to come to you, look for one right away. If you don't need to earn anything, you might go to the library as soon as possible and ask for Mr. Wood, who is still there and is responsible for the "educational" part of the camp. He is a decent guy who, however, has been rebuffed many times by the powers-that-be so he is cautious about helping too much.
If you need to make some money, not a lot, you should ask about the depot; the taxi driver can give you information about it. It involves clerical and warehouse work, but has certain advantages, and disadvantages, that you can ask me about privately. I worked there for quite a while. Another possibility is working in the community. Near the end of my stay I worked in the national cemetery, and it turned out well for me.
Two considerations are important here. First, when they have a lock down in the big house (inmate riot, killings, whatever) the camp inmates have to go at all hours of the day and night to make sandwiches and do grunt work in the big house. If you work at the depot or do community work, you do not have to go. Second, at the depot or in community work, you are away from the camp and it just makes for a nicer day.
The camp has 4 wings, A,B,C and D (this makes it easier for the guards, who, as a general rule, are dumb.) When I was there, A wing was for the DAP program, but that may have changed. When you are new you are placed in a dorm room, but if you are there long enough you can get assigned to a 2-man room.
There were a number of counts when I was there. About 3:30 a.m., there was a bed count; you had to be in bed for the count. After work, a "standing" count, where you had to be standing by your bed. And at 10:00 p.m., another be count, where you just had to be in bed. You could not leave the dorm rooms until there was an all clear after the count; I assume that still applies.
Medical care is awful at the camp. If you have insurance, you can get outside care, and I would talk to your advisor about arranging that. You are assigned a camp advisor, and they are pretty useless for most things, except when you are ready to leave, but they can give you assistance in this area. Never, ever, believe that they will do things in a timely manner, however, and if something is important to you, harass them.
Doing laundry is a problem, because the facilities are small and with lots of people you don't have a great choice of times to do it. You have 2 choices: (1) some inmates with spare time will do laundry for you, which is usually a decent idea, or (2) find an odd ball time to get your laundry done. One partial solution to the problem was to accumulate additional pairs of socks, underwear, etc., more than allowed by the rules, so that you had some flexibility about doing laundry. I worked out a trade with one of the night cook inmates, who put my laundry in the washer and dryer, where I would pick it up early in the morning, in return for doing legal work for him.
Have books sent in to you for entertainment, starting right away. There is a small library there, and a legal library, but not enough for anyone.
This all should get you started. I think they may have changed the phone system since I was there, so I won't comment on it. If you want more info, let me know.

Did anyone ever hear what happened? I am curious, is he out?