Prison Puzzle Pieces 3: The realities, experiences and insights of a corrections officer doing his time in Historic Stillwater Prison

stories."

THE SHORTEST CHAPTER EVER

BAD OFFICERS

EVERYONE THINKS THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT

Officer Heroin worked on Third Watch and I worked on Second Watch. My first encounter with him was when he needed someone to cover a shift for him. He couldn’t find anyone that would switch with him. Rarely did I ever do switches, but he said he had a family function in a different state. I bailed him out at the last minute by taking his shift.

After this I would see him every once in a while when I was leaving for the day and he was coming in.

Not long after my shift exchange with him, an inmate was found dead in his cell. As this was a juicy story, the grapevine started putting out information rather quickly.

We heard that Officer Heroin had an old friend that was an inmate in B-East. He got Officer Heroin to bring in drugs for him. Nobody could find out how often or how long this had been going on. When the tapes were checked, he could be seen tossing a small black package into a cell. It turns out that he had the drugs wrapped in black electrical tape. The drug was heroin.

Officer Heroin's inmate friend passed the drugs off to the inmate that overdosed on them. That inmate was doing time for murder.

Once Officer Heroin was arrested, he was fired.

All inmate phone calls are recorded. We have some officers that do some pretty good detective work at Stillwater. When they listened to telephone calls of the dead inmate, they were able to find a witness. The witness admitted going to Detroit to pick up the heroin. The dead inmate had coordinated the deal. The witness admitted to giving Officer Heroin drugs and money.

Authorities tried charging Officer Heroin with 3rd degree murder and a second degree charge of trafficking a controlled substance. By agreeing to admit to bringing in the drugs, the murder charge was dropped and he was sentenced to 4 years in prison. So officially he was only a drug dealer and not a murderer. He did not do his time at Stillwater. I guess that would’ve been cruel and unusual punishment.

When the warden spoke to the media he said, ‘There's a zero tolerance for anybody smuggling drugs into our correctional facilities, not just staff. The case with Officer Heroin casts a stain on an honest, dedicated group of professionals.

Every once in a while we would get wind of an officer bringing in drugs or tobacco. For a while there seemed to be a revolving door on kitchen workers getting caught bringing in drugs and tobacco. Some personnel got themselves hired strictly to bring in contraband for their friends, family or gang members.

I always remember how panicked Officer Heroin was to need me to take his shift that night. I think it's a pretty good bet that he had to make contact that night or even drive to Detroit to pick up heroin that night. I'll never know for sure.

BEARDLESS SANTA

There was a chubby blonde officer working in the prison when I started. OK, she was closer to being a round ball than to being chubby. If she had a white beard, she could’ve been Santa Claus. She was rather loud and abrasive at times, but seemed to do her job.

We were in the break room one day when she put her hand on my leg. I just ignored it, made like it wasn’t there and kept focusing on the television show. She started moving her hand around on my leg. It did not produce wood, only the heebie jeebies. I wasn’t attracted to her, but even if I were, we were both a couple of chunks. Who was going to be on top?

She proceeded to ask me out. I have always proclaimed that I have ruled fear out of my life, but man, if this wasn’t fear; it had to be awfully damn close.

I’m not easily surprised either, but I was now. When you walk into a prison, you’re not thinking about getting a date. Well, some are, but I’m not.

I just ignored her and made like I was totally engrossed in the television show. She started laughing and stated that I was making like I didn’t hear her. She got that one right. She said she guessed that she got her answer. She got that one right too. She left, but the heebie jeebies hung on for awhile.

It wasn’t long after this that she wasn’t around anymore. I found out that she had been escorted out of the institution one day. Word around the prison was that she had been having sex with a homosexual inmate for the past two years.

You might think, why would a homosexual want to hook up with a woman. Well, there are plenty of supposedly straight guys in here hooking up with other supposedly straight guys. In here it doesn’t matter their persuasion, some of these guys just want someone to fiddle with their junk other than themselves.

The way this affair was discovered was by the usual method, a snitch. In this case, the snitch was a blackmailer. The snitch blackmailer was a black male. Not that that is relevant, but I liked the way it sounded. When he found out about their goings on, or comings on, whatever you want to call it, he saw opportunity.

He wanted some cigarettes. He thought that he could force her to bring them in for him by threatening to out her. He told her that if she didn’t smuggle in cigarettes for him that he would snitch her out. She didn’t succumb to his demands so he snitched off her snatch activity.

I know that’s not the greatest word to be using, but once again I liked the way it sounded and it made me laugh. If you are still reading now after all the other things you have read in this book, it shows that you are able to deal with life’s realities and darker sides. It shows you are as whacked as the rest of us working here. It shows that you could handle being a corrections officer.

Her having her jollies with that gay inmate for those two years just showed that I shouldn’t have been flattered when she asked me out. If she’s hard up enough to screw a gay inmate, she’d be hard up enough to screw me. Yes, that sounds real flattering doesn’t it? Once again my instincts saved me by delivering me those heebie jeebies at the right time.

JERK OFFICERS IN A-EAST

During my first couple of months working in the prison, an inmate passed by me as I was working the door post. As he raced by me in a perturbed manner, he angrily stated, You have to do something about that. He was pointing back from where he came. He was up the stairs before I could ask him what he was talking about.

I observed no problem in the flag area. There were just a lot of people enjoying their afternoon socializing. I observed the inmate on the second tier acting irrational. He was talking to an inmate next to him and pointing to me.

As he was coming back down the stairs, I motioned to him to come over. He stated again that I have to stop that. He would come toward me and then turn around leaving in the middle of his incomplete sentences, so I was unable to understand what he was trying to tell me.

He was halfway up the stairs when I ordered him to stop. I went to the stairway and he came down a couple of steps. I told him he had to settle down. I guaranteed him I was here to do my job, but he had a responsibility to inform me of what he was upset about or I couldn’t help him.

After I got him to settle down, to quit interrupting, to quit running off and to listen, he rationally informed me that he was upset that the people on the flag were too noisy. I informed him that I would check it out, talk to the sergeant and do whatever was possible to solve the problem.

He said he was worried about being outed, that they may have seen him talking to me. I informed him that I would try to handle it in a way to avoid that from happening.

As he was going back up the stairs, he said something about a fight possibly breaking out in this group where he came from. I watched from where I was and saw no evidence of this. A short black inmate was one of the loudest and most animated of the group, but nothing to suggest that trouble was brewing. I believed this to be a ploy to get some action by punking out the new guy, me.

I had been in this cellblock for a short time the day before and didn’t notice it to be any noisier now. I thought about radioing the sergeant, but really had no actual problem. The group was close to me, so I decided to walk toward the group to see if that would change anything. Nothing changed. They didn’t seem to try to cover anything up, as someone who is guilty of something would do.

A couple officers saw me move toward the group and came to my location. They jumped all over me saying that I shouldn’t be as far away from the door as I was. Had I not been so new to the job, I would’ve jumped right back at them. I was not far from the door and there were no inmates between the door and me.

The presence of 3 officers coming from different locations caused enough curiosity so that the group was focused on us. This caused their chattering to die down without us ever saying anything to them. This was good for the inmate’s safety that talked to me.

The officers and I moved back closer to the door where I filled them in on what was going on. No officer had tried to quiet the place down and this was their regular cellblock, so I had no reason to believe the volume was excessive. However, I felt I owed it to the inmate to check the situation out, as I did not know what was acceptable in this block.

I filled the officers in on a guy that did seem suspicious throughout the day. It was a Hispanic guy with a tattoo around his neck. He would separate other inmates away from their group and talk to them, all the while keeping a close eye on me. They felt it was nothing. They just didn’t want to do anything.

About a month later, I was in this block again. Some guy was cutting another guys hair on the flag on the back side of the ice machine by the door.

Those same two lazy jerk officers came and yelled at me. They said that I should’ve gone to where those inmates were and not let them continue. This was in about the same place as I had gone previously when they got on my case.

All they had to do was to inform me that cutting hair in this location was not allowed. It was their responsibility to inform new people on the things that we don’t get informed about in the academy. It is also their responsibility to inform anyone not permanently assigned to their block of what they want enforced and what they didn’t want enforced.

My education had continued however. I now knew of two officers that I had no respect for, two officers that I would not seek advice from, two officers that I would never trust. These are the things they can’t teach you in the academy.

FORBIDDEN LOVE

Upon arriving at the institution one Saturday morning, we saw that the Bayport police were there. OSI (Office of Special Investigations) officers were also there.

Once inside, a rookie officer asked me why OSI was in. I told him someone must be getting hauled out.

We then saw Officer Luvin' Spoonful being taken out in handcuffs. Her car was searched before taking her away.

She was always talking about God and making like she was so righteous. I always warned people about the self righteous rather than the righteous.

After she was hauled out, information started to pour out.

She was a white woman with black children. She was having sex with a white supremacist inmate.

Sometimes, when you are a racist in prison, getting some supersedes any negativity you have toward another race. Being racist is about feeling you are superior to another race. So, I could understand him doing her, but her doing him was crazy. Doing an inmate makes you a criminal. Many officers drooled over this gal, yet she chose an inmate that viewed himself to be superior to her and her kids.

Inmates said that the White Supremacist followed her around like a puppy dog. She would escort him to different areas of the prison to have sex.

Later, when he was in segregation, he bragged about shooting his wad all over her face, rubbing it all around and in her hair. He said she brought in tobacco and a cell phone for him and that his mother babysat her kids.

Word had it that she had a house in Woodbury and a section 8 house in Wisconsin, another criminal offence. You can't own a house in one state and qualify for section 8 in another state. Can you say fraud!

She was waiting outside of the prison to pick him up when his sentence expired. Obviously, the rumor mill supplied me with most of this information.

SERGEANT PUSHED ME TO SLACK OFF

When I transferred to A-East, the lieutenant was happy to get someone that would actually do the job, actually enforce policies. This was because it wasn’t happening over there. In the roughly six weeks since I came over, the officers and especially one sergeant tried to get me to not write up violations; to just let the inmates break policies with no consequences.

Sgt. Lost My Respect pushed me hard and frequently to ignore violations. When he couldn’t get me to stop all together, he came up with what he thought was a great idea.

He suggested that I ignore policies one day a week. He said to pick a day of the week for me to totally ignore all of the policies and let the inmates violate whatever they wanted.

First off, I’m here to do the job I was hired to do, to earn my pay. Second, there is a consistency and credibility issue here. Most inmates respected me because of my consistency. They knew what to expect from me. They knew I would do my job and that if they followed the prisons rules, we would never have a problem with each other. Third, how crazy of an idea was this from a superior officer. Have I said before that the sergeant’s job was a position acquired with seniority not competency to do the job? I’m sure that I have.

When I bid into this block, part of the reason was that I thought this guy was a good sergeant. Working with him, I changed my mind. There were times that he would ride my ass for no reason at all, possibly because I was there to work.

When I stood up for myself and proved his assumptions wrong, he would become a bigger jerk and try harder to find me making a mistake.

I realize that I will be wrong about people sometimes, but in this case it was quite disappointing, especially when he turned out to be a vindictive slacker. However, part of me judging him in a positive manner was from what others that worked with him told me. I guess that they liked not having to do the job.

There was a period of time where he had the hots for a psychologist that worked in the prison. She would stop in the block frequently to visit him. They would sit at the sergeant’s desk making goo goo eyes at each other and talking baby talk to each other. They were like a couple of kids finding first lust. Their total focus was on each other.

It’s like hey; you’re in a prison. You’re supposed to be aware of your surroundings and should actually be doing a job here. You’re not here to create a soap opera for the inmates.

Several other officers claimed to have received gratification from this gal. I had to believe it because she even came on to me. I guess in her psycho analytical mumbo jumbo you might say she must have had an officer fetish.

I would say that this shrink needed a shrink.

INAPPROPRIATENESS

A male officer was sitting on a chair when a female officer hopped on him, straddling him. She was bouncing up and down on him. She was married to another officer.

Obviously, this was an inappropriate action to take at work. However, she had a good sense of humor and if she could handle working in this place, her sense of humor must be somewhat warped.

I don't know what led up to this incident, but stress combined with boredom can make one do weird things that instantly pop into their head.

Because of this, she received 5 days off with no pay.

NAP TIME

Several officers were facing discipline for sleeping on the job; some had volunteered for overtime and dozed off. Others made it a habit to sleep when ever and where ever they could.

HAD TO GO

An officer was locked in a secured area that did not have any lavatory. He had a major urge. Instead of broadcasting to the entire institution over the radio that he had this severe urge, he urinated in the hallway. He faced discipline for his action. His life was going down the toilet, too bad his urine wasn’t.

I spoke to him about it later. He told me that he intended to mop it up once his relief came because he needed relief before his relief would be able to get to him to relieve himself.

Police were called to his house one night because of a domestic dispute. His wife accused him of going for his guns during a fight. She was divorcing him.

He was caught sleeping by the warden. His response was that he was just in a state of rest.

He had announced that he had sex with a man. He stated that he didn’t care who or what he did it with, so long as he was doing it.

FATHER & SON

There was an officer who was #2 on my officer enemy list at one point in time. He was one of the old boy network. He was a likeable sort of fellow when he wasn't being an asshole to me.

The story going around the institution was that he got nailed for driving drunk on his motorcycle; that he crashed with his wife on the back.

The officer had kept his mouth shut about this, but some officers noticed him getting a ride to work every day. His drinking and probably his injuries from the crash were causing him to call in sick a lot and show up late. One of the captains had him in her office a very long time one day trying to get him back on track. It seemed to work. As far as being totally competent to handle inmates and situations that arose in the institution, he was damn good at it. He just saw things his way, didn’t like how I did things and wanted me to see the job how he saw it.

His son started working here and didn’t make it through his probation period. He was an arrogant know it all. I had problems with him in the academy and was forced to verbally slam him down a few times when he contradicted my teachings. It was obvious that his father had bad mouthed me to him. I thought that if he made it through the probation period that it would only be because of his dad working here. However, that didn’t even help him.

SICKO

An officer, that liked bragging about strange things he had done, left the ranks of the employed.

He had a vent set up at his home so he could look through it into his daughter’s room. His daughter had a girlfriend over one day. He was looking through the vent jerking off when his wife happened by and caught him. She kicked him out of the house.

He was able to find a kinky girlfriend. In one of their kinky sessions he had her ram a huge dildo up his rectum.

Why someone would be bragging about something like this is beyond me. I fill you in on these stories so that you can realize the severe dysfunctions that we put up with in this place and the nature of some of the people we must work with.

In my entire life, I have never been exposed to such blatant sickening things. If I was ever associated with people that did things like this before working here, I am glad that I was never aware of it.

HIRING THE HANDICAPPED

One guy, that was hired, was so bad that the inmates ridiculed us officers severely for him being one of us. It was humiliating being in the same category as this guy. He walked like a combination of Igor and Frankenstein; very slowly, stiff, one leg sliding to try to catch up with the other, arms bent at the elbows with his hands hanging down limp wristed. He was slovenly and inattentive. He was constantly chewing gum. He couldn’t answer questions. There was dead silence before anything stumbled out of his mouth. There was no light on upstairs. When you looked into his eyes, no one was home. This is not a place to be employing the physically or mentally handicapped; and this guy was both.

Whoever hired this guy should’ve been fired. Was this some kind of a cruel joke? If he had to go through the same procedures that I did in order to get hired, how did he ever wind up here? The incompetence of some of those employed by the DOC was blatantly obvious with this guy being hired.

Doofus was going through the academy and was sent to my block for On the Job Training. He was so bad that I called training and asked what was going on with this guy and why he was still here. They told me that they were frustrated too. They had tried to get rid of him, but weren’t allowed to.

There was one instance involving an Associate Warden. This AW was in my block one day when this embarrassing new hire from the academy was at the desk area with another new hire from his academy. I was working the desk. She asked the other guy a question. He answered it well. She asked Doofus the same question. After a long pause, he parroted the other guys answer. She asked the other guy another question and then asked Doofus the same question. Again, the long pause followed by the parroted answer. What! Were these guys’ clones? She seemed to be catching on. She asked Doofus the next question first. He couldn’t answer. He was lost. He was in Never Never Land. This question had nothing to do with what he knew about the job. It was a personal question and he couldn’t answer it. He paused and did not answer. He just stood there in silence. I’ve actually worked with mentally challenged people that were more competent than this guy. She asked the other officer the same question. He answered right away. Then Doofus spoke up and parroted the same answer.

You would’ve thought the AW would’ve realized this guy to be incompetent and oust him right there. It didn’t happen.

The lady that coordinates the training for Stillwater and did a lot of the training came down to my cellblock and told me she needed help. She told me that they were frustrated. They had tried to get rid of this guy, but weren’t allowed to. She needed more documentation of this guy’s incompetence and inability to perform the functions necessary to do the job. I told her that I could easily provide it. She asked if I would write a letter that they could use to help get rid of him. I responded eagerly to the affirmative.

I wrote a letter and gave it to her. The letter would have to be placed in his file. If he wasn’t terminated and did anything wrong, this letter could be produced to verify the incompetency of the institution by not terminating this person. The honchos need documentation of everything. Why? CYA; that’s right!

He was gone.

Even though he was gone, the damage was done. Inmates used what they saw of this guy to tell to us that the DOC hired the retarded, and we were one of them. We couldn’t deny it. We were insulted by someone like this ever stepping foot in this place representing himself as an officer.

No ifs ands or buts about it; whoever hired this person ought to be fired. I was vocal about this, and no big shot could deny it. We all felt the same way.

Following is the letter I wrote:

Doofus reported to me over 5 minutes after the other OJT officer reported to me. I directed him to report to cell 860 where Officer Old Timer was packing a cell. I pointed to the cell and said, See that cell with the door open. There is an officer in that cell, report to him. He started to walk away and then asked where it was. I repeated what I had just told him. (One thing I neglected to put in this letter was that I had to keep directing him from my location with hand signals and hollering directions to him until he arrived at that cell.)

Doofus did count with Officer Old Timer. He counted a cell to be empty where there was an offender. Officer Old Timer had to recheck to find the error. While I was at the door post, Doofus and the other OJT officer were leaving the unit. I had asked Doofus his name previously and got the correct spelling from him. I had not yet asked the other man his name, so I asked him. He informed me. Doofus then gave me his name again. In the very limited contact I had with Doofus, I found him extremely inattentive.

LYING GLORY HOUNDS

Two white inmates attacked a black inmate. They were all thrown in the box for a day. By the looks of the two white guys, the smaller black guy kicked their butts.

We shook down all of the cells on the front half of the flag where the two white guys’ cells were, in order so that it didn’t look like we were singling them out. I found a bubble pack of pills in one of their cells and Glory Hound found some loose pills in a tea box. These were not his pills, so we confiscated them.

Before we were through with this cell, the other white guy started tearing up papers and flushing them down the toilet. I cuffed him up and took him out of his cell. I found a letter among his papers and an additional 15 in his trash that incriminated him as the one who instigated and planned the hit on the smaller black inmate, among other things. I had to write up a report on this to help verify Glory Hound's report. Glory Hound's report stated that he found everything, which was incorrect. When writing reports, they are to be 100% factual. That is how I wrote up my report. I made mine as brief as possible so it wouldn’t contradict Glory Hound's too much. The evidence would speak for itself in the hearings. Glory Hound had instigated the search, but I’m not writing inaccurate statements just because he had more time in than I did.

When shaking down a cell with another officer, I frequently let the other officer take credit for the find, if they were a good officer. If I saw something, I would not touch it. I would direct the other officer to it. I knew I would retire before my seniority would allow me to be promoted. So, if solving something could help that officer in the long run, great.

Glory Hound was not one of those good officers.

REPULSIVE

There was a female officer that I'll refer to as Officer Repulsive, due to the lazy person having a repulsive attitude. She was working in an area of the prison where inmates were supposed to report to her. It is pertinent to this story that you know she was also a lesbian. She had drawn the interest of Clueless who was a male officer. He knew she wasn’t interested in guy parts, but he pursued her anyway. He didn’t wear glasses, but maybe he should’ve. I believe that with better eyesight, he would not have been pursuing her. There was a time where in his warped mind, he felt he could snag this catch or is it catch this snag. Whatever the case, he put pink panties on her car under a windshield wiper. Word spread of this real fast, so he had to back off in his pursuit for awhile.

Anyway, she would call wanting me to shag people out of the unit. I’d tell her that was up to the officer controlling the movement. She was chastising me for people not reporting to her. I can’t force them, I can lock them up if she wants to write a report, but I can’t make them go on their pass. She was telling me that I had to write a report each time an inmate did not report. I told her that was her responsibility and to not try to pawn her job off onto me. Eventually, it was necesssary to hang up on her. She kept calling until I finally told her to shove it up her ass. She stopped calling then. Later, I found out that she complained to the Watch Commander, but he knew what she was like and blew her off.

MISS BERZERK

A female employee of the institution that was responsible for handling inmates being released called me and told me to have some inmates report to the turnkey. I told her that I had nothing on it. She demanded that I get them to the turnkey and told me that I better do it now. I informed her that count tells me when offenders are leaving, where to send them and when to send them there.

She kept telling me that I better listen to her orders. I informed her that she was not one of the people that I take orders from.

There was one guy that she wanted me to send to her that she didn’t even have the correct name for. She told me that I better get him out of the unit right now. I hung up.

She called back totally enraged. She was enraged before and now she was even more enraged, so I felt totally enraged must be between enraged and berserk.

She informed me that she was married to an officer that works in the prison. I guess she thought that made her more important. It just made me feel sorry for that officer. She told me that I must be new or else I would know that. I informed her that I wasn’t new, that I knew who she was married to and that was his problem and not mine.

She asked for my name. This is what people do when they try to intimidate you into doing what they want you to do. It is a threat to report you. I told her my name and spelled it out nice and slowly for her. I encouraged her to report me for doing my job properly. I just don’t release an inmate because a voice on the phone tells me to.

I informed her that if she had filled out all of her paper work properly and contacted all of the right people that there would’ve been no problem. I suggested that if she truly wanted these inmates the soonest possible, she take care of the business that she should have taken care of previously.

I would’ve paid for a video of her at this time, because she had entered that going berserk stage when I hung up on her.

Eventually, I received authorization to release the inmates she requested and this time the names were the names of people I actually had locked up in my cell block.

WISCONSINITES

As officers, we are under more scrutiny than the inmates. Our calls are monitored just as the inmates’ calls are monitored. The institution checked out an eight day section of staff phone calls. It was discovered that some were making long distance phone calls from the prison. An email was sent out informing everyone to stop doing this immediately.

Part of the problem lies in that the prison is just across the river from Wisconsin. Many people from Wisconsin work here. If they must call home, that is a long distance call even if it is only a couple of miles away.

However, this should be their burden and not the states. Proper planning could've eliminated most of these calls. I could see if someone was forced to work overtime or volunteered to work overtime, that they should be allowed to make the call on the state's dime. However, it takes only a few people abusing something to negatively affect others.

MENTALITY OF SOME OFFICERS

When I first started, an officer gave me some papers and told me to put them on the lieutenant’s desk. When I tried to open the door, it was locked. I asked him where the key was. He said it was on the key ring. I had a set of keys on me. I tried all of them. One key slipped in but would not open the door. The officer that told me to put the papers in the office was laughing. He had been watching me try out a full ring of keys on a door when he had the correct key in his pocket all the time. I can take a joke if it’s funny, but this was just stupid. It was something a little kid might think was funny. I require higher standards and more creativity from adult practical jokers.

CRIMINALS WATCHING CRIMINALS

An officer was upset one day because he had applied for a policeman’s job and was turned down. It seems as though they didn’t like it that he had abused drugs. They weren’t even aware of his robbery conviction when he was younger.

BAD CONSEQUENCE TO HORSEPLAY

Officers screwing around can cause major problems as it did this day. Back in segregation officers were screwing around with each other when breakfast arrived to be served to the inmates. Officers are not supposed to eat this food, but there is a lot of peer pressure to do so. If others eat it, and they are going to, you better eat it too or they will think you might out them and then they will make it tough on you.

I can’t remember all that led up to the main problem. It generally starts out small and escalates with everyone trying to top the next person.

One officer wound up spraying chemical irritant on another officer’s tray of food. Then an officer thought it was a bright idea to serve that tray to an inmate.

The inmate wound up lying on the floor yelling that staff had sprayed his food with mace causing him breathing problems. He was taken to Health Services in a wheel chair.

A sergeant was involved. He was demoted. Suspensions were handed out too.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

An officer stopped showing up at work. This happens from time to time without us knowing why. This time we found out. He was convicted of abusing and raping his wife. He was now an inmate.

TURKEY IN A-EAST

When I transferred to A-East, there was an officer there that hated my guts and everything else about me. He had bid on the spot that I bid on and got in that unit. He felt he deserved it. This is a seniority system, so he did not deserve it. His skills, knowledge, initiative, etc. did not even come close to mine. He was a slacker that was buddies with the sergeant in this cell block.

He was a liar. He told falsehoods about me to this sergeant buddy of his and the sarge bought into them. Working in this place, I was used to situations like this. I followed policy and worked hard, so these kinds of people eventually did themselves in.

This turkey eventually became frustrated, quit and returned to his home country that he said was so fantastic and constantly raved about. He would complain about the United States.

Shortly before I retired, he was back in this country working again in this prison. I never had to deal with him after he returned. Too bad others had to. Too bad the DOC let him return. Too bad the United States let him come back.

MODEL OFFICER

Inmates will compliment female officers to get them to violate policies. Some of them get full of themselves and think they are hot stuff. Some of them that buy into the flattery laid upon them actually are good looking women; however they must have a dysfunctional mind to go along with men that are locked up and seeking any attention they can get from a female.

A picture of a female officer still working here was found in an inmate’s cell. That instantly became her last day.

Whether she was ugly or a looker, she now probably had the confidence to apply for a modeling job.

When we search cells, we always or at least, should always wear the latex throw away gloves provided by the institution. Finding pictures like this, you never know what is on them.

GOOD OFFICERS

First off, there are many more good officers than there are bad ones. The good ones just don’t make the headlines like the bad officers do. Someone doing their job is not as noteworthy as what happens when someone creates problems.

I was fortunate early on to be able to work with many of these excellent officers and to be able to learn from them. Throughout these books, you have read about many of them of which I have not revealed their names. Following is the exception as he became a legend in Stillwater Prison.

SGT. RICHARD M. DODGE

I use this man's actual name in this chapter because of the type of man he was. As far as I could tell, no man was held in higher regard than this man. Sgt. Dodge was highly respected by officers and inmates alike. He spoke to us for a couple of hours during our academy.

He showed us pictures of himself when he was beaten and taken hostage back in a 1980 riot in Stillwater Prison.

He spoke of seeing inmates dive off tiers to get away from bees and bats.

He stated that he was a survivor of Acute Myologenoush Leukemia.

He had a BA in philosophy, was working on an MA in education and a PHD in something else. He viewed himself as a correctional counselor.

He said that he tried hard to connect with people and inspire them to be better.

He felt that he turned around 1 inmate every 2 years.

He said that there were a few inmates that became his friends and that he was still in contact with since they had been released.

DODGISMS

Dodgisms are some of the words of wisdom this man spoke. When he spoke, everyone listened. Doing what he said made doing the job less of a hassle. Here are a few of them. If I had ever been a regular in his block, Doghouse/D-Hall, I am sure that I would have thousands of them to relay to you.

The hardest thing for human beings to do is to change.

Chances of turning around a sex offender are ZERO.

When walking the tiers, the shorter officer should go first with the taller officer following, so as to not block the view of the shorter officer.

Boredom is good, non-boredom is really exciting, but it’s not good for you. You want to achieve boredom.

Take care of the little things. Little things not taken care of become big things.

Get each task done as quickly as possible, because you never know when something will happen to pull you away.

Keep an eye on your fellow officers.

We are caretakers, a duty bound robot.

The purpose of keys and prison are to restrict movement.

Don’t give inmates an opening to question our integrity.

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

Prisons and their clientele are not predictable. We must avoid set-ups. We are their new bait.

Give pat downs before locking someone down for an ICR.

Inmate ID’s are also their phone card and dining room seating indicator.

Telephones are a privilege, not a right.

When in doubt, write a report.

If you catch an inmate with a joint or a cigarette, give them a direct order not to move, run water or flush the toilet. They will receive a greater penalty for disobeying an order than they would for having contraband of that nature.

LOGBOOK

Nobody touches Dodges logbook. Did I mention that nobody touches Dodges log book? We would always hear this whenever conversations came up about Sgt. Dodge. When Sgt. Dodge was working, he was the only one that touched that log book. Nobody touched Sgt. Dodges log book except Sgt. Dodge. If you think you’ve heard this too many times now, it’s only a fraction of how many times we heard it. I never worked for him and it was drilled into my head. You knew that if you were dumb enough to attempt it, lightning or something would strike you dead. You would prefer this to the wrath of Dodge. You’ve heard that rules were made to be broken; not this one.

Everywhere you