A Friend (#19)

Jeff is working on some blog entries, so in the meantime, I'll update you on some things that are going on with him.

I believe I have written in the past about prison life (and Jeff will give you a typical day in his life in Taft). I do not recall if I have written about the statistics of who is there with him. In general, federal prison camp differs significantly from state prisons in one significant way. In order to go to a Federal Prison, you have to violate a federal law. So, the stuff you see on tv in your local towns, shootings, etc. are state law violations. However, when you see a drug bust, that is a violation of federal law. As such, the statistics indicate that between 80 and 85 percent of peopel incarcerated in Federal Prisons are there for drug convictions. Most of these drug offenders are from gangs. At the prison camp level, you get more diversity, (the Martha Stewarts types, etc.) but the majority are still drug offenders, and still, the majority have little higher education and grew up in gangs. In fact, the only required education a person get in prison is a GED, and the bureau of prisons wants to get the gang offenders an basic education and job training to get out of what they call the "committed criminal lifestyle."

Anyway, to move along, I wrote about how the prison is a barter economy and how guys trade for everything from clothes to food to seats at the movies. Because many of these guys have a lower than high school reading level, comics are a very popular reading material. I'm not making a judgment against comics (I love them), but they generally have fewer words that books and the story is told as much through words as through the art. Moreover, they take much less time to read and anything that will pass time in the mundane life of a prisoner is welcome. Jeff did not know this until he received some comics and found that they were very popular.

This brings me to my point. Jeff has a very good friend who also is a penciler for comic books. His name is Todd Nauck. I wanted to profile Todd since Jeff has been very fortunate to know Todd (Jeff loves comics, for those of you who don't know), and Todd has been faithful in sending Jeff comics every month. Jeff reads the comics and then usually trades them for a ride in the car (when the other inmates make their own meals, they call it riding in a car - I have no idea why) of another inmate. Here is, in Todd's own words, how he met Jeff.

I met Jeff in 1996 at Mariner's Church in Irvine, California. Jeff and I shared a love of Christ, comics, and Mystery Science Theater 3000. I would come over to Jeff and Scott's apartment at least twice a week to hang out. We became really great friends over the next several years. We did our best to keep in touch once Jeff moved out of Southern California. I do my best to keep Jeff supplied with comics during this difficult time. My prayers are with him.

I mentioned in a previous post Todd's work. I'm adding a link to his website on the blog page, http://www.wildguard.com/. Jeff has been tremendously blessed by Todd over the years, and now who would have thought that comics would be a valuable commodity in prison. Some of you may know Todd, but I imagine many of you do not. Todd has worked in the comic book industry for over 13 years as an artist for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He recently wrapped up a run of Marvel's "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" series and is currently drawing "Teen Titans Go" for DC Comics. Todd also writes and draws an original comic book called "WildGuard" about a reality TV super hero team. Todd's site features tons of original sketches and character designs from the many comic books he's worked on. I encourage you to check it out. I think Todd is extremely talented.

Jeff is blessed by so many of you and I wish I could write about all of you (maybe I can). I just wanted to write about how such a simple act of sending comics could bless Jeff in so many ways. It just shows me that God puts people and relationships in our lives for reasons we may not understand or fully appreciate until years later. I'm learning that lesson over and over again through this time with my brother.