View of Lew Sterret's South Tower after a visit

Tuesday March 2, was my first visit and on my way out my 3 yr old daughter asked if I was going to open the box and get him out. I wish it was that easy. My guess is that something I said about the size or shape of a jail cell, or maybe the look of one of the buildings from our rally in front of the jail & court has given her the impression that he is in a ‘box’.

I anticipated learning more about Ben but learned more about myself, and other prisoners and visitors as well. What I learned is that he talks as much as me, he has a good sense of humor and is as nice as everyone says. He also looks a lot different than the picture I have. I see it often because it’s on our Facebook group, our website, postcards and my t-shirts. He said it was taken in ’03 or ’04 and the change in his appearance over 6 years made me think about how long he has been in limbo, just waiting on others to finally realize he’s an innocent man that we locked up so many years ago.

I learned that my fear of visiting Ben in jail was wasted. The area he’s housed in wasn’t very crowded with visitors, which makes me think Tuesday nights might be a good night for my subsequent visits. And, I was lucky enough to have Kristina as my tour guide. The routine for her seemed as mundane as washing her hands. I learned to sign in, head up the elevator and slide my license and form through the slot that you wouldn’t know was there unless you’d done it before. I learned that you could stand back and see other prisoners through the glass and see

who was visiting them. And, my conversation with Ben wasn’t uncomfortable. I enjoyed telling him more about myself and learning more about him. I’d written to him about my 6 yr old who wants to be a journalist because at the rally she sat on the steps taking notes on all the speakers. I told him about my 3 yr questioning me about opening his ‘box’ and was able to show him their picture from my keychain. I wondered what else I could bring in on a keychain (???, I’m thinking).

I learned long ago how to sit and observe and I did a lot of that too.
There was a prisoner sitting on the counter rather than in a chair. There was a prisoner with tattoos across his face. And, there was a prisoner at the next desk that was 15 years old. Both of his parents were visiting him and his mother was courteous enough to ask others if they wanted to sit before she took the chair at an empty visiting booth. I met a young girl visiting the father of her 1 yr old daughter. He’d been there since November and hasn’t even been given a trial date but we didn’t get into why he was there.

I wanted to observe and talk to other visitors. I wanted to find out their stories but also didn’t want to make them feel like I was prying because this is their life and they obviously aren’t going through the best parts of it right now.

As I left, I kind of summed up the visit in my head.

I have more questions that I thought of as I left so maybe I should write them down so I don’t forget next time.

I realized just how hard it must be for Ben to relate because he is so very different from the other prisoners. He’s much older than some and not scared or nervous about his situation because he unfortunately has so much experience. He’s much more mature and respectful than some. And, he cares about his appearance and surroundings. He is well groomed and wears glasses and wipes down the phone before he puts it to his ear.