Prison Puzzle Pieces 2. Dave Basham
24 hour period that not allowing them to cover part of their door is not going to be a problem. The fact is, even someone of low intelligence can get away with a lot in this place.
Inmates often put a coat or even just a piece of paper on the bars of their cell. This was to block the sun from shining in, a bright light, to prevent the annoyance of someone constantly eyeing them up and many other such reasons that had nothing to do with security. This would make it easier to sleep, watch their TV or whatever other activity they were doing to pass the time.
This policy did more to create problems in the institution than it did to hinder any problematic behavior. I had to enforce it, because Psycho LT had already made an example of me not enforcing it the way he wanted it enforced. Since that happened, I couldn’t chance not enforcing it his way.
I did have a sergeant at one point that I could trust to back up anything he said. We worked in a block where the morning sun would beat in. I explained to him how unfair this policy was to the inmates. He stated that as a policy of this cell block, this policy would not be enforced during the time the morning sun was shining in. The inmates could not totally block their cell bars, but he would allow them to block the bars enough to create a reasonable living environment. I stopped enforcing the policy during this time of the day. This sergeant had taken a bold move, applied common sense for the betterment of all living and working in this block and I could trust him to back me up if Psycho LT or some other officer like him came looking to stir something up with me.
Both officers and inmates liked having the panels covering the cell bars. There are things that these guys do that we would never want to see. We are supposed to write these guys up if we discover them pleasuring themselves. How ludicrous is that? As far as I was concerned, the more they did it the better. They are in the privacy of their own cell. They aren’t out creating problems. They are more mellow afterwards and likely to take a nap. Seems like a win win situation to me. It was easy not to write up something like this as I was generally naïve to it anyway, but who is to say what I saw or didn’t see. The inmate is definitely not going to yell out, “Basham caught me jerking off and didn’t write me up!” If he wasn’t standing there looking at me admiringly vigorously shaking himself with his tongue hanging out; I saw nothing!
Once the panels were removed, the cell blocks got very noisy. The panels helped contain noise from televisions, radios and loud talking. If an inmate was having a day where he was producing foul odors, the panels helped contain the odors as well. Walking along the tiers and getting a good whiff of something like this was one of the really bad parts of the job. Sometimes it was so foul, you could taste it and you would have to try work at keeping your last meal from coming out and adding to the smell.
HE THOUGHT WRONG
While on a security check with another officer, I observed an inmate that had his lower cell bars obstructed with the cover to a foot locker. I told him to remove it. He became verbally abusive, but eventually complied. Later, while on a security check with another officer, this same inmate had his lower cell bars covered with a sheet that he had hung over his chair. I directed him to remove it. He became verbally abusive again, but complied. The other officer tried to speak to him, but the inmate stated that he wouldn’t talk to him. He was already locked in his cell for other violations, so he figured we couldn’t do anything. Well, he found out that we could add more charges and he was not very happy with that fact.
He thought that I would not write him up with it being time for me to go home. Once again, he was wrong. I used to manage restaurants for McDonalds. These 8 hour work days in the prison were nothing compared to that.
HEADPHONE POLICY REFUSAL
As anyplace, people get lax on things off and on. In a place like this, some of those things could have critical consequences. One day, all officers were informed that the inmates must always have their headphones on and plugged in when they are watching their TV's or radios. This may seem like a small thing, but in a place like this with so many different types of people and so many of them having a tendency toward violence, this becomes a big thing. If an inmate is following the rules in one cell and the inmate next to him is blasting their television or radio in the next cell, the normally compliant inmate would be compelled to take some sort of action.
They could inform on the violator. That would not be acceptable according to the inmate code and could get them in big trouble with other inmates. There would also have to be a lot of inmates complaining for anything to get resolved.
They could ask the inmate to comply with the policy and turn the volume down. That could work if the violator was cooperative, but they weren’t following policy to begin with, so most likely things would escalate to another level.
The frustration would build. The one following policy could ask to move. You would need a good reason and if you stated the actual reason, then you are fronting off the violator.
Eventually the complying inmate would either try to gain access into the others cell and smash the equipment or smash the inmate.
Sometimes, if they are involved in the same gang, a leader could resolve the issue.
If they were members of different gangs and a resolution could not be worked out, a fight between the gangs could break out.
As you see, the possibilities are many. You never can tell when a small thing will grow into a big thing.
IDENTIFICATION TAGS, ID POLICY REFUSAL
Numerous inmates were leaving the cell block without having their ID’s displayed while I was working the B-West door post. As this was a regular occurrence, I pulled all of them aside as they exited the cell block. After everyone was out of the block, I explained the policy to them all at one time. There were approximately 10 of them. There would’ve been a lot more, but some caught on to what I was doing and put their ID’s on before they got to me.
One of the guys I had pulled aside gave me attitude. He did this both when I pulled him aside and when I explained what I was doing to the group.
What I was doing was making the point that when they saw me working the door, I would be enforcing the policies. By pulling these violators aside, the other inmates saw what was going on. Those that didn’t see would hear about it real soon. This made it so when they saw me at the door; most of them would put on their ID’s before they got to me.
The loud mouth that was a very large powerful man stated that he wasn’t into playing any of my little games. I locked him up for not displaying his ID, disobeying and trying to incite the others. I let all of the others go as they were cooperative. Well as cooperative as you could expect 10 felons in a group to be.
As time went on, the guy with the big mouth and attitude changed quite a bit. He was intelligent enough to realize that I was not his enemy; that I was only doing my job. We eventually had a friendly relationship and he assisted in getting new disruptive inmates to chill out.
WELL SCREW ME
A voucher is an authorization for an inmate to release some of his funds. Some reasons were to buy something from an outside supplier, such as for guitar strings, send money home, donate to a charity …)
An inmate came to the bubble one morning to get a voucher signed. His ID did not look like him. I stated that fact. He said he had gained 45 pounds. I asked him why his picture was taken without his glasses on. He stated that he didn't want the glare on his glasses. Before we could finish the conversation, he quickly left. I informed the ID sergeant of this situation. He told me to have him fill out a voucher and that he could then schedule him for a photo retake. After count, I paged the inmate to the bubble. I informed him that I needed him to fill out a voucher, so that we could get him an ID that looked like him. He refused to obey my directive and became disorderly. He again left before we could finish our conversation. As he passed by me in front of the bubble, he extended the middle finger of his right hand and held it up for me to see. He was speaking to me angrily, as indicated by his fast jerky body movements and his