Prison Puzzle Pieces

Dave Basham

Description

PRISON PUZZLE PIECES (the first of a three volume series) is a non-fiction account of a corrections officer working in Stillwater Prison in Minnesota after he stopped traveling the country performing standup comedy and improv. Through examples, explanations and experiences, he explains how the entire system works, piece by piece, by presenting hundreds of events that occurred in that dysfunctional little city contained within those walls and razor ribbon. His unique perspectives earned him the respect of inmates and officers; on the other hand his life was in constant danger from other inmates and officers for him doing his job ethically.

All of this is presented from the author's unique perspective. It contains some historic background and events pertaining to that prison; such as the infamous Younger Brothers. There is no way to explain every aspect of this restricted society, but these books come close. Many of the things that go on in the prison that have life and death consequences and are shocking can also have a very humorous side. Background on the officer is given to help you to understand how he made his decisions, whether you agree with them or not. Officers are gradually educated through strange and bizarre experiences on the job that can't be imagined. Letters from the inmates to the officer give insight to their various states of mind. You will learn of the different areas of the prison such as visiting, shakedown, dining hall, cell blocks, segregation, etc., how it all works and what goes on there that can be inspiring or downright disgusting. Many strange relationship dynamics exist like the officers best mentor being a convicted mass murderer, inmates that break their code and have his back, the institutions most feared inmate becoming his friend, corrupt officers harassing him and deliberately placing him in dangerous situations, and inmate relationships of all sorts. Nothing is embellished. Nothing need be embellished.

Sujets

• Midwest
• Histoire
• State
• United States
• History
• Local

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 26 janvier 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781456627164
• Langue: English

Extrait

"PRISON
PUZZLE
PIECES"
The realities, experiences and insights
of a corrections officer
doing his time in
Historic Stillwater Prison
By
Dave Basham
Volume 1

Copyright 2016 Dave Basham
All rights reserved
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2716-4
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
THE SHORTEST CHAPTER EVER
Hi!
DEDICATED TO
Dedicated to all of the good officers that did their time along with the inmates.
Dedicated to all of the people who were unjustly convicted.
Dedicated to those who were injured or lost their lives protecting others on the inside.
Dedicated to all of the people who were treated unjustly by corrupt prison guards.
Dedicated to those officers and inmates that could not keep sane in this environment.
Dedicated to all of the inmates who treated poorly trained officers decent.
Dedicate to those officers that refuse to kiss the asses of those in power above them.
Dedicated to those officers that stopped climbing that corrections ladder in order to maintain their integrity.
Dedicated to staff and inmates that assisted in educating me on how to perform my duties the best way possible and as humanely as possible.
NOT DEDICATED TO – PREFERABLY DEAD
Not dedicated to the small percentage of offenders, officers and supervisors that cause most of the problems.
Not dedicated to the people in power that treat good officers like criminals and coddle the trouble makers in the institution.
Not dedicated to those not having the stones to do their job in spite of the old boy network.
Not dedicated to the offenders who use technicalities in the law to get off and not dedicated to those that created and allowed those technicalities to set those offenders free to victimize others.
Not dedicated to those so ignorant and power hungry that they choose to believe the words of the criminal and the corrupt over the words of those trying to do good time and those trying to do their jobs fairly and consistently.
Not dedicated to those who create situations that caused good people to leave this job for jobs where such unfairness and frustrations does not exist.
Not dedicated to the politicians who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground, yet force knowledgeable experienced personnel to do as they dictate.
Not dedicated to the racists of any race that crate a negative culture within the system.
BOOMER
OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER
The first time I ever saw Boomer was when I was working in the visiting room. He was not allowed to have contact visits, so I saw him through the thick glass enclosure where they had to use phones to speak to their visitor. The officer I was with saw him there and started to tell me about him. Boomer saw us looking his way, got an angry look on his face and pointed at us. This was a large black man. He was tall, sturdy and had bulk that was more muscle than fat. Even from the distance we were from him, I could tell he was a force to be reckoned with.
The officer was telling me that Boomer had non contact visits because the last time he had a contact visit, he made it more than the allowable contact, if you get my drift. All hell broke loose when officers tried to get them apart.
There is a lot that I have no way to verify 100%. I never looked up Boomers records to see what he was in for or what he had done while being incarcerated. I found it easier to treat everyone the same if I didn't know their background. After working in this place awhile, I could generally tell just by looking at these guys the reason they got locked up.
Most things that people have told me about things that have gone on in this place, I was able to verify to a high level of accuracy.
One thing was for certain, this officer feared Boomer.
OUR SECOND ENCOUNTER
The next time I ran into Boomer, I was working in D Hall, which was where Boomer lived. I was working the door post which in this block was right by the desk. Boomer came down to the desk to speak to the sergeant. He had a loud low booming voice. Barry White had nothing on this guy. Standing next to him, I felt like a little guy. I felt like I was standing next to a bear that could take me out with one swipe of his paw. If I had to use one word to describe him at this point, I would say powerful.
Later, I had an opportunity to talk to him. I introduced myself and told him the first time I had seen him was in visiting. He clearly remembered. I told him he seemed angry at that time. He said that he thought we were talking about him and that he didn't like that other officer. I verified to him that we were talking about him; that the officer was filling me in on him. He said that officer had it out for him and made up stuff about him. I told him that I listen to what people tell me, but that I make up my own mind about people and their character. He seemed very cordial and had a good sense of humor. He also had a good sense of himself, oozed confidence and was extremely savvy about people and the goings on in this place.
BARBER BOOMER
Our next meeting was when he was transferred into B-West. He was unemployed at the time. Nobody wanted to hire him because of his reputation and most were afraid of him. Nobody wanted the headaches that came with having him around.
He talked one of our sergeants into hiring him as a barber. The problem was that he couldn't cut hair. He would get friends to come to him for haircuts and intimidate others into coming to him in order to get some business. I was in charge of the swampers, so I wasn't happy with having a barber that had no skills. Inmates were complaining to me that they wanted a qualified barber. I asked the sergeant why he had hired Boomer. He said he deserved a break. I had a lot of respect for both of the sergeants that were in this block at this time. I needed a solution. We are only allowed two barbers in each unit, but I needed two good barbers. Our other barber did a good job, but quit, leaving me with one unqualified barber. I wanted to hire the best barber in the institution and use him to train in Boomer properly.
The job posting went up and two really good barbers applied. After asking inmates and officers what they thought about these guys, the consensus was that they were both very good and that one was the best barber in the entire institution.
I wanted to hire both of them, that way the best guy could train in Boomer and we would have two qualified barbers while Boomer was learning. Problem was that we were only allowed two barbers per cellblock, but I had a plan. I could divide the utility position, miscellaneous jobs, up between all three barbers and still have the correct allotment of swampers. When I bounced my plan off the top sergeant, he liked the idea and told me to go ahead with it. The best guy was known to not be the most agreeable person in this world of many abrasive attitudes. The top sergeant said he knew him well and was fine with him. When I found out where he was housed, I went to talk with him. I told him my plan and he liked the idea.
Another plus to having the three barbers was that greater diversity was able to be achieved. Now we would have a white, black and Native American barber.
The best barber was white and a witch, so that's what we'll call him. I found out that there were a few witches in the prison. Being a witch is considered to be their religion. They are called wiccans and get whatever special privileges that religion recognizes in being necessary to be able to worship in their own way. This allows these guys to be able to keep special herbs and teas in their cells. If you want to be able to get these herbs and teas, you just have to become a witch. These witches worship in the chapel during what they call Wiccan Ceremonies.
When I told Boomer what I was planning, he didn't believe me. He had been lied to by officers too many times before. He went to the sergeant that hired him and told him Basham was going to fire him. That sergeant came to me and asked me what was going on. I told him. He said, "Really?" I told him I liked what he had done with hiring Boomer, but that I needed him to be able to do the job. He liked the idea and told Boomer that I could be trusted. Boomer knew enough not to trust anyone in here, but he had no choice but to wait and see. He definitely was not pleased with me. He saw me as just another officer screwing with him.
When Boomer saw the posting announcing who got what jobs he was convinced that I was going to fire him.
When Witch came in, he worked on training in Boomer. Boomer was a quick study. Any thing Boomer put his mind to, he could do well.
Witch quickly became lazy and uncooperative. He was supposed to be putting in five hours of work each day, but was only putting in about five hours per week. As long as my swampers did their job, they had no problems with me. If they didn't do their job, they would find out that their lives would be much more peaceful if they just went ahead and did it. Firing people wasn't my first choice with these guys, but if I had accumulated enough documentation on their violations and didn't feel they would eventually turn around and do the job, I had no problem with canning them. I was constantly on this guy to do his job. He filed a grievance on me. The night sergeant reported to me that he was refusing to do his job. Witch said he didn't have to do it because the associate warden said he didn't have to. I informed him that if she wanted to allow him to sit around doing nothing, she can tell me that and until then he would either do the job, quit or I'd have to fire him. He applied for and got a different job elsewhere. From that time on he was my enemy and made it known. He never did a