(Letter received from minimum resident) “I am currently enrolled in Mandatory. (Ed. note: Until recently, mandatory was a 8th grade equivalency test all inmates are required to pass. Not passing this test affects everything in their life during incarceration.) I have been testing in the D book, and failed 4 times. But now we got switched to the A book 16 days from testing and I don’t understand it.
I am on several different psych meds and sleeping meds, and meds to deal with the stress and anxiety. Preparation time to study for these test get shorter and shorter.
The A test is way too hard and I feel mentally defeated like I’m never gonna go home because it’s all beyond my comprehension.
I dropped out of school in the 7th grade 27 years ago. Now I just can’t handle it anymore, and I feel like quitting and never coming back. How can I learn Trigonometry when my tutors and teachers don’t even know how to do it. I would like to go back to the D book because A is for college. This is affecting our mental health because not passing mandatory means I only get paid 10 cents an hour, I can’t be a phase 3, I can’t go home on time.
The DOC gets paid money for every test we take, so THEY WANT US TO FAIL!”