The mother of a young man in Indiana has written to us about the conditions in that state. We share her views with you. My son has been doing time since February 1997 although he was sentenced to only six years, do three. He was sentenced as a drug offender and is now in the Miami Correctional Institution in Indiana. The prison is five hours drive from us in Bunkerhill, Indiana. At the time the boy was sentenced, the judge told him to "get your G.E.D. and we'll see about reviewing you to go home in a year." When my son requested to get into the G.E.D. and substance abuse programs, he was told that he would get nothing because he'd requested too often! The Indiana prisons allow no smoking. If the inmate is caught smoking, his room and belongings get torn-up by guards with smiling faces and more time is added to his sentence for the tiniest write- up. When we go to visit, the guards treat us totally disrespectfully. They look at us as if we are stupid for visiting such a kid. Well, the fact is, regardless, a mother's love is unconditional. The cost of phone calls was recently lowered, however, they are still $10. They used to be $20 for 16 minutes. I've spent my entire savings between phone calls and buying my son's necessities. He's been moved in and out of different prisons five times. Each time he has to reorder his personal hygiene necessities costing more money to start over again. I've had to buy 3 TV sets when ones got broken in transfer. Then one was taken by a guard and was never found. I called and spent hours on the phone with different people, but got no satisfaction. I was told that I'd have to purchase a new set if my son wanted to watch television. Recently I was told that a conflict was going on and my son's life was in danger. No one at the Mimami Correctional Institution seems to care! My son is nothing but a number to them. I don't understand how prisons get by with doing whatever they want and nothing can be done to protect someone you love. No one cares about the inmates. All they care about is tacking on more time to his sentence and collecting a paycheck. I was told when I phoned with my concerns about my son's safety that I needed to realize that he's no longer my concern. He belongs to the state. There was nothing I could say or do that would improve how they chose to treat an inmate. Well, he went in as a young man, but one day he's going to come out an angry man full of hate thanks to the prison staff. They make the men lose all human feeling of caring for any one or any thing.