What would you do for a cup of coffee, a burrito?

Since I came to work with criminals, whose lives will be lived out behind walls, I've been thinking a lot more about the freedoms I take for granted.

There have been times when I was short on cash, the worst was when I'd plan for a cup of coffee each month, then plan when and where it would be, whether I'd be alone or with someone. Now, I live large--I can drink coffee any day, anywhere.

And as far as fast food or home cooked meals go, I can have either. For instance, I have the choices to make a burrito, or buy one.

The men I work with are willing to trade a world of favors for bootlegged meager ingredients, put two wires into a socket risking their lives, to warm a cup of water, or coffee, if they're very lucky.

It's hard to know that a burrito so easily purchased by a lucky guy like me, has by inmates to be cooked by "secretly" ironing them between layers of state issued khaki pants.

True, I didn't put them in prison. But, it's also true, that my life isn't over yet, and I've done plenty to deserve a worse life than the one I've got.