I was recently notified that I was
to receive a legal call at 9:00 AM in the counselor's office of my
building. So, of course, I had to take
the day off work, since I work on another unit.
At about 8:15 AM I noticed that the counselor was not in. This in itself is not uncommon, so I asked
the officers on duty in my run how I was to receive this call. They suggested I check with a counselor in
another building to make arrangements.
So I made the rounds to the other
three buildings on my side of the yard - no counselors were in. I returned and explained to the COs on
duty. They contacted a CO3 on the other
side of the yard who said he would handle it.
So I wandered up to the gate
between yards. I waited over 15 minutes
and nobody came to unlock the gate. I
noticed a counselor head into one of the buildings on my side, so I went over
to explain the situation. He radioed the
co3 (on the other side) and then told me to go back to the gate and he would
let me through. I waited another 10
minutes before a passing cop open the gate for me.
Of course there is another
gate to get to his office. I waited
there another 15 minutes. Another CO
passed by and I explained that my call was already past due. He again radioed the CO3, who came out of his
office to unlock the gate.
But here's the real issue. He then looks at me and asks why I waited
until the last minute to come to his office!
I really wanted to punch and in the nose! I kept my cool, thanks to my Buddhist
practice. As it turned out, I missed the
call - but miraculously the attorney called back.
This practice of blaming the inmate
for the ineffectiveness of staff is ever so common.
Another brilliant example of the
department of confusion has to do with the bus ride to the SMU unit where I
work. Every day there are two buses that
take employees to SMU. And every day
there is some problem with something.
Paperwork missing, copies not made, workers not on the list, extra
people on the bus, not enough people on the bus, or something else. It often takes up to an hour to go the 1 mile
to the SMU unit.
And that's just once we get on the
bus. The bus itself is supposed to
arrive around 7:00 AM, however that time actually ranges from 6:30 AM to 9:45
AM. We are not notified when the bus
will arrive, but are expected to be there when it does. Every worker has a radio, but somehow they
are unable (or unwilling) to convey such information.
The primary attitude is that we are
a bunch of lying, cheating, immoral, monstrous, evil criminals, so why bother
to worry about efficiency. This is
certainly not true of every employee, but it's the general principle guiding
procedures. I acknowledge that security
is of the essence in an environment like this, but when something is done
multiple times every day, the process should become routine. The only thing routine here is inconsistency.
Similar inconsistencies abound in
the process of returning to our "home" from work. Some days we get stripped once, sometimes
twice, once it was three times, and - rarely - not at all. And the strip-outs themselves range from,
"drop the oranges (pants) and shake out the whites (boxers)" to
taking off everything, nuts squeezed, bending over, spreading our cheeks and
coughing.
One never knows what the procedure
will be, yet the officers will consistently say "you know the drill."
What? Which one? It's different every day! Then they will berate as for not knowing the "routine". "How long have you been doing
this?" Is a common question, spoken like we are idiots for not knowing
what is expected.
My final example of the day is less
of ineffectiveness than it is structured nonsense. When we arrive on the yard, we are issued one
pair of pants, three T shirts, three pairs of boxer shorts, two pairs of socks,
and some "lame-o" deck shoes for clothing. OK, so far so good. Laundry is to be turned in once a week, and
we get it back the next day. Okay fine.
Then it is against policy to do any
laundry in the run, it's not allowed.
Yet many of the inmates here have no money at all, so have no other
clothing than what is issued. Two pairs
of socks to last a week, and what about one pair of pants? How can it be cleaned?
In truth even the indigent inmates
will eventually get extra clothing one way or another. The socks that are sold through the store
become holier than the Pope in a month (they are not of the best quality). The reason I bring up socks is that I got
"scolded" the other day for having socks hanging to dry in my
area. I have only three pairs that do
not look like Swiss cheese. Now, I do
have a job, so I can buy socks from the store.
Three hours of work for one pair of socks. And I did...
More than one month ago! But I
have yet to receive them and, as the "property office" is never open
when I am not at work. I could take a
day off in which I would miss out on $3.20 pay.
And while it may not seem like much, it would be another 2 1/2 pairs of
socks!
Again to be fair, most of the
officers never say anything about laundry, unless a captain, sergeant, or warden
is in the vicinity, but some seem to revel in bitching, writing tickets, and
finding anything they can to cause us suffering.
I often wonder if all this is
apathy, ignorance, or a calculated effort to keep us off balance in everything
that we do. I suppose it's probably all
of the above: whatever the reason, it successfully keeps us frustrated and
confused.
