The Assistant Warden Speaks

The stress level here has been steadily increasing as the new administration makes itself known.  You would think the warden would run things at the prison, but at least with these two guys, it’s the assistant warden who’s calling the shots.

The rumor mill in a prison is amazing.  On almost any given day you will hear a dozen rumors floating across the compound, everything from “they passed 65%”, to “they’re doin’ a special shakedown”.  Almost every rumor you hear is false.  One of the things a couple of us like to do is start a crazy rumor to see how long it takes to run across this place.  We’ve recently told the guys Richmond announced there’d be steak and shrimp served at chow in honor of the new warden.  Our personal favorite:  we convinced about one hundred guys that the warden was going to require everyone in the college program to wear ties to distinguish them from “ordinary inmates”. 

Still, anytime there is a new administration there is stress on the compound.  This time, the stress is through the roof.  As I’ll detail below, in the long run, the assistant warden’s ideas and changes may be good.  But, when they’re jammed down your throat without any showing of respect – and respect is all many imprisoned men have left – tensions will rise.

The bunks were replaced in our building the other day.  It is hard to imagine that anything could make the “dorm” look more trashed, more cluttered, more crowded.  I was wrong.  The building has gone from a dump to a cesspool.

The bunks – “to give more visibility” to the understaffed booth officers – sit only four and a half feet high (rather than the “regular” dorm bunks at almost six feet).  The “beds” – are an open steel grate, only slightly more than six feet long, rather than the old building beds at almost seven feet in length.

The space between the bottom and top bunk is less than three feet.  That’s three feet of head space between the bottom bunk and top bunk.  Lying on a bottom bunk is akin to being in a coffin. And, because these short bunks have no built-in lockers, old rusted metal cabinets have been brought in.  The bottom guy’s cabinet fits in the cut.  The top guy’s locker is out in front of the bed, in the aisle, where, coincidentally, his chair sits.  The aisles are now compressed so that two men cannot pass each other.  The cuts are compressed to even less space than before.  The layout violates fire code regulations and square footage requirements dictated by Federal law to guarantee the constitutional rights of inmates.

In other words, the prison is violating the law.  Ironic isn’t it when you consider “they” are suppose to be “correcting” we’s illegal behavior.  “Hypocrisy”, my older son would say, “is a smelly cologne”.

So, guys are more compressed even on their bunks.  Tempers have flared.  “Viscous”, a gang member, got into a shouting match with “No teeth” over food being spilled in their cut.  “Vis” is a tough, muscular black kid.  But “No teeth” is an equally tough late twenties coal miner from Southwest, Virginia.  He held his own until two other bangers jumped in.

It was then I did and said one of the dumbest things since I was locked up.  I pulled aside one of the gang leaders and one of the NOI (Nation of Islam) leaders and said “I’m not gonna stand by while some kid gets jumped.”  They both told me to mind my own business, but I told them someone getting ganged up on was my business.

Both guys then said “OK Larry.  It’s over.  Nothin’s gonna happen.”  Why are we so quick to turn to violence to solve things?  I ask that almost daily in here, yet as I watch the news each night I remind myself prison is just an extension of an angry, hateful, violent world.

The dorm is a mess all thanks to the new administration’s bunk decision.  And guys are getting written up for a host of charges never before used.  Every day some guy is going to the hole for saggy pants or removing a piece of fruit or an onion from their chow hall tray.

Guys are pissed, literally (they are urine testing dozens of guys to break the drug cartel here) because change throws everything out of balance.  And balance keeps the violence down.

But the assistant warden finally came out and spoke this week to the inmate council.

“The days of gangs running around here are over; homosexuality in the buildings won’t be tolerated.  You sag your pants, you don’t tuck in your shirt, you’ll be charged and moved.”

Yeah, he delivered the message in an arrogant tone, but the message – the terms he spelled out – was OK.  One thing that frustrates me here is that guys see no reason to follow the rules.  Candidly, most of the rules in prison – especially at this level – are ridiculous.  They aren’t in place to enforce security or maintain order.  They are just there to screw with guys trying to do their sentences.

But, if the Governor is serious about re-entry (and that’s still open to question.  McDonnell seems to be blowing a whole lot of smoke up the collective asses of Virginia’s voters), then guys in prison have to be serious about changing their attitudes.

Too often in here guys will tell you nothing will change.  Society will always view them as felons or inmates so why bother acting differently.  There’s some truth in that as well.  Virginia has a reputation for not giving released inmates a fresh start.

As I’ve told the college guys (the gang bangers as well) do your best to make something of yourself and then we can force the Governor and the legislature and the voters to realize guys can be rehabilitated. 

I’m willing to give this schmoo of an assistant warden the benefit of the doubt if he can make this place a little more educationally progressive.  I’ll even overlook that fact that he’s a tool.  But, it’s going to be a stressful few months.