I’m at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF), an institution in the Wisconsin Prison System (WPS), participating in the Earned Release Program (ERP). I expected Tuesday to be another day of waiting for my ERP social worker Ms. Grey to walk through those steel doors with the word that my judge had signed my amended judgment of conviction permitting my release from prison since I have now graduated the ERP. Tuesday didn’t disappoint as I did do a lot of waiting. We did get some weirdness go on though. Starting with the first count in the morning, cellie Scar Johnson talked right in front of the guard as he was counting us. The guard was more shocked than anything I think that Scar was so brazen in his disregard for his authority and the procedures for count. But that was the end of it or so it seems. Trust me though the guard involved wont’ forget. A little later the other guard inspected a cell and found a stinger. A stinger are melted prongs stacked inside an electrical cord which is stuck in water with salt. The cord the plugs into the wall. The salt water then heats up soda bottles full of water. Inmates use those bottles for coffee or refried beans. Most prisons provide a microwave to inmates so this isn’t necessary. But not at MSDF. Supposedly, if you get caught with a stinger, its supposed to be an automatic trip to the hole. But nothing came out of it thus far for the inmates in that cell. This guard then went from cell to cell looking at everything that was plugged into a socket checking to see if one of the prongs were removed. of course, you can make a stinger with any metal you can fit into the electrical cord holes (a radio cord is often used). Wire from a notebook, paper clips and so on. So the point of the search was a little lost on cellie Larry Sands and I. Anyway, a little later on, the lock for the door on the cell next door wouldn’t open for any key. Maintenance had to be called and the inmates in that cell had to hang out in the dayroom. Of course, another guard had to stand up their with the worker as he worked on the door to ensure no tools were taken. But the event we were all waiting for didn’t happen for anyone – getting word from Ms. Grey if our paperwork had been signed by the judge. ERP group member Scott Dietz called his sister and had her check on all ten of us on CCAP to see if any activity occurred on our cases. There was some confusion on her part whether or not she was looking in the right place. I got on the phone and tried to help. Still, no signs of activity on CCAP. I’m ok though. I know it’s going to happen so I’m not going to get worked up. It’s just a matter of time.
Posts Tagged ‘doors’
A Different Kind of Stinger
Posted: January 9, 2012 in UncategorizedTags: Anyway, bottles, CCAP, cell, cellie, conviction, cord, dayroom, Detention, didn, Dietz, Different, door, doors, electrical, event, Grey, inmates, Institution, Johnson, judgment, Larry, maintenance, member, Milwaukee, Most, MSDF, notebook, paper, paperwork, Prison, prisons, procedures, Program, prongs, radio, Release, Sands, Scar, Scott, Secure, socket, soda, Still, Stinger, System, tools, trust, wire, Wisconsin, worker
Hot As A…..
Posted: January 3, 2012 in UncategorizedTags: Anyway, bunk, Bunker, cellie, compassion, cups, dayroom, degree, degrees, Department, Despite, Detention, didn, Dietz, doors, electronics, Fridays, Grey, Guard, Health, Hogan, injustices, inmate, inmates, Institution, Johnson, June, Larry, machine, Malcolm, manager, Mark, member, Milwaukee, MSDF, noise, obstruction, paperwork, person, Peters, Prison, Program, Records, Release, relief, restrictions, Roscoe, Sands, Scott, Secure, spokesman, System, ticket, Turns, Unit, Waukesha, Wisconsin, worker
I’m at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF), an institution in the Wisconsin Prison System (WPS), participating in the Earned Release Program (ERP). Wednesday came one degree away from setting another record for June 8th – 92 degrees with the same high humidity. It got to the point where they pulled out the huge mobile fans and the ice machine went dry. They had to put restrictions on ice as the machine created more, not allowing anything but cups to be filled. The point is, it was hot again. The tape put over the vent by cellie Larry Sands didn’t help at all. Since it was Wednesday there were no ERP groups for anybody. Despite the heat, we were still required to wear the yellow tops in the dayroom or in the rooms. Guard Roscoe Peters showed some degree of compassion by looking the other way at inmates who didn’t wear the tops in their rooms until our ERP social worker Ms. Grey showed up. Despite having told us previously not to stay in the dayroom all the time she insisted everyone do so now because she saw one inmate in his bunk. I was already grouchy as it was and this didn’t help. Then ERP group member Mark Hogan told several of us that our paperwork for release was not going to be sent to our judges until Monday per Ms. Grey. All the other groups until now have had their paperwork submitted the day before graduation by the Records Department because the person in that job didn’t’ work Fridays. The unit manager happened to be on the unit having his ear filled by cellie Malcolm Johnson about the perceived injustices done to him. Sands, Scott Dietz, and I approached the unit manager. Sands acted as spokesman. After reiterating the issue the unit manager seemed to not have an answer. He is new here so that didn’t surprise me. Speaking of Sands, it looks like Waukesha County is going to come get him for the warrant he has. Its an unpaid fine for a years old obstruction ticket. He wrote the judge asking him that it be made concurrent with his prison sentence but it was denied. Anyway, things were still up in the air as far as our release paperwork is concerned. On top of the heat and everything else, I also found out ERP group member Scott Bunker has got another problem. Us inmates often use earplugs when we sleep to drown out the noise cellies or guards make with electronics or slamming doors, etc. Well the tip of one broke off and got shoved deep into his ear. Health services here said they couldn’t see it and if he asked about it again they would refer him to psych services while also charging him twice the $7.50 copay. Turns out, not only is it there, the tip of the earplug is going to have to be surgically removed! With our impending release I wonder how they’ll handle that? The night ended as it began. Hot and humid but at least there is relief in store tomorrow.
Stop Resisting
Posted: October 19, 2011 in UncategorizedTags: Again, Another, assistance, Bible, blog, Botha, breakfast, Brower, bunk, cell, cells, confidence, conversation, Could, Detention, didn, Disciple, door, doors, efforts, environments, extremes, faith, gate, Hangeraaff, hats, hole, hours, incident, inmate, inmates, Institution, knowledge, Larry, Last, life, manner, member, Milwaukee, MSDF, Neville, Offender, Often, paper, Peter, prayer, Prison, procedure, Program, psychiatrist, Raymonds, Release, Sands, Secure, segregation, signature, situation, size, STOP, Supervisor, System, Taser, trays, Unit, violence, visitors, Wisconsin, worker
I’m at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF), an institution in the Wisconsin Prison System (WPS), participating in the Earned Release Program (ERP). I woke up in segregation, also known as “The Hole”, with a much different reality than the one I knew less than 10 hours before. The night had been quiet much to my surprise as the stories I’d heard about seg said it was loud all the time but as you might expect I didn’t sleep well anyway. New environments and uncertainty are a huge feeding ground for the anxiety junkie in me to gorge on. But it was different this time. I had confidence that I’d come out of this okay, mostly because I felt like I’d done nothing wrong writing for this blog. I’d conducted myself in a reputable manner, never putting staff or inmates at any kind of risk and being truthful to the best of my knowledge without being vulgar in the process. I’ve grown and learned a lot as a result and a lot of others have found our efforts useful. I just didn’t want to believe I”d have to do another 18 months because of this. Breakfast came in a brown paper bag, the same breakfast on my unit. But here in Seg, the guards are the ones wearing hairnets and hats, stuffing the breakfast bags and distributing meal trays from us through trap doors in our cells. Often they have no swamper assistance. My faith everything was going to come out alright was tested later in the day on Saturday when a guard showed up at my cell wanting my signature for my property. They’d packed up all my stuff out of my unit. I wondered if they’d gone through all of that if there was a possibility I’d be coming back to ERP. I signed it despite not knowing if all the stuff is really there. I’d seen what can happen when someone goes to the hole, how his supposed friends can rip him off. I expressed my concerns about my losing my bunk on the ERP unit and what it might mean to guard Sam Neville, the regular 2nd shift guard in Seg on 5A. He assured me this was standard procedure for anyone going to the hole. Again he put me at ease. He also told me he was sure the DOC and MSDF simply didn’t know what to do in this situation as it was something they hadn’t encountered before. So I would spend the next few days sleeping, pacing the floor, reading my Bible and reading the book The Last Disciple by Hangeraaff and Brower, which incidentally are both excellent books! Surrounding me in the cells were people representing the extremes of violence and insanity. Every once in awhile, only when the lights were turned on after 11 am and always on 2nd shift someone would do something which would require 5 to 8 guards to come running to intervene shouting of “Stop Resisting!” as they struggled with the offender. One such incident the inmate tried to pull Neville through the meal slot in the door which was a physical impossibility. Another situation when he was trying to move an inmate to another cell, the inmate decided to start kicking him. In trying to subdue him, one guard was injured using the Taser on him. The inmate ran around his cell naked which of course everyone saw thanks to the fishbowl mirrors on the walls. The other inmates cheered. It was funny yet sad. The supervisor who would visit him told him he was facing a year in the hole for assaulting staff. Could you imagine a year of this? You get 4 hours of rec a week. Rec consisted of going into a cage a quarter of the size of my cell with a TV on the wall which the guard had the remote for. On the other side was another gate. I met a man who was suicidal and an avowed racist on different days. It was just good to have conversation that wasn’t through a door. I finally got to shower on Monday in my cell. I got a few visitors. Dr. Raymonds, a psychiatrist, the psychologist who met with ERP group member Larry Sands and Seg social worker Peter Botha. All came because unnamed people had expressed concern for my well being. That made me feel good and was surprising considering how little I say. But Tuesday came and went with no word if I’d be released. I even said to Neville, hey you said I’d be out of here by now! But I knew he didn’t know why either. Finally, on Thursday night the call I’d been waiting for came. I was told to pack up and return to my unit. Boy was I happy! I was pretty sure everyone there knew about the blog by now. This place can’t keep a secret to save its life. How would they all react? I was nervous but what are you going to do? The important thing was no institutional charges and I’d get to finish my ERP program. I said a silent prayer thanking God for answering my prayers as they led my back to my unit on 4C.