Well, had the surgery yesterday.
Other than getting in late, everything went well.
I was scheduled for 10:00am, they didn't get me in until 02:30pm. The one before me apparently got more involved than expected and took a lot longer than they thought.
Once I got done, I was able to get up and move around within about an hour, so they let me go home. I haven't had much pain at all. Yesterday of course I was still pretty groggy and doped up, and I took a pain pill just before we left the hospital.
Today, I feel a bit of pressure as I am up and about, but still not in any real pain. I have been taking Vicadin about every 5 or 6 hours though.
Got out and went for a walk up and down the block this morning, still feeling fine. I'm not moving real fast, and using my cane for stability, but feeling pretty good otherwise.
Just going to take it easy this week, and hope I am feeling well and healed up enough to go back to work next week.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
July 11th
Well, I didn't post much last week, figured I would get one in today. I bid for my new shift Tuesday morning. I will be working in IMU still, on the IMU side away from the bastards in DSU. I will work 06:00 pm to 06:00 am on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Then every third week I go in a day early and work Sunday night as well. I think this is going to be a nice post. I will be starting this post on the first full week of August.
I will be going in on Friday morning to have surgery to fix a buggered up disc in my back. If all goes well, I will be back home that evening. I will be off work next week, and if I am feeling up to it, will go back the following week. I will try to post when I am able to sit long enough to do it, and keep you posted on how the surgery went.
It is time to get ready for work. I am hoping they have the air conditioning working in the control center tonight. It is 90 degrees, cloudy and muggy as hell outside. It is going to be a miserable night if the AC isn't working.
I will be going in on Friday morning to have surgery to fix a buggered up disc in my back. If all goes well, I will be back home that evening. I will be off work next week, and if I am feeling up to it, will go back the following week. I will try to post when I am able to sit long enough to do it, and keep you posted on how the surgery went.
It is time to get ready for work. I am hoping they have the air conditioning working in the control center tonight. It is 90 degrees, cloudy and muggy as hell outside. It is going to be a miserable night if the AC isn't working.
Friday, July 6, 2007
July 6th
Work has been pretty quiet the last couple nights.
Well, not all that quiet, but no problems. They were noisy as hell last night, but just being stupid and making noise for the sake of making noise.
Speaking of stupid, I thought I would share with you the details of the type of special stupid I am around all the time.
We will call him, inmate moron.
Inmate Moron came into the system with a 6 year beef for Robbery II and was 23 years old.
He would have been released in Feb. of this year.
Since he has been in, our little moron has racked up the following charges.
4 counts of inmate with a weapon for another 9.6 years.
4 counts of assault III for another 7.3 years.
2 counts of assaulting an Officer for another 5 years.
Yup, our little Einstein now has an earliest release date of Feb. of 2028.
He would have been out this year at age 28, now assuming he gets no further charges he will be out when he is 49.
On top of that, he has warrants in California, Washington and a local county here.
Some people just shouldn't be allowed to breathe.
Well, not all that quiet, but no problems. They were noisy as hell last night, but just being stupid and making noise for the sake of making noise.
Speaking of stupid, I thought I would share with you the details of the type of special stupid I am around all the time.
We will call him, inmate moron.
Inmate Moron came into the system with a 6 year beef for Robbery II and was 23 years old.
He would have been released in Feb. of this year.
Since he has been in, our little moron has racked up the following charges.
4 counts of inmate with a weapon for another 9.6 years.
4 counts of assault III for another 7.3 years.
2 counts of assaulting an Officer for another 5 years.
Yup, our little Einstein now has an earliest release date of Feb. of 2028.
He would have been out this year at age 28, now assuming he gets no further charges he will be out when he is 49.
On top of that, he has warrants in California, Washington and a local county here.
Some people just shouldn't be allowed to breathe.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
July 4th
Well, Gravebinder informed me I should post about things going on even on my days off.
So here ya go. I think had mentioned the problems I was having keeping my DSL running decent.
I had one weekend where it went dead and I had no internet for the whole weekend. On that Monday they came out and cleaned up some phone lines and I thought all was well. The next weekend, I get on to play a little EQII, and keep getting kicked out again. I checked my speeds and was getting like 25 to 40kps. It was total crap. I called the 24 hour tech support and they said they were doing some sort of maintenance on the lines that weekend. OK, so that was the problem, no biggie.
Well, the next weekend (this last weekend) I got on to play and the same thing started happening. Crap download speeds, kept getting kicked out of game etc. So now I'm REALLY pissed. I even called the guy at the phone company (his work phone - voicemail) at 01:00 am Sunday morning to tell him he better get someone out here Monday and fix it or I was going back to Comcast.
Well, Monday someone came out and climbed the pole and cleaned up some more lines. Running a little better, but still not as good as it should. He had one of the guys stop by and give me some CAT5 cable which I ran right from the box on the outside of the house, to the jack my computer is plugged into. They even gave me a new jack to run it in to. Monday night I got on to game and yup, got kicked out some more. Now I am starting to think some asshat at the phone company is watching and as soon as I log in to play the game, they shut me down. I swear it was always going down when I got on to play.
I call him up again this morning. So, they show back up today, and we are having a hell of a time trying to figure out why my speeds are dropping. He traces the line I put in all the way into the house. Everything looks good, but it is still all over the place and not as fast as it should be. We were starting to think it was the modem. The guy pulls the faceplate off the jack in the house by the computer. Everything appears to be done right, but he pulls the wires off and re-sets them.
BOOM!! I now have internet and it is stable as can be. We still can't figure out what it was, but I must not have had a good connection on one of the wires.
I now have DSL with a smokin fast (are you ready for this?) 10 MBS DOWNLOAD!! Yeah, that's right. 10 FREAKIN MBS!! My son has his computer in his room, running wireless and HE is getting 6.8 MBS! Three weeks of fighting this stupid thing, and it is all worth it now.
Centurytel 10 MBS DSL2 - FTW!!
So here ya go. I think had mentioned the problems I was having keeping my DSL running decent.
I had one weekend where it went dead and I had no internet for the whole weekend. On that Monday they came out and cleaned up some phone lines and I thought all was well. The next weekend, I get on to play a little EQII, and keep getting kicked out again. I checked my speeds and was getting like 25 to 40kps. It was total crap. I called the 24 hour tech support and they said they were doing some sort of maintenance on the lines that weekend. OK, so that was the problem, no biggie.
Well, the next weekend (this last weekend) I got on to play and the same thing started happening. Crap download speeds, kept getting kicked out of game etc. So now I'm REALLY pissed. I even called the guy at the phone company (his work phone - voicemail) at 01:00 am Sunday morning to tell him he better get someone out here Monday and fix it or I was going back to Comcast.
Well, Monday someone came out and climbed the pole and cleaned up some more lines. Running a little better, but still not as good as it should. He had one of the guys stop by and give me some CAT5 cable which I ran right from the box on the outside of the house, to the jack my computer is plugged into. They even gave me a new jack to run it in to. Monday night I got on to game and yup, got kicked out some more. Now I am starting to think some asshat at the phone company is watching and as soon as I log in to play the game, they shut me down. I swear it was always going down when I got on to play.
I call him up again this morning. So, they show back up today, and we are having a hell of a time trying to figure out why my speeds are dropping. He traces the line I put in all the way into the house. Everything looks good, but it is still all over the place and not as fast as it should be. We were starting to think it was the modem. The guy pulls the faceplate off the jack in the house by the computer. Everything appears to be done right, but he pulls the wires off and re-sets them.
BOOM!! I now have internet and it is stable as can be. We still can't figure out what it was, but I must not have had a good connection on one of the wires.
I now have DSL with a smokin fast (are you ready for this?) 10 MBS DOWNLOAD!! Yeah, that's right. 10 FREAKIN MBS!! My son has his computer in his room, running wireless and HE is getting 6.8 MBS! Three weeks of fighting this stupid thing, and it is all worth it now.
Centurytel 10 MBS DSL2 - FTW!!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
June 28th
Well, they took all of death row out of C unit over the last two days and put them in the new SHU (Special Housing Unit).
Now C unit is DSU as well, so we have all of DSU inmates in the IMU building. This actually helped alleviate some of the problems we have been having in D unit. We now have somewhere else to put inmates, and more places to move the trouble makers around to. They moved some of the ones from this unit that have been causing all the problems the last couple of weeks, and put them down in C unit. Things were much more quiet up here tonight.
That didn't stop me from writing misconduct reports though. I got two of the guys in the IMU section we have left up here for using paper to cover their light fixtures/and or door fronts. They are slow learners.
After lights out it actually got pretty quiet. I think we got most of the trouble makers moved around and things will settle down a bit.....for now.
Now C unit is DSU as well, so we have all of DSU inmates in the IMU building. This actually helped alleviate some of the problems we have been having in D unit. We now have somewhere else to put inmates, and more places to move the trouble makers around to. They moved some of the ones from this unit that have been causing all the problems the last couple of weeks, and put them down in C unit. Things were much more quiet up here tonight.
That didn't stop me from writing misconduct reports though. I got two of the guys in the IMU section we have left up here for using paper to cover their light fixtures/and or door fronts. They are slow learners.
After lights out it actually got pretty quiet. I think we got most of the trouble makers moved around and things will settle down a bit.....for now.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
June 26th (Take Two)
Figured I would post a catch up post since my internet was down this weekend.
I worked an overtime shift Sunday night in C unit.
This is the death row unit.
My night was pretty quiet, since the death row guys usually don't cause any problems.
HOWEVER, I could hear the dumbasses in D unit ,which is right above C unit, banging and yelling and raising hell. I got a call from the guy working D control about 09:00pm, telling me they were flooding out and to turn the water off in section three. The water shut off is in C unit that controls water for each section of C and D unit. So I ran to the box, flipped the two toggle switches that would kill the water in section three. A few minutes later, I get a call from D unit again. He asks me if I got the water off. I told him I did, and he tells me it is still running. So I go back to the box, this time I take a flashlight so I can see, and it turns out I had killed the water for section ONE instead of three. OOPS!! So I switch one back on and kill the water for three. It turns out that, unlike the other units, the water shut off goes from top to bottom as section three, two, one. Now wouldn't you think it would go from one to three? So that gave the idiots an extra few minutes of flush time, so they had a good two inches of standing water covering the entire floor of section three.
So, flooding is when they plug their toilets with clothes, sheets, whatever they can find and continually flush to overflow it. So they now have toilet water all over the tier and into every cell on the bottom tier.
Now here is the beautiful part. The Lieutenant actually decides to make them suffer a bit. He called the Captain at home, told him what had happened, and that he had no intention of getting it cleaned up. The Captain actually grew a pair and backed him up and decided the hell with them. Let them live in the mess they made, and give them sack lunches for breakfast, and if they want to be stupid he won't let that whole section have recs all week if need be. So we left the water off all night, turning it on for five minutes once an hour so they could flush if necessary, and let them live with the mess all night.
It is going to be interesting over the next couple weeks as we take back control of this section.
I worked an overtime shift Sunday night in C unit.
This is the death row unit.
My night was pretty quiet, since the death row guys usually don't cause any problems.
HOWEVER, I could hear the dumbasses in D unit ,which is right above C unit, banging and yelling and raising hell. I got a call from the guy working D control about 09:00pm, telling me they were flooding out and to turn the water off in section three. The water shut off is in C unit that controls water for each section of C and D unit. So I ran to the box, flipped the two toggle switches that would kill the water in section three. A few minutes later, I get a call from D unit again. He asks me if I got the water off. I told him I did, and he tells me it is still running. So I go back to the box, this time I take a flashlight so I can see, and it turns out I had killed the water for section ONE instead of three. OOPS!! So I switch one back on and kill the water for three. It turns out that, unlike the other units, the water shut off goes from top to bottom as section three, two, one. Now wouldn't you think it would go from one to three? So that gave the idiots an extra few minutes of flush time, so they had a good two inches of standing water covering the entire floor of section three.
So, flooding is when they plug their toilets with clothes, sheets, whatever they can find and continually flush to overflow it. So they now have toilet water all over the tier and into every cell on the bottom tier.
Now here is the beautiful part. The Lieutenant actually decides to make them suffer a bit. He called the Captain at home, told him what had happened, and that he had no intention of getting it cleaned up. The Captain actually grew a pair and backed him up and decided the hell with them. Let them live in the mess they made, and give them sack lunches for breakfast, and if they want to be stupid he won't let that whole section have recs all week if need be. So we left the water off all night, turning it on for five minutes once an hour so they could flush if necessary, and let them live with the mess all night.
It is going to be interesting over the next couple weeks as we take back control of this section.
June 26th
This is the update I had planned for last Saturday morning.
Unfortunately, my internet went down Friday night and was down all weekend.
Seems the phone wires at this place were a mess, and it's a wonder I ever got connected at all.
Well, they got fixed yesterday, and I found out that being back in town and this close to the main terminals, I can get DSL up to 10 MBS!!
SWEET!!! So I had them crank it up. Right now I am only at about half that, but they will be sending someone out again to re-do some lines so I get the full 10 MBS.
Eat yer heart out cable guys!!
Another wonderful night tonight.
The orderly in section three decided to argue with me about the time he had to clean the section.
Orderlies get 45 minutes to clean and then are supposed to shower and cell in.
After arguing about the amount of time he got, he finally went to the shower. When he finished in the shower, he stopped to pass notes or something under the door that leads to the next section, section two. This is a big no no. At this point I had the floor officer inform the orderly he was fired. The orderly decided to bang on his bunk, making a bunch of noise, and started yelling "Fuck you!". So I wrote him up.
Then I had an inmate next to him start yelling disrespectful comments at me, so I wrote him up. Then the whole tier decided to throw garbage and feces out on the tier. They will be getting sack meals for breakfast in the morning.
I then had an inmate from section one cover his light with paper. This is one of our "special" inmates and had been warned many times previously for doing this. So I wrote him up.
I made so many new friends tonight. I figure even though they obviously aren't too bright, they will eventually get the message and stop messing with me, or they will spend a lot of time locked up not being able to go to the recreation room. This is one of the main sanctions they get when they get wrote up.
Unfortunately, my internet went down Friday night and was down all weekend.
Seems the phone wires at this place were a mess, and it's a wonder I ever got connected at all.
Well, they got fixed yesterday, and I found out that being back in town and this close to the main terminals, I can get DSL up to 10 MBS!!
SWEET!!! So I had them crank it up. Right now I am only at about half that, but they will be sending someone out again to re-do some lines so I get the full 10 MBS.
Eat yer heart out cable guys!!
Another wonderful night tonight.
The orderly in section three decided to argue with me about the time he had to clean the section.
Orderlies get 45 minutes to clean and then are supposed to shower and cell in.
After arguing about the amount of time he got, he finally went to the shower. When he finished in the shower, he stopped to pass notes or something under the door that leads to the next section, section two. This is a big no no. At this point I had the floor officer inform the orderly he was fired. The orderly decided to bang on his bunk, making a bunch of noise, and started yelling "Fuck you!". So I wrote him up.
Then I had an inmate next to him start yelling disrespectful comments at me, so I wrote him up. Then the whole tier decided to throw garbage and feces out on the tier. They will be getting sack meals for breakfast in the morning.
I then had an inmate from section one cover his light with paper. This is one of our "special" inmates and had been warned many times previously for doing this. So I wrote him up.
I made so many new friends tonight. I figure even though they obviously aren't too bright, they will eventually get the message and stop messing with me, or they will spend a lot of time locked up not being able to go to the recreation room. This is one of the main sanctions they get when they get wrote up.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
June 21st
What a night!
First off, some background that I SHOULD have written about last week and didn't get around to. Last week on Friday, the inmates in section three of my unit, the IMU status inmates, started yelling because they wanted to talk to the lieutenant. They didn't get an immediate response, so they behaved like any three year old, or inmate, would. They started yelling disrespectful comments at me and banging their doors. So I wrote seven disciplinary reports for disrespect and disobedience of an order.
Yup, NOW they are a bunch of happy campers.
So last night I get to work, and right off the guy I relieved said it was one of those days. They had a bunch of tension in section one from the shitbombing that happened last week. They did a bunch of moving people around between the two DSU sections to try to settle things down a bit.
Then the corporal that is working the floor in my unit informs me they are going to do a courtesy move. She was going to move an inmate from behind glass to one of the corner cells. (We have four to five cells in each section that have plexiglass attached to the front. This is where we put inmates most likely to shitbomb or spit on staff.) So the inmate she wants to move is one of the seven that I wrote up last week. There are two other inmates behind glass in that section that didn't get involved. I pointed out this little bit of logic in front of the lieutenant and it was decided the inmate would stay where he is.
Then they bring a guy from a unit downstairs to fill the empty cell we have up here. There are three staff bringing this guy up. They get to the control center by me and two of them decide to just stop. So I have the corporal walking this inmate onto the tier by himself, with the lieutenant on that tier talking to inmates. I yell to them that MAYBE at least ONE of them might want to finish the escort up to the cell, considering the lieutenant is right there. (All inmate movement in this building is supposed to be two staff on one inmate.) It is people not paying attention to things like this that can really bite you in the ass.
It will be one of those times that someone gets complacent, and that inmate will turn on the tether and hurt someone.
I have started writing this stuff down while I am at work and emailing it home in hopes of doing a better job of keeping the updates more frequent. So I am at work as I write this, only two hours into my twelve hour shift, and I need a drink!
I can't wait to see what the rest of the night has in store for me.
So to add to my annoyance tonight, an inmate in section two, one of the DSU sections, did not get up and out of his cell in a timely manner today when it was his turn for recreation and a shower. So when the lieutenant walked the tier the guy got on his leg and whined for about 15 minutes. I get a call later telling me to let the guy out so he can shower. Nice how the administration talks this great game about holding inmates responsible for their own actions, but then we bend to their wishes after they screwed up.
Another great case of this tonight. The inmates are not supposed to cover the lights in their cells with anything. They try to put paper over the light fixture to dim their cells. Just last week the captain sent an email out syaing we were not to let the inmates hange stuff on the walls or cover the light fixtures. If they do, we are to go in and search their cell and remove these items for them. Well, I had my floor staff tell an inmate in the DSU section four different times to remove the paper from his light. Each time he just put it back up when they left the tier. Finally at 09:50 I called the lieutenant and told him we need to do something because this inmate was blatantly ignoring the orders he was given. His response....."Well, you turn the lights out in ten minutes anyway, right?" This is the sort of thing that just makes me crazy. We try to do the job they tell us to do, but we can't seem to get any management with the balls to back us up anymore. It used to be when an inmate did something like this, we would go in and strip his cell of all but a blanket and let him live with just that for a day or two. They got the message back then and we didn't have to deal with this bullshit so often. Then they wonder why we get the "I don't give a fuck anymore" attitude.
I decided screw it, I am going to write this guy up anyway. And if his light is covered tomorrow night, I will write him again. And the night after that, and the night after that. Eventually they will get tired of seeing all the paper I am dropping on these clowns and maybe one of them will grow a backbone and give us some support. Either that or my typing skills are gonna get a lot better.
Damn, I REALLY need that drink now......
First off, some background that I SHOULD have written about last week and didn't get around to. Last week on Friday, the inmates in section three of my unit, the IMU status inmates, started yelling because they wanted to talk to the lieutenant. They didn't get an immediate response, so they behaved like any three year old, or inmate, would. They started yelling disrespectful comments at me and banging their doors. So I wrote seven disciplinary reports for disrespect and disobedience of an order.
Yup, NOW they are a bunch of happy campers.
So last night I get to work, and right off the guy I relieved said it was one of those days. They had a bunch of tension in section one from the shitbombing that happened last week. They did a bunch of moving people around between the two DSU sections to try to settle things down a bit.
Then the corporal that is working the floor in my unit informs me they are going to do a courtesy move. She was going to move an inmate from behind glass to one of the corner cells. (We have four to five cells in each section that have plexiglass attached to the front. This is where we put inmates most likely to shitbomb or spit on staff.) So the inmate she wants to move is one of the seven that I wrote up last week. There are two other inmates behind glass in that section that didn't get involved. I pointed out this little bit of logic in front of the lieutenant and it was decided the inmate would stay where he is.
Then they bring a guy from a unit downstairs to fill the empty cell we have up here. There are three staff bringing this guy up. They get to the control center by me and two of them decide to just stop. So I have the corporal walking this inmate onto the tier by himself, with the lieutenant on that tier talking to inmates. I yell to them that MAYBE at least ONE of them might want to finish the escort up to the cell, considering the lieutenant is right there. (All inmate movement in this building is supposed to be two staff on one inmate.) It is people not paying attention to things like this that can really bite you in the ass.
It will be one of those times that someone gets complacent, and that inmate will turn on the tether and hurt someone.
I have started writing this stuff down while I am at work and emailing it home in hopes of doing a better job of keeping the updates more frequent. So I am at work as I write this, only two hours into my twelve hour shift, and I need a drink!
I can't wait to see what the rest of the night has in store for me.
So to add to my annoyance tonight, an inmate in section two, one of the DSU sections, did not get up and out of his cell in a timely manner today when it was his turn for recreation and a shower. So when the lieutenant walked the tier the guy got on his leg and whined for about 15 minutes. I get a call later telling me to let the guy out so he can shower. Nice how the administration talks this great game about holding inmates responsible for their own actions, but then we bend to their wishes after they screwed up.
Another great case of this tonight. The inmates are not supposed to cover the lights in their cells with anything. They try to put paper over the light fixture to dim their cells. Just last week the captain sent an email out syaing we were not to let the inmates hange stuff on the walls or cover the light fixtures. If they do, we are to go in and search their cell and remove these items for them. Well, I had my floor staff tell an inmate in the DSU section four different times to remove the paper from his light. Each time he just put it back up when they left the tier. Finally at 09:50 I called the lieutenant and told him we need to do something because this inmate was blatantly ignoring the orders he was given. His response....."Well, you turn the lights out in ten minutes anyway, right?" This is the sort of thing that just makes me crazy. We try to do the job they tell us to do, but we can't seem to get any management with the balls to back us up anymore. It used to be when an inmate did something like this, we would go in and strip his cell of all but a blanket and let him live with just that for a day or two. They got the message back then and we didn't have to deal with this bullshit so often. Then they wonder why we get the "I don't give a fuck anymore" attitude.
I decided screw it, I am going to write this guy up anyway. And if his light is covered tomorrow night, I will write him again. And the night after that, and the night after that. Eventually they will get tired of seeing all the paper I am dropping on these clowns and maybe one of them will grow a backbone and give us some support. Either that or my typing skills are gonna get a lot better.
Damn, I REALLY need that drink now......
Saturday, June 16, 2007
June 16th
Ok, today lets talk about the fun stuff we get to deal with at the zoo....er I mean prison.
The DSU inmates in my unit get to go to the rec room for excersize 5 days a week. We just open the doors to their cells and they walk to the rec on their own. Well, on Wednesday, as an inmate was released from his cell on the top tier to go to the rec, he walked downstairs and threw a shitbomb into two cells downstairs. A shitbomb is when they fill a cup or other container with feces, stir in a little urine to get it good and soupy, and heave it on you. Generally they save this particular pastime for staff, but this guy said the orderly had been messing with him, so he bombed him and the guys next to him. That brought everything to a standstill as staff figured out what was going on, and had to deal with getting it cleaned up. Oh, and no, staff doesn't actually do the cleanup when something like this happens. We have a team of inmates that get special decontamination training, and they do the dirty work. All in all, I was pretty amused to see them throwing shit on each other for a change, instead of one of us.
Now you are asking yourself if I have ever been shitbombed aren't you. (C'mon, I know you care like that) Well, the answer is no, I have been able to avoid that so far, at least not by an inmate. A number of years ago I did a six month bid on Com gate. This is a post that is along the walkway from the main housing units to the dining room. We have keys for, and control the movement going upstairs to our infirmary, the back area of culinary and the gate going to the big yard. So this is pretty much an outside post. Part of the time you are under a covering that leads to the dining room, but most of it is under the blue sky. Well, I made it to the last day of this post and was letting inmates out on the yard. As I stood with my little counter, diligently clicking away and watching inmates enter the yard, one of the many birds that fly around let go and dropped a big 'ol bomb of his own right on my shoulder. Six months I did this post, and I get hit on the last damn day. It's a good thing it isn't an armed post, or i would have been doing some bird hunting.
In other news, a very good friend of mine that is an officer at a minimum institution near me was called into the office by his acting institution security manager.
He was given a velcro Sergeant position starting next week.
We call it a "Velcro" when someone is given an out of class position.
He will be an acting Sergeant, but it is a temporary gig until he interviews for and is given a full status position.
He has an interview here for a regular Sergeant position next week.
Having those Sergeant stripes on his collar when he interviews should be an advantage for him.
I wish you the best of luck Sarge!
The DSU inmates in my unit get to go to the rec room for excersize 5 days a week. We just open the doors to their cells and they walk to the rec on their own. Well, on Wednesday, as an inmate was released from his cell on the top tier to go to the rec, he walked downstairs and threw a shitbomb into two cells downstairs. A shitbomb is when they fill a cup or other container with feces, stir in a little urine to get it good and soupy, and heave it on you. Generally they save this particular pastime for staff, but this guy said the orderly had been messing with him, so he bombed him and the guys next to him. That brought everything to a standstill as staff figured out what was going on, and had to deal with getting it cleaned up. Oh, and no, staff doesn't actually do the cleanup when something like this happens. We have a team of inmates that get special decontamination training, and they do the dirty work. All in all, I was pretty amused to see them throwing shit on each other for a change, instead of one of us.
Now you are asking yourself if I have ever been shitbombed aren't you. (C'mon, I know you care like that) Well, the answer is no, I have been able to avoid that so far, at least not by an inmate. A number of years ago I did a six month bid on Com gate. This is a post that is along the walkway from the main housing units to the dining room. We have keys for, and control the movement going upstairs to our infirmary, the back area of culinary and the gate going to the big yard. So this is pretty much an outside post. Part of the time you are under a covering that leads to the dining room, but most of it is under the blue sky. Well, I made it to the last day of this post and was letting inmates out on the yard. As I stood with my little counter, diligently clicking away and watching inmates enter the yard, one of the many birds that fly around let go and dropped a big 'ol bomb of his own right on my shoulder. Six months I did this post, and I get hit on the last damn day. It's a good thing it isn't an armed post, or i would have been doing some bird hunting.
In other news, a very good friend of mine that is an officer at a minimum institution near me was called into the office by his acting institution security manager.
He was given a velcro Sergeant position starting next week.
We call it a "Velcro" when someone is given an out of class position.
He will be an acting Sergeant, but it is a temporary gig until he interviews for and is given a full status position.
He has an interview here for a regular Sergeant position next week.
Having those Sergeant stripes on his collar when he interviews should be an advantage for him.
I wish you the best of luck Sarge!
Friday, June 15, 2007
June 15th
Today's post is a bit somber. I posted a couple weeks back that we suffered the loss of a Sargeant. There was a memorial service held for him yesterday. This is one of those times the administration did something completly right. They pretty much shut down the institution, and tried to get coverage for as many people as possible to attend. They even used a transport bus to drive people from work to the place the memorial was held.
I had said before what a profound impact this man had on a lot of peoples lives, mine included. There was a folder on our computer system at work for people to leave their memories and goodbyes. I started reading through them last night and must admit I didn't do a very good job of holding back the tears. Yes, we may get a bit twisted and cynical working in the environment we do, but we are still feeling human beings.
With a lump in my throat again, I would like to share with you some of the many posts that were left as a tribute to a man that will be missed by so many people.
I remember the first day of our training together as new officers back in 1991. When it was your turn to stand up and speak about yourself you said you were retired Air Force. As a fellow Air Force veteran this peaked my curiosity about you and a friendship developed. I always admired your sense of humor, quick wit and your ever present smile. I always enjoyed when we were assigned to work together, your calmness and professionalism rubbed off on staff and inmates alike. I was deeply saddened when I heard the news of your passing. Your memory will live on forever in my heart.
-Correction Officer
It brought me great disbelief and sorrow to hear about your passing. It brings me great sadness to lose one of our finest and it fills my heart with sorrow. Thanks for your help and guidance, you made me feel at ease when I needed help and direction. I could always count on you to set the pace for my day. You will be greatly missed I will always hear the words you would say to me, "YOU'LL GET IT, IT WILL WORK OUT." Mahalo (Thank you). Fly with angels my friend Farewell. My heart goes out to the family of "Papa"
-Correction Officer
I'm deeply sadden of your passing. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.
It hurts me to know you won't be around to talk about our bike adventures "Even though you didn't have a Harley".
Your calming composer during tense situations, your big smile and laugh to take you away from your environment, if even for just a moment. You'll never be Forgotten.
Keep the wind in your face and the rubber down my brother.
-Correction Corporal
I was saddened by the news of your loss. If a man is measured by friendships, then "Papa" was a rich man. He will truly be missed at OSP. A friend, mentor, and a wonderful person. Thanks for sharing him with the rest of us.
-Correction Lieutenant
"Papa", you will forever be in my thoughts and my heart. I can't help but think of the negative environment we work in and the long term effects it can have on a person. How many of us spend so much time living in the past, stressing about the future and missing the precious moments of today. I have never seen that from you, I can not recall a single time I have ever heard you lay your troubles on someone else, but instead, would make time to help us with ours. You are a true inspiration, a true hearted friend and one of a kind. It always amazed me how just your presence alone, would change the tone of the atmosphere and had a calming effect on those around you.
It has been a blessing knowing you and one could only dream of being remembered some day, as you are. Our prayers go out to your family
-Correction Officer
What a wonderful and special man to so many staff members here at OSP. I met "Papa" my first day at OSP in the "smoke break room". The one thing that I will always remember during our breaks is when [name withheld] would come in and those two would start telling the funniest stories. The one thing that really sticks out in my memory of him is how he spoke about his loving Wife, Children, Grandchildren and his soon to be daughter-in-law.
When I think of him, tears come to my eyes, because he was such a super person. I just can't get his smile out of my mind. He brightened up this place with his smile and always being so friendly to everyone and we can't forget his laugh.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the whole family - all the memories you hold in your heart of this great man will keep him alive in spirit.
He will truly be missed by all that knew and worked with him.
-Institution Support Specialist
I was truly shocked and deeply saddened when I received the news of "Papa's" passing. I will always remember his smile which was warm and at times left me wondering what he was up to. He was a good man who told it like it was and was always willing to help out another as well as sharing his experience with all. A better wordsmith than I once said, "We are richer for having known him and poorer for his passing." My family's hearts and thoughts are with the family.
-Correction Lieutenant
Unfortunately, I did not have the honor to work many hours directly with "Papa". But I did have the pleasure of watching him from my position of a supervisor at OSP. What I observed was a man who brought a sense of calmness and maturity to the day to day chaos at the Penitentiary. He recognized that corrections is a "people business" and he had a talent that I very much appreciated. He was a friend to many, and a leader to many more. It was a pleasure to have worked with him, and I appreciate the knowledge and skills he was able to pass on to others while he was with us. He will be greatly missed.
-Superintendent
Working in this environment isn't always easy, There's one thing that you can count on, that is when you walk into work and across the floor you would be greeted with a smile and sometimes a joke.
You will always be remembered with a smile.
-Correction Officer
Everyone we meet adds to the fullness of our experience on this earth. I'm very thankful that I can count "Papa" among the friends who've enriched my journey.
When I think of him my mind's eye sees his warm smile and hears his hearty laugh.
It's a rare man that is so universally liked and respected.
Fare You Well, Friend.
You'll live on in the hearts of the people you blessed in life.
-Correction Officer
You helped me when I was new. You helped me when I wasn't. You were not selfish and you believed in the team. I looked forward to the days we worked together. I even like working with your son, who is a reflection of you. I liked the stories of the casino trips. I'm sure everyone did. So, Thanks for everything. Your memory will always live in me and OSP.
-Correction Corporal
There were even more, but I think this is getting long enough.
I just wanted to share some of the thoughts from just a few of the people that felt the same as I.
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