Prison Puzzle Pieces 2. Dave Basham
having hooch bottles hidden in his vent. Diversion tactics are common. Complain about somebody else to divert attention away from yourself. Also, if you can try to get an officer on the hot seat, it’s all that much more effective. Higher ups frequently take the word of criminals over that of officers. This is an effective way for higher ups to cover their ass.
Plus, having a ring is contraband. Did he really even have one?
MOVING ODERS
Another officer and I were on a security check when we smelled marijuana on the third and fourth galleries. The sergeant smelled it down around the sergeant’s office. The three of us found the strongest smell in a cell on the fourth gallery where both inmates were out of their cell. The sarge had them taken to the security center while we shook down their cell. We did not find any marijuana, but we did find a lot of tattoo paraphernalia.
The air flow in this place made it very difficult to find the exact location of the smokers. By the time we got to a cell that smelled like the highest possibility, it was probably from smoke that had transferred from the actual smoker’s cell.
If we charged someone due to the smell, we would have had to be passing by their cell either during or immediately after their little smoke fest.
GOOD HIDING SYSTEM
While conducting hooch checks, a discovery was made. There is a vent in the back of the cell by the toilet. An officer looked into this vent using his flashlight. He could see some bottles back in the vent. He found that the screws holding the vent cover in place were easy to remove with his fingers. Once the vent cover was off, the officer pulled out a tray about two feet long that was made out of cardboard from Quaker Oats boxes. This brought forward 15 City Cow Jalapeno Squeezable Cheese bottles. They were filled with purple hooch.
The inmate received a new home in segregation and maintenance came in and secured the vent cover.
A NOSE FOR HOOCH
While completing a security round, I smelled the strong odor of hooch coming from a cell. The sarge and I directed the two inmates to step out of their cell. Upon completion of a cell shakedown we recovered ten bottles of hooch. The sarge called for a 10-14 to get these guys hauled out. A sample of the hooch was turned into evidence. This was necessary for the discipline unit to be able to sufficiently and effectively charge them with possessing the brew.
Hooch became a huge problem when double bunking came to B-West.
WELLBUTRIN
Wellbutrin is a prescription drug that is used as an antidepressant in the prison system.
The inmates discovered several ways of abusing Wellbutrin.
Inmates can mix it with other medications and snort it to produce a cocaine like high.
They can mix it with a liquid, so they can shoot it up with insulin syringes that have been smuggled in by diabetics.
They can mix it with baking soda and the powder from asthma inhalers. This mixture is then cooked in a microwave for 20 seconds to turn it into a rock like substance that can be smoked.
When the institution became aware of this, they checked on the inmates allowed to be using Wellbutrin. They found out that only a few of the inmates had the correct amount. This meant that they were either abusing it themselves or selling it.
The institution decided not to give the inmates this medication in bubble packs that they kept in their cells any more. They had to have a nurse give it to them. The nurse had to watch them swallow it and check the inside of their mouth to make sure they actually swallowed it. After this, Wellbutrin pills were still being found. However, now the pills had rough surfaces. The inmates were barfing them back up and selling them.
The institution checked to make sure that those receiving the drug really needed it, but more Wellbutrin was being prescribed than ever before. Psychology was not cooperating.
We were told that this medication would no longer be prescribed, but at the same time they told us that they were just going to have stricter criteria for prescribing it. We were also told to keep an eye out for it, especially in the microwaves.
And that's the way this institution was run.
HIGH ON PAPER
We were informed that inmates were being sent meth in the mail. The meth was mixed with water and spread or sprayed on 80 lb colored art paper. It was then covered with saran wrap and pressed between heavy books. Once it dried, it's written on as part of a regular letter. It might be a single page or it could be between other regular pages of paper. If it was mixed with regular writing paper it should stand out somewhat. Once the inmate received it, all he had to do was to swallow it for the high.
ORANGE YOU GONNA SEARCH ME
An inmate in our block was found with a small bag of weed. Inside the bag with the marijuana was part of an orange peel. The smell of the orange covered up the smell of the pot. You can learn something new every day in this place. Most of it is only useful if you are a corrections officer or if you are trying to become a better criminal.
AMATEUR BIG SHOT
An inmate decided that he would start his own little gambling business. Part of his problem was that he didn’t possess the stature to enforce anything if there were a problem; and with gambling, there are always problems.
He was seen by a sergeant walking around with a blue folder. He would stop at tables where inmates were playing cards. They aren’t supposed to be gambling, but it is always going on. We can’t stop it unless we can prove it.
The sarge stopped him and told him to give him the folder. Inside were three sheets of paper with football gambling squares and initials on each square. On the sheets were written “50 cents.” Written on the four corners of one sheet was “Whites;” another had “Natives;’ and the other had “Mexicans” written on each corner.
The entrepreneur was escorted out of the unit. When his cell was shaken down, more gambling sheets were found. Also, twenty eight dollars and fifty cents worth of photo tickets were discovered along with photo copies of scantily clad girls from “myspace.com.”
Looks like this guy had a barter system going on in addition to his gambling business.
POLICY VIOLATORS
PLAYING THE GAME
One of the jobs as a corrections officer is to try to maintain a safe secure environment. The way to do this is to enforce the institutions policies.
There are problems with this. Some officers are afraid to enforce policy, some don’t care and some are lazy. Some officers don’t know the policies and some don’t agree with them. Some officers took the job to smuggle items to their friends, sell contraband and get out before getting caught. Who knows how many other reasons there could possibly be for not doing the job we were hired to do.
If inmates wanted to stay out of trouble, I would coach them on how to deal with policies. I told them there was no way to know all of the policies. There were two ways they could go to stay out of trouble.
The first was that you could just figure there was a policy against most everything and you would be alright.
The second way was to ask an officer. Whatever they tell you takes the blame off of you and puts it on them if they were wrong. A big point here was to make sure you ask an honest officer, one you can trust to step up and say, “Yes, I told him he could do that.” Also, write down who told you what; when they told you (date and time), and where both of you were when he told you. It never hurts to have witnesses to what the officer told you either; write their name down too. You can never be too careful.
Officers