I’m at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF), an institution in the Wisconsin Prison System (WPS), participating in the Earned Release Program (ERP). This morning cellie Andre Charles and Malik Pearl immediately started in on each other once Malik revealed people talk about Andre’s tendency to snap on people. Andre didn’t like learning people talked about him though he says he knew they did. But of course, he was angry that Malik didn’t tell him before. That’s not what he was really mad about. But as I talked with him I again tried to make him understand that his rage issue, if he didn’t get a hold of it, with medication or whatever, he’s going to kill someone to no avail. He keeps wanting my opinion/approval, I don’t know why. But I’m going to keep telling him the same thing. After the ERP group began this morning, Ms. Grey, who’d been on vacation all last week, was here. She asked us our impression of the What the Bleep Do We Know. We were all pretty skeptical. Then we did breathing exercises which she wants us to do everyday to start group. We close one nostril, breathe in, bend our head, then blow out the other nostril. It’s different. But we better get used to it. Then we talked about the assignments in “Criminal Conduct and Substance Abuse Treatment” by Kenneth Wanberg and Harvey Milkman and Houses of Healing by Robin Casarjian. Everyone completely agreed including Ms. Grey, that the Milkman workbook completely sucks and Casarjian rocks. But we’re required somehow to do this workbook according to Ms. Grey. So that’s what we’ll do. In the afternoon session we managed to get a hold of the remote for the DVD player and were able to watch “Portraits in Addiction” by Bill Moyer, which we hadn’t been able to do last time and wrote a one page essay on it. It was at least 15 years old so some of the references and people were dated but I thought it showed several types of addiction as well. They’re telling us much of what we already know. Yes we are alcoholics. We don’t need convincing. But perhaps I speak too quickly. After the afternoon session, I checked at the desk for mail and to my shock there was a letter from my former step-daughter Lynn. She sent a Christmas card with a photo of her and her boyfriend, a photo of her and JoAnn, and Lisa and a letter. In her letter she apologized for how she has treated me and seemed genuinely interested in what was going on with me. They had even gone to see my adoptive parents this past weekend. I sense there’s more going on out there in regards to this group of people. But its the same issue when JoAnn sent me the Christmas card. To what level can I get involved with these folks? Should I? I still haven’t decided. But I have a letter to write. I’m excited she reached out to me as I had wanted that for a long time.
Posts Tagged ‘player’
More Voices From The Past
Posted: March 21, 2011 in UncategorizedTags: Abuse, addiction, afternoon, Andre, approval, assignments, avail, Bill, Bleep, card, Casarjian, Charles, Christmas, Conduct, Criminal, daughter, desk, Detention, didn, essay, folks, From, Grey, Harvey, haven, Institution, JoAnn, Kenneth, letter, Lisa, Lynn, Malik, medication, Milkman, Milwaukee, Moyer, MSDF, nostril, opinion, Past, Pearl, photo, player, Portraits, Prison, Program, references, Release, Robin, Secure, session, Should, substance, System, tendency, treatment, vacation, Wanberg, Wisconsin, workbook
We Have Met the Enemy and it is Us
Posted: November 18, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: advantage, Appeal, areas, arrangements, attendance, attention, attitude, band, Brodie, Captain, chaplain, Charlie, choir, church, complaints, Correctional, demise, didn, drama, enemy, environment, FMCI, guitar, hour, incident, infiltration, inmates, Institution, keyboard, Kramer, Lake, leader, Many, member, members, Minimum, Most, music, noise, player, players, Prison, problems, Protestant, purpose, Satan, Service, singers, song, System, Unit, vocals, wasn, week, Wisconsin, woman
I’m at the Fox Lake Minimum Correctional Institution (FMCI), a facility in the Wisconsin Prison System (WPS). I was asked on Sunday to play keyboard for the choir for the Protestant church service. After the incident with Charlie, I was glad to turn my attention elsewhere. I had heard previously there had been quite a bit of drama associated with this particular group but I figured really, how bad could it be? The guy leaving the group had only been in charge a week and told me to meet the other singers by the basketball court for practice. Service was 3 hours away but no one knew the song arrangements. Most of the time was spent on a litany of complaints and backstabbing those not there. Many made a point of telling me their issues, perhaps because I was new and they wanted me to sway to their way of thinking. The refrain was basically that we were under attack from the enemy (Satan), thus the problems we were having. I was told because of guard complaints about the noise, they had taken away the drums and electric guitars. They claimed the institution didn’t allow sufficient practice time. Finally as further evidence of the “enemy’s” infiltration, solos had been stepped on and choir members were angered. I just rolled my eyes. My focus was solely to get the music down so I didn’t embarrass myself. The leader tried to get these complicated arrangements put in place with the other vocals. There just isn’t time. Finally, we practiced for a half hour at the multi-purpose building and then did the service. Simply put, it was awful. Most of the time when you stink as a band in a church environment, people tell you it was good anyway. Not this time. Many in attendance let me know how awful it sounded. My attitude was basically I get to play in a church band again so I want to take advantage. The following day I was told by the leader that Captain Kramer and Lt. Brodie wanted to see the choir. Kramer, an attractive middle-aged woman, is Brodie’s boss. I know if she was there, this wasn’t good. After we all got there, Kramer got right to the point. Apparently, inmates in the choir from Unit 10 had been in Unit 9 areas to practice vocals which is a major offense. Then she told us that due to this and the repeated problems incurred with this choir, that have caused her and Brodie to have to spend time on these issues every week, the choir was to be disbanded. The only exceptions were the leader, guitar and keyboard player, being sure to point out to the leader that the chaplain had specifically asked for him. In some ways, if intentional, it was a clever move on their part. Appeal to the leader’s ego, cause division within the group and confuse who they should be mad at. The problem with this is in this environment by Kramer singling out who was wanted, those people will feel pressure to not cooperate or be viewed as friendly to staff which you really don’t want here. So now the band leader was talking like none of use would stay, that they wouldn’t tell us how to run the choir. While he was off talking to each now former choir member, others started filling me in. While it was true they weren’t given adequate practice time (a half hour isn’t adequate to get all this ready), the guitar players and drummers had been repeatedly about the volume level and volunteers and staff complained. Choir members themselves had been going to the chaplain and Brodie complaining about each other. At the end of the day, it was just easier to shut it all down. It wasn’t Satan that was responsible for the group’s demise, it was largely the choir’s own fault. What’s going to happen now I don’t know. But sometimes I rather like being the quiet one!
Life in Wisconsin Prisons and Beyond 