Believe It or Not
Writing these articles brings back both good
and bad memories. While coming up with stories for this newsletter, I get to
remember some of the finest people I have ever had the pleasure to know or
work with. On the other hand, I am also reminded of some who should have never
been allowed inside of a prison, let alone work in one. Thank God, they were
in the minority, and as I write these articles I almost think kindly of some
of them. (Notice, I said almost.)
I’m sure we’ve all had our share of people like this. I remember the
Correctional Officer (CO) that was working a tower. The shotgun crew weapons
were stored there when not in use. One morning, the gun crews came to the
outside bottom of the tower to pick up weapons. The weapons were kept in a
large canvas bag. Not realizing that there was a new Officer on the tower, the
Sgt. yelled to throw them the weapons. Yep, you got it. Instead of lowering it
down on the rope, the Officer threw the bag over the rail. After a few more
incidents, this Officer was gone.
Not all such incidents were funny. A Tower Officer refused to shoot an inmate
that was on top of another inmate stabbing him. The Officer said he was afraid
the round would go through the inmate on top and hit the inmate on the bottom.
So the inmate on the bottom was stabbed to death over an Afro comb. The
Officer was reviewed and let go.
A person was working in a large cellblock and saw an inmate threatening
another inmate with a shank (homemade knife). This person went down four
tiers, passed the Unit office and went to the front gate Officer. He told the
front gate Officer what had happened. The Shift Commander was called and again
the person described what had happened. When the Shift Commander asked the
person why he had left his post and not told anyone, the person replied,
But the guy had a knife! When asked, and then ordered, to return to the
Cell House to ID the inmate, the person refused and quit on the spot.
While working the front gate, my wife (also a CO) noticed that a new Officer
was carrying a large pocket knife. (We had to take everything out of our
pockets and go through a metal detector before entering the prison.) When she
asked him about it, he exclaimed, It’s scary in there! She informed him
that he could not carry the pocket knife inside the walls. She then added,
If you are scared to go in, maybe you are in the wrong line of work. When
some inmates staged a peaceful sit-in a few weeks later, he and a couple of
other Officers decided they were indeed in the wrong line of work. (A sit-in
is when inmates want to get their point across, so they stop working and don't
do anything. A peaceful sit-in is where there is no hitting, biting, killing
or maiming.)
All of these stories, I am sad to say, are true. But I am sure that some of
you out there have seen just as bad, if not worse. We used to say that you
didn’t have to be crazy to work in a prison, but that it darned sure helped!
Take care,
The Old Screw
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