7
street roots
April 29, 2011
Finding peace beyond prison, and the
words to express the lessons inside
BY SUE ZALOKAR
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ason Breedlove comes from the block,
literally. His writing comes from the
heart, and is written about his
J
| eriences of being in prison after getting
popped for selling methamphetamines in
the Midwest during the height of the meth
epidemic that ravaged many rural and urban
environments in middle America. ,
Last month, Breedlove read at the annual
Smallpressapalooza at Powell’s City of
Books. He was promoting his second book
titled after his prison number, “1065131,”
which chronicles his three stays in the
Clarinda Correctional Facility in Des
Moines, Iowa.
Sue Zalokar: In the book you talk about
prison being a place where your mind is free,
while in society you feel it is the other way
around. Can you talk a little bit about this?
Jason Breedlove: In prison, you don’t
have to think about “what am I going have
for lunch?” or “when am I going to have
lunch?” It’s all thought out for you. There
were things I looked forward to in the day,
like mail or going out to the weight yard. I
would think okay. I’m going to do my chest
today, and this is my goal today. But I didn’t
have to make any decisions about my day. •
Mail came when it came. It was beyond my
control. It’s like your whole day is thought
out for you, and so my mind would just roam
free.
Also, in prison, I had tons of social
contacts, but every time I am free in society,
I feel isolated socially from the people
around me. I find I’m angry a lot, and I have
anti-social tendencies. I think a lot of th a t is
b ecause I don’t have a lot of social
interactions with people. In prison there
are thousands of friends all around me.
In prison my mind is free. Everything is
thought out for you. You’re just there. A big
part of everyone’s day on the outside is
travel. Out here I’m free, but it seems like I
don’t have enough time to think.
Inside you are around all these guys all
the time. The guys on your unit are a part
of your day, all day long. It’s like a family, I
guess. Out here I’m in the city, and I’m
surrounded by people, but I don’t know any
of them.
S.Z.: In the book, based upon your own
experiences, you say that by aggressively
addressing criminality in society we would
have less people in prisons. Would that really
work?
J.B.: I know from my own experience, I
have sold drugs thousands of times. I’ve
only been caught three times.
I sold meth daily, all day every day. There
was no sleeping. I have no meth charges on
my criminal record. I know that the
*
chances are that I could go get a bag for
somebody today and sell it to them and not
get caught B ut I also know me, and I’d
want to do it again and again. Pretty soon it
would become part of my lifestyle, again.
Eventually, you always get caught.
S.Z.: When did the desire to write first strike
you?
J.B.: It was in 2001 during my second
incarceration, that I started writing poetry.
Out ofthe poetry came one-liners that
eventually I made into an annual desk
calendar of daily inspirational sayings.
S.Z.: Would you say that the corrections
experience has corrected you?
J.B.: I wouldn’t say I’m fixed. They taugfit
me that in treatment You never have it
beat. It’s just a one-day-at-a-time kind of a
thing. And if one day at a time is too much,
you can always back it up to one hour, or a
m inute at a tim e.
mh M m SI -
S.Z.: Do you do any work with prison
populations today?
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, , .,
, ,. .
.
geared toward family and the impact
incarceration has on family.
Jason Breedlove
S.Z.: How is the book doing so far?
J.B.: It’s doing quite a bit better than the
first book. “MycellF: Prisoner of the Penn”
is more bullet points. It’s funny, but it’s not
what people want when they sit down and
read.
I did the first book and I loved it and all
the ideas in it, well, because they were
mine. But after it was out, maybe not even a
month, I decided I was going to do the
second book because p e o jW w a m a story.
S.Z.: What’S next for Jason Breedlove?
J.B.: I am getting together with a friend
of mine, Joseph Boyd. He is part of the
social justice program at the Unitarian
Church.; We are putting together a ,public
presentation to talk to students about
prisons, He’s going to tell his story and I’m
going to tell my story. The focus will be
J.B.: I’m writing fiction. I’m working on a
collection of short stories. There will be
seven stories in the book and they’re all
pretty grim. One of the stories is out now.
It’s in a little pamphlet (being sold at)
Reading Frenzy, called “The Junkie
Manifesto.” 1
Have a great meal,
support a great cause
Thursday, May 5th
Enjoy lunch, dinner, or drinks at
Lucy's Table and 10% goes to JOIN!
More info at www.joinpdx.com
Supporting the efforts
o f homeless people to
transition into
permanent housing.
Office Cat Rooty sends a big thank you to
the folks at PAW Team for looking out for
him with health cat food. Thank you, PAW
Team!