"A Patch of Sky" The Hole at ADX Have they broken Tommy Silverstein?

Here is a letter I got from Tommy in September he spent 3 months in the hole, he still has not received his punishment. Again all I see is Tom's resilience and the cruelty of our government.
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We know what the inside of an ADX cell looks like

Tom  was recently taken to the hole; this is what he describes

"I came to the hole yesterday afternoon & it’s a sick place to be. I'm on a 12 cell tier & as I was walking to my cell I glanced into cells to see if I knew anyone & it looked like something from a horror movie, because it's really dirty & some cells are stripped bare w/ just a cement block n the middle w/ metal rings cemented 2 the cement block bed so they can chain prisoners down in 4 point restraints.

  My cell was filthy & still has dried excrement stains that someone had obviously thrown through the bars at the door, but I can't reach the door to clean, so the stink still lingers

  ADX is  peppered w/ cells that some prisoners tear up after driven insane/or to the brink; since its no easy feat to smash concrete from its foundation & then into ice cube size stones w/ bare hands. You have a picture of my cell so imagine the rage & insane strength it takes to literally rip the desk, stool & T.V. stand off the wall, along w/ the small shelf under the bed, then bust out the window.  I'm in a cell that's been torn up like that; so the desk & stool have been replaced w/ just a single block of cement w/a small desk top

that's a wee bit larger than this writing paper w/ an attached seat. Now there is no shelf under the bed. It's a cement block.  But the most troubling aspect I find ;

I find & unusual from the other destroyed cells I've been in, is the huge chunks out of the floor! I can almost sense the enormous amount of rage spent pounding hopelessly, w/ all one's might, to no avail!

  We (prisoners) must pay for all damage to gov't property, so that reveals another aspect of how far they were pushed beyond the point of return to knowingly cause $1000's of dollars of damage & likelihood of never going to store again. Because they take all $ until it's paid in full.

As I write it sounds like a human zoo/madhouse w/ some guys screaming, others banging, many shouting  n various dialects, languages and urban vocabulary to be heard from distant cells so they'll be heard by the fool that they've been yelling back & forth to for literally hours.

  This is sadly my lot, for no telling how long? Not that I give a damn...."

 Turned out to be 4 months; he comments that his 30 years good behavior the B.O.P has "chalked it up"
as being due to the harsh restrictions they subject me to while continuing to punish me for good behavior..., I'm sick of their lies & phony programs that don't mean a thing.
I'm especially sick of alllll the crap I'm unable to mention...
Do you ever feel like saying *to hell w/ everything'?...”

Then after 2 days he wrote “ my shower is the best I’ve ever had since I’ve been here. The water temp is perfect. It sprays out just  right & has lots of pressure usually its either too hot too cold & the water feels like someone peeing on you or like a mist. Plus! my window I don’t see any rec cages & its not screened  off  on the top . It’s a large empty cement space w/ a huge wall & I’m able to see a big patch of sky”

How humbled I felt with tears streaming down my hot cheeks "A patch of sky"

Wow, I make sure to look at the sky for him everyday and appreciate my shower. He is out of that hole and back in regular cell, so I know there is no sky and the shower stinks.

After the horror of the holidays; Thanksgiving through New Year, the petty things we whine and bitch about. Here is a man that shook me out of the narrow-minded self-centered ungratefulness to be thankful for a "patch of sky"

Thank you