Quiet shift again last night. Then at about 11:00pm my partner called me on the radio and told me the boss wanted to know if I wanted to work 3 tower for the dayshift. sigh. Did I WANT to, not really, but it is sure hard to pass up easy overtime like that, so I did it. SO after 8 hours of driving and watching alarms, I spent another 8 in a tower watching traffic go around the corner of the wall.
It is an easy post, all I have to do is write down license plate numbers of vehicles that go around the back of the institution. Despite it being an easy one, it sure makes a long day. Nothing looks better after 16 hours at work than seeing your relief coming down the wall at you.
Interesting side note. While on the wall in the tower today, one of our maintenance guys came up to look at a problem in 5 tower. Each of the towers has an intercom system in it, so as he passed each tower, we would alert the next tower by saying, "Hey 4 tower, you have that red hat coming your way headed to 5 tower". As the red hat was leaving and we were calling him back off the wall, I got on the intercom and asked everyone if maybe they thoguht it was time to give the maintenance people a new name. It has been a good 10 years since anyone has SEEN a red hat. You see, the maintenance guys used to all wear red baseball hats at work. Because security staff didn't work around these guys that much, not many of them got to learn their names. So they were called "red hats". After some banter and seriously politically incorrect ideas, it was decided we would just stick with calling them red hats.
Well, I got a great 4 hours sleep, time to go back for more. Until tomorrow...
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
January 28th
Nothing exciting last night. Just another night of driving in circles, then watching a moniter.
Getting cold as hell at night again though. They said it was going to be in the high 20's, and it definatly felt like it got there last night.
Getting cold as hell at night again though. They said it was going to be in the high 20's, and it definatly felt like it got there last night.
Friday, January 26, 2007
January 26th
I thought I would post and clarify a few things.
On my current post at work, I work mobile unit 4 days a week, and the dining room the last night. Mobile patrol is just that, I spend 4 hours a night in a dodge truck driving around the outside perimeter of the institution. This is an armed post, we have a shotgun rack and a .38 (yes, Smith and Wesson .38 revolver) sidearm. Just this year we got funding for Glocks, but they won't bring them online until everyone has gone through training for them, meaning the end of this year. The other 4 hours I trade out with my partner and go inside the master control center, where we moniter the perimeter alarms.
The dining room night is just that, inside the dining room. There is not much going on until we run the first kitchen workers at 03:15am. They start preparing the morning meal at that time. Then at 05:00am the dining room workers come out and eat before mainline starts breakfast. Mainline breakfast starts at 05:30am, and usually takes close to 2 hours to feed. Then cleanup starts and they start making lunch.
Now all of this will change after next week when I start my new post. We bid new posts according to seniority every 6 months. The next bid I will be going back to our Intensive Management Unit. I will post more on this once I have made the switch after next week.
A fogline is called when it gets so foggy that visibility is down enough 10 tower (which sits in the middle of the institution) can't see 5 tower (which is on the east wall). When fogline is called by the officer in charge (or OIC), 2 people are assigned as wall walkers. These 2 people carry Ruger Mini 14's and walk the catwalk on the wall. The OIC may also (and usually does unless the fog is fairly light) have mobile continue driving the perimeter until fogline is lifted.
On my current post at work, I work mobile unit 4 days a week, and the dining room the last night. Mobile patrol is just that, I spend 4 hours a night in a dodge truck driving around the outside perimeter of the institution. This is an armed post, we have a shotgun rack and a .38 (yes, Smith and Wesson .38 revolver) sidearm. Just this year we got funding for Glocks, but they won't bring them online until everyone has gone through training for them, meaning the end of this year. The other 4 hours I trade out with my partner and go inside the master control center, where we moniter the perimeter alarms.
The dining room night is just that, inside the dining room. There is not much going on until we run the first kitchen workers at 03:15am. They start preparing the morning meal at that time. Then at 05:00am the dining room workers come out and eat before mainline starts breakfast. Mainline breakfast starts at 05:30am, and usually takes close to 2 hours to feed. Then cleanup starts and they start making lunch.
Now all of this will change after next week when I start my new post. We bid new posts according to seniority every 6 months. The next bid I will be going back to our Intensive Management Unit. I will post more on this once I have made the switch after next week.
A fogline is called when it gets so foggy that visibility is down enough 10 tower (which sits in the middle of the institution) can't see 5 tower (which is on the east wall). When fogline is called by the officer in charge (or OIC), 2 people are assigned as wall walkers. These 2 people carry Ruger Mini 14's and walk the catwalk on the wall. The OIC may also (and usually does unless the fog is fairly light) have mobile continue driving the perimeter until fogline is lifted.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
January 24th
Well, it was just a normal night for me last night. UNTIL about 03:00am when the fog rolled in so thick you couldn't see 100 feet. A fog line was called and I ended up driving until it finally lifted enough for them to call it off at 09:30am. Made for an easy 4 hours of overtime.
It was just as well, I had ridden my Goldwing to work last night. It got colder than they said it was going to last night, and with the fog rolling in, there was talk of some icy areas on the roads. They were fine by the time I got out of there and headed home, but it was a chilly ride home.
The disciplinary unit was busy last night. Just before I got to work at 09:00pm the entire second tier flooded out. This is when they plug their toilets with clothing or bedding and then repeatedly flush so they overflow and dump water all over the place. This was in response to the staff doing shack downs on the tier earlier. Just their way of saying they weren't happy about it. There was a nifty, cleverly made tattoo gun found during the shake down. I saw it when they put it in the evidence locker. It was a pretty good one. Inmates can get pretty creative when they have nothing better to do all day.
It was just as well, I had ridden my Goldwing to work last night. It got colder than they said it was going to last night, and with the fog rolling in, there was talk of some icy areas on the roads. They were fine by the time I got out of there and headed home, but it was a chilly ride home.
The disciplinary unit was busy last night. Just before I got to work at 09:00pm the entire second tier flooded out. This is when they plug their toilets with clothing or bedding and then repeatedly flush so they overflow and dump water all over the place. This was in response to the staff doing shack downs on the tier earlier. Just their way of saying they weren't happy about it. There was a nifty, cleverly made tattoo gun found during the shake down. I saw it when they put it in the evidence locker. It was a pretty good one. Inmates can get pretty creative when they have nothing better to do all day.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
January 23rd
Pretty normal night last night.
We got one more of the inmates from the fight at OSCI last night. This guy is in a wheel chair, but I guess he is the one that started the whole thing. From what I have been told, he pulled something off his wheelchair and started flailing it at a rival gang member. Perhaps we should take his wheelchair and let him drag himself around, he may be less inclined to start shit that way.
We got one more of the inmates from the fight at OSCI last night. This guy is in a wheel chair, but I guess he is the one that started the whole thing. From what I have been told, he pulled something off his wheelchair and started flailing it at a rival gang member. Perhaps we should take his wheelchair and let him drag himself around, he may be less inclined to start shit that way.
Monday, January 22, 2007
January 22nd
I guess it is time for some catch up.
Last week on my Friday, which would be Wednesday night, I worked 12:00am to 08:00am.
This is the night I kind of get screwed, since the rest of my week is 09:00pm to 05:30am. So I got doubly screwed, thanks to a lieutenant. If one of the other guys that drive mobile on my Friday call in or have the night off, it is general practice that I get called and offered the post for the night. Instead, this lieutenant called someone else in, and screwed me over. It is things like this that have such a negative impact on moral. They act like it's no big deal, just get over it, but it is a big deal to us and it shows the indifference management feels towards the people who are actually in the trenches doing the work.
Last Saturday there was a large fight between two Mexican gang factions at one of the medium facilities. It involved as many as 30 inmates. Three staff had minor injuries from getting it broke up. We got 16 of the involved inmates transported to us that evening at about 10:00pm.
Then last night they brought over 3 more of them. We now have the majority of the players. We are all just wondering now how long it will be before they get word to their "homies" and we have a flare up at our institution. A lot of us, myself included, figure by this weekend something is going to go down. As long as everyone remains vigilant and paying attention to what is going on around them, we should be able to quickly control it when it does.
Last week on my Friday, which would be Wednesday night, I worked 12:00am to 08:00am.
This is the night I kind of get screwed, since the rest of my week is 09:00pm to 05:30am. So I got doubly screwed, thanks to a lieutenant. If one of the other guys that drive mobile on my Friday call in or have the night off, it is general practice that I get called and offered the post for the night. Instead, this lieutenant called someone else in, and screwed me over. It is things like this that have such a negative impact on moral. They act like it's no big deal, just get over it, but it is a big deal to us and it shows the indifference management feels towards the people who are actually in the trenches doing the work.
Last Saturday there was a large fight between two Mexican gang factions at one of the medium facilities. It involved as many as 30 inmates. Three staff had minor injuries from getting it broke up. We got 16 of the involved inmates transported to us that evening at about 10:00pm.
Then last night they brought over 3 more of them. We now have the majority of the players. We are all just wondering now how long it will be before they get word to their "homies" and we have a flare up at our institution. A lot of us, myself included, figure by this weekend something is going to go down. As long as everyone remains vigilant and paying attention to what is going on around them, we should be able to quickly control it when it does.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
January 17th
Another uneventful night. It was kind of fun driving around the perimeter last night. There was still some snow and ice down the north side of the institution. You could goose the gas a little and the tires would spin. It's the simple things that keep you going.
Fortunatly, the roads didn't freeze back up, so the commute home was pretty much a normal drive.
Fortunatly, the roads didn't freeze back up, so the commute home was pretty much a normal drive.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
January 16th
Another quiet night. An inmate died at about 7:00 am yesterday morning, he was old and they were expecting it.
Had freezing rain starting at about 5:00 am this morning, just half an hour before I get off, so by the time I got out of there the roads were terrible. My normally 45 minute commute took about an hour and a half this morning.
Had freezing rain starting at about 5:00 am this morning, just half an hour before I get off, so by the time I got out of there the roads were terrible. My normally 45 minute commute took about an hour and a half this morning.
Monday, January 15, 2007
January 15th
Pulled into work last night to see the red flashing lights of a firetruck, and an ambulance pulled into the sallyport. Usually not a great sign when you first get to work.
In this case it wasn't too bad, just an inmate with bad kidney's or something and they were taking him to the hospital.
Quiet night for me other than that, but I did get off late. One of our tower people hadn't showed up on time. I can't leave until all the towers are manned, so I got to stick around until the boss finally pulled someone and had them go to that tower until we heard from the person that was assigned there.
They may have overslept. They may have also very well had the day off and someone forgot to take them off the boards for that day. That seems to happen quite a bit. Oh well, I finally got out of there about 10 minutes late.
In this case it wasn't too bad, just an inmate with bad kidney's or something and they were taking him to the hospital.
Quiet night for me other than that, but I did get off late. One of our tower people hadn't showed up on time. I can't leave until all the towers are manned, so I got to stick around until the boss finally pulled someone and had them go to that tower until we heard from the person that was assigned there.
They may have overslept. They may have also very well had the day off and someone forgot to take them off the boards for that day. That seems to happen quite a bit. Oh well, I finally got out of there about 10 minutes late.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
January 11th
I decided to start this blog for several reasons.
One was to have a place to rant, blow off steam and in general voice my opinion as a stress release valve for some of the crap that happens at work.
Another is just to have a place to leave the stories that people always ask about when they hear I work in a prison. People often find it interesting, fascinating, horrific, amusing and scary, and sometimes it is all of the above. Other times it is little more than a pain in the ass.
So it begins. I am not sure yet if I will try to update after each workday, or perhaps just a "week in review" sort of thing. I guess I will just try it out and see how it develops.
One was to have a place to rant, blow off steam and in general voice my opinion as a stress release valve for some of the crap that happens at work.
Another is just to have a place to leave the stories that people always ask about when they hear I work in a prison. People often find it interesting, fascinating, horrific, amusing and scary, and sometimes it is all of the above. Other times it is little more than a pain in the ass.
So it begins. I am not sure yet if I will try to update after each workday, or perhaps just a "week in review" sort of thing. I guess I will just try it out and see how it develops.
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