Unicor, Part two

It was in the year 2000 that I first arrived at the Penitentiary at Florence Colorado where I began the quest to understand myself. I started by asking myself how a man like me could end up in prison ... with a Life Sentence for murder. This soul-searching eventually lead me to the Syda Foundation Prison Project and to Gurumayi who I now consider my spiritual advisor, my Guru. AND, it was she who encouraged me to call on pray and meditation as a way of re-connecting with God. Eventually this desire to understand myself and to fix myself through said prayer and meditation lead me to a group of like-minded thinkers. Among this group of maybe five or so men out of the multitude at Florence were two primary men, men who, like me, were seriously interested in changing themselves. These two men were named, Richard Haworth and Francisco Duran. Richard was doing Life for murder and Duran was doing 30 or 40 years for famously shooting at the Whitehouse during Bill Clinton's term in office. In our quest to put God first in our heart we became regulars at the Prison Chapel where we would spend hours meditating and praying. This turned out to be the time when I first actually realized the presence of God within me. In retrospect I had to reluctantly admit to myself that up until this point, though I had been a member of the Baptist Church, I had been a fraud. A hypocrite. A terrible thing to realize about yourself.

As if to test my new found connection to the Holy Spirit, sometime around 2005, give or take a year or two, a man named Richard McNair showed up at USP Florence. He would singlehandedly prove that even though I had made spiritual progress, I was far from righteous.

I hated this man.

McNair ... was well-spoken, handsome and polite. But there was something about him that set wrong with me. Oh, it was deep and most folks couldn't see it, but I saw it. He was a cold-blooded killer. And when we were around each other we were like two dogs that were destined to fight. To make things worse, McNair and my cellie Richard Haworth became best friends. Richard would eventually invite McNair into our little meditation group ... Gurumayi would tell me that that his presence in my life was part of Gods plan to teach me to see God in all folks, even those I didn't like. Of course, at that time I was a baby, a spiritual baby and failed miserably to control my thoughts and emotions. Gurumayi's first rule is to "See God in others". It would take me another 15 years to finally get that message.

What was it about McNair that set me off? Well, McNair was in prison for murder ... but what set him apart from the other numerous killers around me was the facts of his case. You see, he broke into a mans business to rob him and then when confronted he killed the man. Now I don't know about you but that just sets wrong in my guts. Now you know I ain't no saint - never will be, but I have some lines I won't cross. For instance, I won't hit a woman, I won't have sex with a kid and I won't steal from old folks or poor folks ... and to kill a man who is trying to protect his personal property, well that to me is a no-no. So when McNair showed up I carried him at arms length. Truth was, I let him know that no matter how nice he appeared to be, I didn't like him. Even though I recognized him as a killer, I couldn't bring myself to do anything except stay in his grill. But, my cellie was close to him, so he hung around and we tolerate each other, barely.

In the prison system the Chapel area is allotted money to be used to supply the needs of each religious group. This money is doled out according to need, meaning that the largest of the groups, Christians and Muslims, received the largest allotment of money while the smaller groups such as Buddhists and Hindus got the least amount of resources.

My friend Duran was a Buddhist; Richard was an occultist who practiced Ceremonial Magick and I was a follower of Gurumayi (Syda Yoga) with Christian roots. Being that we three outsiders were all on a search for self, we migrated to the Buddhist roster at the Chapel which gave us a time slot and a private room in which to meditate and pray.

The annual budget for the Buddhist came due and with the Buddhist allotment we ordered a few spiritual books, some meditation cassettes AND at the request of our newest convert, McNair, we ordered FOR HIM a set of tapes to learn Spanish.

Now it was common knowledge among us that McNair was an escape artist and that he had previously escaped from somewhere, hence his transfer to USP Florence where escape was impossible. McNair was all about that way of life, but we ignored him and him dream of using his Spanish somewhere in far away Mexico.

Eventually, after several close confrontations, he and I quit communicating all together ... but we were like to bad dogs around each other. And then, just when he and I were about to take things to the next level, he was gone.

Nope. I tricked you, there was no actual murder in this story, only the possibility of this man and I going hard at each other. Thank God we will never know how that would have turned out.

Now I know that you, my curious readers is scratching your head wondering how 20 years later this little out-of-place story could be related to what is happening today at my Unicor job.

That my friend will have to wait for, Part 3 - BECAUSE - it's a hell of a story about Richard McNair and is way to much for this page. Lets just say that McNair changed the prison system in such a way that even 20 years later it is relevant. Till next week.

Peace be with you and may the presence of God be upon you and all your family.

 

Bruceton Mills, 5/05/2025