I’m at the Fox Lake Minimum Correctional Institution (FMCI), a facility in the Wisconsin Prison System (WPS). We submit our canteen orders on Sunday’s and then get what we ordered after count clears, about 6 pm, on Monday. Basically when the truck gets here, they call for volunteers to unload it. After count and mail call, everyone stands in a room waiting for their name to be yelled by the two guards passing it out. I tell you all this now to tell you that none of this actually happened this past Monday. We were notified via a memo posted in the window behind the guard station that due to a lack of staffing, canteen would not be handed out until Tuesday. Inmates who have been here awhile report they’d never seen this happen before for this kind of reason. But this was no ordinary Monday night for the monsters of the midway, the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers would play a football game. Apparently, it was just a coincidence that the flu took out all of our regularly scheduled guards on the same night or at last that is what they would probably tell you. They won’t explain that to us because we’re not entitled to explanations. I don’t personally care. Those that did either are the ones that have a tendency to whine about something all the time or were out of canteen. Again, not my nature. My former family used to laugh at me for bringing coats and sweaters when we would go camping but sure enough, late at night, they would all be wearing those coats and sweaters. My point is, I try to be prepared for the unexpected. Prison has only reinforced that. Anyway, if you’re not a Packer fan here, chances are you holler and yell along with all the haters about how horrible they are, and how great the Vikings or some other team is. Unfortunately, its not always all in fun. Fights nearly break out over it. As game time approached, we get our snacks ready and I climbed into my top bunk. I walked around during the game a bit, observing people, guards and inmates, of all races, colors and creeds being pulled together by the common denominator of the Green Bay Packers. Everyone cheered (or yelled) at the top of their lungs for or against. For a few hours we forget where we were, the barbed wire and the gates. At the end, almost everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong for the Packers, yet they only lost by 3. It was more how they lost. They lost their composure. They didn’t stay focused and didn’t do the very things that are basic to football.
Afterwards, even those professing an undying loyalty to the team questioned the coach’s decisions, the general manager, even though he didn’t have anything directly to do with the game, and even Aaron Rodgers, who had been the toast of the Packer Nation. Are they any less loyal, love the team any less because they questions ,and have their own opinions on things they don’t have all the facts on? Should the Packers disown their fans for such faithlessness? No, of course not. Their passion and zeal, even when its misplaced, is further evidence of their love and devotion for the team. Do you see where I’m going? Those who were close to me have turned their backs on me because of my failure to get help when I was sinking, its not fair to hold it against them. Their opinions, without knowing all the facts, doesn’t mean they don’t care.
The next day, the haters were out in full force led by the sergeants on 1st and 2nd shift. But that’s ok. Just because we get down on those we love, doesn’t mean we’re going to stop loving them. We just need more accurate information.
Life in Wisconsin Prisons and Beyond 