Thank you letter

Mr. Rufus West's "Thank You Letter". To: Mr. Jeff Billerbeck 9-29-08 Greetings from the belly of the beast! A few years ago, I was watching this program on PBS about psychology. In this program they showed an experiment where the Dr. put a tiny island in the middle of this huge vat of milk. In this vat he put a lab rat to observe its behavior. The rat started swimming around the edge of the vat in a circle. Eventually the rat drowned. The Dr. did this several times & got the same results. After several more rats being drowned, the Dr. decided to put the rat on the island when it appeared that it was about to drown. He then put it back in the milk to see if it would go to the island & save itself or continue to swim around the edge of the vat. The rat swam to the island. The Dr. then removed the island to see how long the rat would seek out the island before it drowned. The reason why I've narrated the above experiment is to show that being in prison is as experimental as the rats in the milk. There was nothing wrong -w- the rats' behavior prior to the Dr. intervening. The Dr. decided to exploit the rats' behavior for personal gain via environmental manipulation. The DOC staff do the same thing to us prisoners, especially -w- me. Being in prison is akin to said environmental manipulation. Certain circumstances & environments are maliciously created incessantly until a negative response is obtained. In such instances I believe that any response is understandably warranted. I believe that after 14 years in prison I've done all of the personal positive changes I can possibly make in such an enclosed environment. Thus when you ask, "What are some things about you that you want to change?", I'm unable come up -w- anything, not because I'm perfect, but because of the aforementioned. Now had you had asked "What are some things that you have a hard time adapting to?", then I would've been able to participate. In any event, I want to thank you for coming & giving me the opportunity to learn this about myself, which I had not entertained until you posed the question. Very truly yours, Mr. Rufus West #225213 The above letter was addressed to a Restorative Justice staff member while I was in that program in 2008. All prisoners were required to write "Thank You" letters to the staff. My letter was based on a response to his question stated therein. MUSLIM MANSA LUTALO IYAPO a/k/a Rufus West 11-14-12