Here and There

Well! For a first day back it wasn't too horrible. It started kind fo squirrely, but then it slipped right back into the same old routine, like I had never left.

But first I wanted to share an email with you.

My good friend and sometimes partner in crime Tilt transferred to another camp up north of here last week.

That really sucks for us and especially for me, but it's good for him. Now instead of driving for over an hour to get to work, he has to drive about fifteen minutes. I'm sure that is just like getting a good sized pay raise.

And I'm bummed that I was on vacation when he left.

Anyway, he sent me an email the other day about how he's getting along and I thought I might share it with you.

Tilt says:

1st day yard....getting used to surroundings. Had several inmates testing me to try and figure out if I was new or not. They also had 3 OJT's start this week. Anyways....he asked to use my lighter. Told him no. Wanted to push the issue a little bit but not quite stepping over the line. Then he wrapped it up by looking at my ID and calling me by my FIRST name then turning and walking away. Grinned to another officer and gave the guy about a 2 second walk before I called him back and chewed him to shreds. Almost locked him but didn't. The two other guys elsewhere decided to try it out and very loudly so I could hear began asking each other for stuff to trade. The third guy wasn't convinced that I was new and kept warning the others that he didn't think I was. So after I chewed their asses over that I heard the 3rd guy tell the other....."I told you he didn't act like a new co". Was all I could do not to start laughing. And get this....I was one of SIX officers and a sergeant on an entire yard that would fit into A sides yard.

2nd day yard.....This was the day of barely smoked cigarettes. Keeping in mind that you can't just smoke anywhere so I would get one lit and barely started when I would get called for something or interrupted by an inmate. Mainly because the inmate wanted to PC. It seems as though that the end of last week a 500 pound inmate in a wheelchair (who also happens to be a child molester) was beaten up pretty bad by SSG members. So this other inmate had made a comment about "it must take a really tough guy to beat up someone in a wheelchair". So guess what.....after that comment...made to an SSG member.....SSG was after him now. Then about an hour later there is a code 16 called for the base of tower 2. 2 co's and the fire & safety officer were in an explosion while refilling m6 (?) canisters. Very bad! All taken to the hospital and treated, decontaminated and released. One of the co's had a piece of shrapnel in his leg an inch from his femoral artery. They were very lucky. There is still shrapnel embedded in the walls of the tower.

3rd day yard....Things are fairly calm today and I'm wandering around the yard when I hear from behind me...."hey co, wait I need to talk to you". Another inmate wanting to check in because Family Values is after him. Starting to think this may be a daily thing. This I got to do del norte which was especially interesting because it seems as though del norte has been down for about a month due to a lightning strike. Not a big priority for repairs I guess.

4th day 5 House....Lots of down time interrupted by chaos. Ad-seg committee, lunch trays, investigator and caseworkers all at the same time. Things are done very differently from 5 house there. Need to get an inmate out of a 2 man cell? Only cuff the one you want, attach them to a tether and pop the door. Presumably the other one will be nice and not charge the door or begin to beat the crap out of the restrained inmate who you have tied to the door at the moment.

5th day Library.....wanted to blow my brains out just for something to do. BORED all day long..

Can't wait to see what next week brings. LOL

So it sounds like he's having a fun time adjusting to the new camp. And I am sure they are having a fun time adjusting to him as well.

Just wait til he starts talking about his Brady Bunch mania. I'm sure that's going to win him lots of fans there. (grin)

Anyway, there was only one bit of excitement for me today. Right at the start of shift.

Since I'm over both 10 and 30 house on Sunday and Monday, I pay close attention to any radio traffic from either of those houses. Right after I got my radio and went inside I heard a call saying they were sending the biohazard worker to 30 house.

I thought "Uh-oh." But nobody had said anything about a fight, so I thought maybe someone fell down or got sick.

Then I hear a Code 16 call (medical emergency) at 30 house that says "Offender bit by a dog and bleeding profusely."

Oh snap. They take anything to do with those dogs pretty seriously.

So I hustled inside and left my crap in the bubble and trotted over to 30 house.

The first thing I see is a trail of blood going across the walk into the house. Then I step inside and the offender is sitting in a chair and an officer has a pressure bandage clamped around his hand, which was still dripping blood, but into a bucket rather than on the floor.

It seems that two of the dogs got into a fight and this offender tried to reach in and pull them apart and got pretty thoroughly bitten for his trouble. They had to send him out to the hospital for stitches.

And of course we had to enact the Dog Bite Protocol, which involves notifying a whole bunch of people and muzzling the dogs who bit and a whole list of complicated things.

And we had to get all of the blood cleaned up. But we have an inmate for that.

All in all, it was a mess.

Luckily after that my evening slowed way back down again.

Except for the bit when I came back in and found that knucklehead Meatball wearing my hat.

If there had been a peach tree handy I'd have cut a switch.

As it was I just cussed him for getting his cooties all over my hat.

Meatball cooties...... yuck!