Well, my appeal of my denial of my transfer to OCC was denied. The Director’s Review Committee gave no reason why they denied my appeal and my transfer to OCC which was especially frustrating as another group in NDCS, Special Services, which keeps the waitlist for clinical programs, had said to put me in for transfer because I was coming up on the list. A typical bureaucracy, one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.

Here’s why I am particularly frustrated by this. If I have to wait until my next reclassification in Sept. of 2020 to get transferred to OCC I will only have 2.5 years left until my first parole eligibility date (PED). The iHelp program I have to take is currently taking 2.25 yrs on average to complete. They may say it “should” take 18 months and that a particularly motivated person can finish in 12 but the graduation rate for the past 3 years shows that the reality is that it takes 2.25 years on average. If I don’t get there until I have 2.5 years before my PED then I will just barely complete it before the parole board reviews me and I will still be at OCC, which is a minimum custody facility. The board prefers that people transition through community custody (work release) before they grant them parole so it is quite possible that they would deny me parole for a year to move me to work release for a smoother transition out. If I went to OCC now, I could finish iHelp with over a year before my PED and I could get to work release before the parole board reviewed me. They would have NO reason to deny me parole on my first shot. But now they could have a reason to…and I really don’t want to spend one more day in here than I have to. That’s why the denial of my transfer is such a big deal

On the up-side, I get to keep beading. OCC doesn’t allow beading as a hobby so I would have to get rid of all of my beads and supplies before I go there. I have been madly beading to create beaded star Christmas ornaments as gifts so I guess I have more time to do that. *chuckle* I was even able to modify the 5 pointed Christmas star to be a 6 pointed Star of David for a few friends. *smile* Here are some of the stars. I also learned to do a brand new stitch, as in it was just invented (apparently), called twisted peyote. I made a bracelet to test the stitch and I really like the firmness of the stitch. It holds up its tubular form better than traditional tubular peyote. I’ll miss beading when I move to OCC.

I am also now tutoring a Mexican guy in English. He is studying for his GED and had someone helping him with his Math. He asked them if they would help him with his English and they directed him to me. We meet 6 mornings a week for 30 min. to an hour each time. It isn’t until you try teaching someone English that you truly realize how inconsistent out language it. I would love to give him a clear rule like “adding -ly to an adjective makes it an adverb,” which works for quick/quickly, but fails for fast. *sigh* Don’t even get me started on the comparative and superlative forms. *chuckle* Tutoring may take up some of my morning exercise time but its nice to help someone who is eager to learn.

I am doing the final rewrite of my law suit over NDCS’s miscalculation of 191 good time. I do not see how I can loose on the merits of my arguments but I realized that most of the cases I was reviewing never even got to the arguments. They lost on technicalities like jurisdiction. Because of the principle of sovereign immunity you can’t sue the state unless it agrees to be sued. So unless you find a specific statute granting a limited waiver of sovereign immunity no court can even hear your arguments. I have had to rewrite my case to guarantee that I don’t lose over jurisdiction. I think I’ll file in Dec., unless I can find legal representation to help me.