Well, I've been here a couple of days now and I guess it's time to describe my first impressions. It would probably take a long time for me to spit out everything, so I'm just going to do a bullet list. Here goes:- No more "Let's-have-pork-at every-meal'
- A/C: The Texas Necessity
- Fresh fruit, not from a can
- My clothes are my clothes (no unexplained stains)
- Satellite with movies galore
- More weight sets than we know what to do with (medicine balls, too!)
- Flip up your trays and buckle up; the descent to the free world begins here.
- Administration oversees men, not inmates (they want us to succeed, too.)
- Hallelujah! Two or three Christian studies each night
- The shabby chic peeling paint and rust is a thing of the past
- A shower without a timer? You mean I control the water? Cool!
- Only place to absorb vitamin D is at rec (if outdoors)
- Progress toward degree still halted
- Is this cell a broom closet?
- Hey, this window won't open
This new unit (new to me, anyway) is far different than any other I've been at. It's one of the oldest in the state. The outside and main hallways have giant Texas-themed murals. Unfortunately, the beauty does not continue to the inmate housing.
I am housed in a two-man cell on a row of twenty on the second floor of the wing. Each wing has four rows of twenty cells facing out toward windows. There are two rows on the ground floor and two on the second floor. My cell is probably the dirtiest place I've been. Most everything is rusted among the two bunks, lockers, desk and sink/toilet. There are drawings and writings on the wall left by the previous occupants.
The meals here are better in quality and quantity than my last unit. It's the first time that every meal has filled me up.
The showers are different than any other spot I've been. The whole wing goes down to the shower and waits in the line until a shower head among the thirty is unoccupied. When finished, a guard tosses a towel to you, and you dry off while asking for clothes from a laundry attendant. Efficient, I guess, but pretty humiliating.
Since moving back into this dorm, I have been trying to figure out how to get back to the dorm I was in while my usual dorm was closed for maintenance. I sent a request to one of the lieutenants, but he has been off for four days and just got back today. Luckily, I was able to talk to him after church tonight. He was a bit busy so he told me to wait for a minute but he brought up my wish to move with the captain. The captain came over to me and asked me to write a request to him and, because the lieutenant said I was a good worker, he would move me at the first chance he got.
Finally all those hours of shower crew have paid off. I work hard because I don't like to see a job unfinished if I have the time to do it. Of course, I have all the time in the world here. I never really expected to get anything out of it, though., especially after getting shot down on the parole recommendations from supervisors. Despite all the crazy stuff of the past couple of weeks, some stuff is falling into place. Now I'm just waiting to move.
I learned today that the shower crew move is not going to happen. I went to the lieutenant's office to comment on a grievance I had written and as I was leaving, I asked how soon we night be moved. He replied that he had tried hard to make it happen, but the higher-ups had rejected his idea. Instead, they want to put two shower crew in each dorm. I doubt that would work well because the dorm janitors in each dorm already don't do their job, which in turn makes our job harder.
As much as I would have liked to move, it's not a big deal that we're staying put. It was surprising and flattering, that I was asked to help create it in the first place. The other guys have poked fun that I am respected more by the third shift guards (our shower crew supervisors). It's just been hard work and respect from me that has put me in their favor. If the other guys would not mouth off and would do their assigned job, they would build some rapport with the guards. Instead, they shirk their duties at every opportunity and hurl insults for no reason.
I had an amazing event occur two days ago. The lieutenant in charge of the shower crew pulled me aside at dinner to ask if I thought it would be possible to clean the entire unit with only ten workers.
"Sure," I replied, "but the showers need to get completely clean first. In their current condition we'll be out all night."
"Okay. I was thinking about moving shower crew back to south hall - where you used to be. Do you think you can find ten hard workers?"
"Yes, sir."
"Alright. Give me a list on Sunday night of the guys you want down there with you. Make sure four of them are minorities, too."
I had just been asked to create my own custom dorm, unheard of for any inmate. I chose quite a few quickly, friends that I play games with and also work alongside. For the last five I was stuck so I asked a few guys around the dorm and got four more.
I couldn't figure out or persuade anyone to fill the last spot so I prayed about it, left the spot blank, and turned in my list. I hope we willl move quickly. This dorm is getting crazy with tattooing, smoiking, and just plain craziness. A small, quiet dorm would be a real blessing.
Rabbit has moved into cell block now. I came back from Trig and some new guy was situating himself in Rabbit's bunk. Rabbit was kind of expecting to be moved because he had the same restrictions as Opie, just longer time. It was still disappointing to see him gone. He said he was going to talk to one of the lieutenants about getting moved back to shower crew and this dorm when he gets out of cell block, which would be great.
About ten minutes after I got back from school, Opie brought himself and all his stuff to one of the empty bunks. Apparently, they traded a body for a body and let Opie out early. The way they run this place is so contradictory that the only thing to expect is the unexpected.
We have a new rule at this unit that we have to stay in our bunks after lights go out. Even though this dorm works at night, we can only be up to take showers or go to the bathroom. Previously, we could be out of our bunks to talk, eat, or read under the lights. On shower crew we often received permission to use the tables in the dayroom and watch TV at night because we always sleep during the day. No longer.
Last night we did not go to work because we didn't have chemicals to clean with. Most guys put off showering until after work, so we were able to talk the guards into letting us shower late. All the showers were full when I tried to get in, so I waited by talking with a guy on his bunk.
Out of nowhere I suddenly had a flashlight blinding me and a guard asking for my ID - always a precursor to a disciplinary case. I explained the situation to him. He ignored my pleas and took up two other ID's from other guys getting out of the shower.
Even though I knew the case was ridiculous, I was still a little scared that it would stand just because he wears grey and I wear white. Luckily, I had the lieutenant over the shower crew "holding court" for my case. I outlined what had occurred and he thought about it for a moment before completely dismissing the case. Thank goodness. I certainly didn't need a case over something stupid.
Over the past month I have been going out for work early. Before the shower crew can go into the dorms, someone has to prepare all the mop buckets. Lately that person has been me. I work in cell block, which only has two showers to clean because the guys housed back there have certain times they're allowed to shower. I always finish quickly so I;\'ve been filling the buckets to pull my share of the job.
Some nights I have to go clean a second dorm because we're shorthanded at the moment. Tonight was such a night. I went into the second dorm an scrubbed, rinsed, and wiped everything in about 45 minutes. AS I was coming out of the second dorm, the boss for the night told me to go clean the dorm across the hall. I told him that I had already cleaned two and had even come out early. He said it wouldn't hurt me to do another.
"There are sixteen workers on shower crew. Many of them are screwing around in the dorms instead of working. There's no reason I should have to pick up their slack as often as I do," I replied.
"Just get in there. You'll be OK."
I went ahead and cleaned the third dorm. I did it quickly and might have left a few spots behind. I just wanted to gett home early enough to get some good sleep before class tomorrow morning. Even after cleaning three dorms - more than I've ever done in the whole time I've been on this job - I was the first person finished and back to the dorm. How did that happen?!
Terrible events have transpired today. The Q1 crew of shower workers was moved to a new dorm that is three times as big and ten times as loud. This is the dorm that we would hear beating on the wall and rapping from our old dorm, Q1.
I was called out of my trigonometry class for reasons unknown to me until I got to my dorm. Everyone inside was busy packing their stuff to move. We all were miffed by the move. We lost our small quiet dorm with better treatment from guards because we were small and quiet.I tried to present our complaints to one of the lieutenants tonight at work. I made the point that most of us that were moved have classes, so we need a quiet environment for study and for our strange sleep schedules. Also, we have probably the worst job on the unit and are the only job without perks- laundry gets clothes, kitchen gets food, maintenance gets commissary runs for ice cream. The lieutenant said he tried to keep us all on the south wing where we had been but higher ups gave the thumbs down. There was nothing he could do from here.
When I got back to the new dorm I drafted a request to the major, asking him to consider moving us back to the south wing and gave him a few valid arguments - at least we, the shower crew, think they're valid. Then all the guys that moved copied the letter in their own words. I'm hoping that the mob of requests will be heard. This dorm is not a good fit. The new season of The Office reruns started tonight, but basketball games were watched instead. In our old dorm, this would havebeen an outrage, but here it's life as usual.
Last night was a long one. We were not called out for work until after midnight because it took them (the guards) too long to clear their count of inmates for the unit. No one was missing; the guards were just moving slowly.
Once we finally got out to work, I was able to finish my assigned dorm in about fifteen minutes, less than my usual time. When I left the dorm to check in and go home, the boss for the night told me I needed to clean another dorm. Alright. I was ready to get back to my dorm, make some food, and maybe play a game of Power Grid if anyone else was in the mood. Not yet, though.It took about an hour to clean the next dorm: scrub the showers, wipe them down, scrub and rinse the floor, wipe the sinks. Again, I left the dorm and checked in to go back to my dorm. Nope. There's another dorm that needs to be cleaned, but "you have to wait here until I finish this count."
At 2:30 count was cleared and I went to clean the third dorm of the night, a record for me. Luckily, I had help and we knocked it out quickly. Finally, I can go back to my dorm to clean up and eat. I hope they get some more workers for shower crew because all that scrubbing is gross and tiring. I wish they would let us go back to our old schedule of one wing per night instead of doing the entire unit. All this on my "spring break", too.
Last night shower crew was crazy. For some reason the guys in charge wanted to try a completely new way for us to work. About twenty new guys were assigned the shower crew job and added to the nine that already work. We are also using completely new chemicals and cleaning the entire bathroom area, which includes for showers, one urinal, two toilets, four sinks, and the slip proof floor. Each of us was assigned our one dorm to clean, except there's no way we had enough supplies for each of us to clean on our own. We had to show the officer how we should work because he couldn't figure it out. A lot of the other guards were laughing and rolling their eyes at the disorder.
I was asiigned to cell block - the best job because it only has two showers that are barely used and nothing else. It took me about thirty minutes to clean everything and mop the floor just to make it look more clean. When I finished, I went to the main corridor and the boss for the night asked me to clean another dorm because someone quit. It took almost an hour to clean that one and get it inspected by the boss. Because there was only one boss and sixteen dorms to check on, it took a long time for him to get to this one.
After finishing my second dorm, I went to wait in the main corridor with everyone else. Unlike most nights where we can go back to our dorms after we finish, we had to stay out until everything was inspected and passed. The sergeant was getting really aggravated over something, maybe the shower crew boss and new hires, and he kept hassling us over nothing. She screamed at Rabbit just for sitting down like we always do. Other guys kept getting called back to fix their work. I was told to go into a dorm with new guys and show them how to do it, then cleaned two showers while they cleaned the other two. We finished it up and went back to the hall to wait some more. I had an 8:30 class this morning and I didn't get back to my dorm until 3:45 AM.
Turns out two guys quit because the boss was being dumb. One of them was taken up to the front in handcuffs and threatened with a case. He decided to continue working instead of taking a case. The other guy quit for good and took a case with it. All the guards I've talked to since say that the boss was being very dumb. Unfortunately, the way we did it last night is the way we are cleaning from now on, so I guess I should get used to it. I'm sure it will run smoother as time goes on. I'm glad I was assigned the easy job!
The shower crew has only gone to work once this week and we've been told that we won't work for the rest of the week. The supply officer that makes sure all of the cleaning supplies are stocked was planning to transfer to another unit later this month and a replacement was scheduled to start when the first one left. Unfortunately, the original supply officer left a few weeks early, which means no cleaning chemicals for the shower crew. Now the dorm janitors will have to work a little harder and clean the showers with everything else in the dorm. And the shower crew gets a chance vacation.
In other news, I still haven't heard back about the "failure to obey a direct order" case. I think what happened is that the ranking officer saw how ridiculous the case was and just threw it out. At least I hope that's the case.
More changes in the dorm. The last guy in this dorm associated with the neo-Nazi white supremacist group left to go to segregation. He had amassed an astonishing six disciplinary cases in two days (remember that definition of crash dummy?) It's good that he's out because of his influence on other guys and the heat he brought from the guards.That fifth open bunk - and all the others - didn't stay empty for long. Each was filled when I came back from school. What a surprise to leave a half-empty house and return two hours later to find a party going on! Three of the guys who moved in are very loud, one beats and raps nonstop, and none are on shower crew or in school, which means our schedules are about as dissimilar as they come. I hope a remedy is found and soon. I don't really want my grades to suffer from even less sleep that I get already.
