Change at the Top ... Again

So I arrived here in November 2009, right off the bus from receiving and through the double electronic gate at the sally port. A quick strip search then off to property and processing. Three hours later I was headed up the boulevard and into my first level 2 dorm-style housing (or so they say; but, prison building is nothing like a college dorm!). I had a packet of materials to read – “offender handbook” with all the rules I would soon learn didn’t matter because enforcement of those rules was purely arbitrary by the officer on duty. And, I learned the warden was a ballbreaker, a church-going Baptist woman who held the inmate population in contempt. That was my introduction to the meaning of the term “Warden.”

            Two months later, she was gone; retired; replaced by an inmate-friendly warden who started as a prison counselor fresh out of college at the walls. It was the late seventies and one of her first “clients” was a young, angry DC. “She’s a straight-shooter,” he told me the day she arrived. She only lasted nine months. The COs rebelled. Her demand for “mutual respect” didn’t sit well with the guards. They moved her to Burkeville and the civil commitment (sex offender) facility.

            Warden three was a short, well-dressed black woman who also came up through the ranks as a counselor over twenty years earlier. As upset as the COs were with Warden Two, they went crazy over Warden Three. She demanded professionalism in her officer ranks. On more than one occasion she ordered an officer to leave and get a clean uniform. Ninety days after starting she ran a red light in her state car and was killed.

            And that brought on Warder Four. I was not an early fan of Warden four. I found him arrogant and cold. And, quite frankly, I thought he was dishonest. I must confess I was totally wrong. Very little good happens in prison. We are losing a good warden.

            Friday was his last day. He’s been transferred to a high security women/juvenile facility. We don’t know who our next warden will be; hopefully, it will be someone who believes in education as much as this man.

            No doubt about it this facility has the best school program anywhere in DOC. That’s due to a creative, dedicated principal who won’t take “no” for an answer and a warden who believes we need more programs, more classes, not less.

            Every new program we have here: computer literacy; health; college community; writing workshop – were all made possible because of Warden Four’s outlook. That outlook will be hard to replace.

            So Warden Four is gone; we wait on Warden Five. A few names have been kicked around – some very good, some not so much. Still, Warden Four will be missed.