Prison Puzzle Pieces 2. Dave Basham
He went to his cell without picking up a voucher. I had informed our sergeant of what had been going on earlier in the day. He witnessed our last partial conversation. When I informed him of the inmates gesturing, he went to inform him that he was being placed on ICR and made sure his door was secure.
We got used to this kind of abuse from inmates. Well, at least I did because of my enforcing policies more than most officers.
DA DO RAG RAG
I was working the door post during morning ring out when I observed an inmate walking down the flag with a do rag sitting on the top of his head. I motioned for him to come to me. As he was coming over, I pointed to the top of my head. He came over and expressed displeasure with the headgear policy. They were allowed to wear headgear outside or in their cell only. He refused to remove the do rag as he continued past me, so I directed him to switch in.
HEADGEAR POLICY, ENFORCING IT
An inmate left the block wearing his stocking hat when the doors to the cellblock were opened to allow those needing to report to work and passes. I called to him to stop. He didn't. He tried making like he didn’t hear me, but he knew exactly what I said and why I wanted him. I had given others the heads up. He saw and heard me with some of the others. He thought I’d let it slide if he ignored me enough times. At this point in time, most of these guys didn’t know that I was not one to let things slide. I ordered him to stop again and to come to me. He then complied.
He told me he didn't know that he wasn't allowed to have the hat on. I didn’t buy into this line for one second because I had documented giving him a verbal warning on this policy a little over a month before this altercation.
I gave him a direct order to take the hat off. He refused and continued on his way. I told him to switch in. He started to walk back to the block and then turned around to confront me. I again directed him to switch in. He went to his cell very slowly and never removed his hat.
I charged him with loitering, disobeying a direct order, misrepresentation and the headgear violation. All of these charges would get him a trip to segregation when all he had to do was take the hat off until he went outside.
Inmates are not supposed to wear head gear inside the prison. The reason is that it is a great place to hide a shank. In the past, people have been assaulted when someone pulled a shank out of their hat and slipped it back in without anyone knowing who did it or where the shank disappeared to. Obviously there are many other places someone can hide a shank on themselves, but this policy gave them one less option.
JUST A PLAIN OLD IDIOT
While I was on a security check with another officer, the officer at the shower post informed us of activity on gallery 8.
He had observed an inmate going in and out of several cells. We found the inmate that officer had seen.
I stated to him that he was very active today and asked him what was going on.
He stated that nothing was going on.
I informed him that he shouldn't be wearing his do rag out of his cell.
Another inmate came over and interfered. In a very loud voice he stated, "The book says we can wear them on the tiers."
He tried arguing with me. I told him to show me where it stated that.
He told me to look it up myself and continued to argue very loudly, trying to incite those around us.
I directed him to switch in.
He did not comply.
I directed him to switch in again.
Again he did not comply.
I put my hand on my radio button and looked into his eyes.
He slowly complied, while yelling about it. He kept yelling over and over, "This is the worst case of abuse of power that I've ever seen."
I top locked him in his cell.
Once again, a loud mouthed know it all proves to all around that he is just a plain old idiot.
GETTING TO KNOW ME
During linen exchange, an inmate came out of his cell with his doo rag on. I explained that head gear was not allowed on when out of his cell and directed him to take it off. He refused that directive and the following four directives that I gave him. I had him take a seat by the phones, consulted the sarge and called a 10-14 to have him escorted to segregation.
Those inmates that did not know who I was were finding out.
REASON FOR NON ALTERING POLICY
Another officer and I were doing cell shakedowns. We came upon an item in the cell of a very creative and knowledgeable inmate. The other officer though it could be a bomb. I didn’t believe this to be true, but it was possible. It was a container with wires coming out of it. We must always error on the side of safety, so the other officer notified the sarge, who notified the Watch Commander, who notified the captain. They investigated and the captain decided it was necessary to initiate a B-Level response at 0911.
Officers accumulated in the rotunda and were given their assignments. An orderly evacuation of the unit began. One of the main reasons that B-West was chosen to be double bunked was that the inmates could be evacuated quickly and directly into the recreation yard.
Two Bayport Police Officers arrived at 0919.
All staff non essential to the security of the facility were evacuated to a building across the street.
Being the first of November, in Minnesota, it can get cold outside and it was. Most inmates had coats, but many did not. Inmates were freezing and complaining about being stuck out in the cold.
The laundry officers gathered all of the clean coats they had available. Some were new and some were used, but clean. The coats were mixed in with each other in boxes. Officers took them out to the yard and started distributing them to anyone without one.
There always has to be at least one person to try to create a problem. An inmate came for a coat. He was given a used coat from the top of the box. He violently ripped the coat from the officer and threw it on the ground.
He screamed, “I’m not taking a fucking used coat! Fuck you! I’m getting a new coat! Everyone else gets a new coat! You can’t give me that fucking piece of shit!”
There were a large number of inmates in the area waiting to get coats. There were about 400 inmates in the yard. The inmate was cuffed up and taken away. He was charged with disorderly conduct and trying to incite a riot. If officers had not acted quickly, the type of inmates that were among this group would have definitely raised hell.
Two St. Paul Police Department Bomb Squad Officers arrived by 1021.
It was not possible to evacuate the around 1200 inmates that were left in the prison. The prison is a large facility, so it was easy to keep them away from the suspected bomb area and keep them safe. Feeding of the inmates from other cellblocks started shortly after 1030.
The Bomb Squad Officers had determined the item to not be a threat and left the institution at 1103.
The administration staff that had been evacuated across the street were allowed to return by 1110.
With inmates moving back and forth in the hallway coming and going to lunch, the B-West inmates continued to be in the yard. The evacuated inmates could have entered directly into the cellblock from the yard, but there are no metal detectors set up there. They had to enter through the hallway once feeding of the other units was complete, so they could pass through the metal detectors. If there were any shanks or other pieces of metal that could be made into a weapon out in the yard, we did not want it entering the cellblock.
The process of slowly filtering the inmates