I’m at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF), an institution in the Wisconsin Prison System (WPS), participating in the Earned Release Program (ERP). After two days without any kind of ERP group I was ready to get back at it if only to defeat the boredom. First item on the agenda was images for our graduation program handout for June 10th. Previously ERP social worker Ms. Grey gave me what she thought were images but she had accidentally saved the web page instead. Hopefully these will be right. I have retained the majority of the color schema of the previous ERP graduation handout. There just isn’t time to start from scratch. So then we plowed into the new video and workbook series The Price of Freedom is Living Free Relapse, Recidivism, and Recovery by Jack Cooper. We completed the majority of the wordbook through page 41. It was a simple yet effective way to address these issues. One interesting point was when the issue of what we fear came up. I answered honestly that I fear my release from prison. There is so much I’m going to have to do that it can be overwhelming to think about it. It also might have something to do with my horrible attitude as of late. At 3 pm, we went into the dayroom for our weekly community meeting. These have really gone downhill. Even guys in our own group aren’t participating. The quote and word for the week were people that were turned into the butt of a joke. It ended with the guys who got busted the previous night complaining about it during the time that was supposed to be for “positive reinforcements” at the end. Ms. Carr ended up telling him he’d go to the hole if he didn’t quiet down, and she didn’t care if he graduated or not. Supper was interesting for a couple reasons with my swamper job. First, swamper David Sussex had taken some cookies I had gotten as extras for serving. When I found out he had I felt that familiar burn of anger. Then he commented that he was messing with me and was just giving me a test. I’m thinking to myself who the heck are you to give me a test? Fortunately, it ended okay with no hard feelings. A quirk about me: I don’t like me or my stuff messed with. I know that’s not healthy but it is who I am. How do you fix it? Then after supper and when we are supposed to clean, Sussex got a visit which meant I had to do all the jobs. I didn’t mind at all. His job essentially was to stack the dirty trays on the cart, tie them down, put the trash I get on the car and put it out in the hall to be collected. No big deal. People watched out of their cell windows to see if I’d drop the trays or if I knew what I was doing. I didn’t care. Getting back to the cell, I heard cellie Brian Whalen got some good news about his release. His paperwork had been returned and he expects to get cut loose Monday. I’m happy for him, even though I know his plans and the danger in store for him. I do think I’m going to warn him this weekend.
Posts Tagged ‘Sussex’
Bad Attitude
Posted: November 22, 2011 in UncategorizedTags: attitude, ball, breakfast, Brian, cell, cellie, cereals, consequences, Corey, David, dayroom, Detention, didn, door, essay, facial, goals, Grey, headphones, hours, inmate, Institution, Later, leftovers, Malik, Milwaukee, MSDF, news, patience, Pearl, Peters, Pewaukee, Phase, Prison, Program, reaction, Release, Roscoe, Secure, skills, song, supper, Sussex, swamper, System, Todd, trays, violation, Whalen, 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). It was another odd Tuesday. I went out in the dayroom to await the beginning of our ERP group but hours went by before we learned our ERP social worker, Ms. Grey, was not coming in that morning. We did this song and dance again in the afternoon until about 2 pm until we learned there would be no group at all. We don’t know why at this point. The news for me on Tuesday involved my swamper job. Counting trays, ketchups, mustards, cereals and milk are a critical part of the job to get right. I had told my fellow swamper David Sussex not to talk to me when I was counting. He of course did anyway. I was annoyed but I didn’t say anything. The look on my face must have communicated my feelings however as he told me he was through with me if that was going to get me angry. And of course, my count was then off. I tried to explain to him I was not angry but he wouldn’t even discuss it. I’m thinking to myself, whatever, I don’t really care. I’m then told he discussed it in his ERP group. Apparently at supper I missed cleaning a table afterwards and one of his group members came to my cell to tell me about it. Normally, one would see this, grab a towel and clean the table. A gain I didn’t say anything but my facial expression must have told the story. I would observe them both later on conferring with each other, and they normally don’t. But my big mistake was showing signs that they had succeeded in getting to me. I resolved not to allow that to happen anymore. I used to be really good at that. Have my people skills been degraded that much since I’ve been locked up? On another note, Tuesday was the final day for cellie Corey Ball prior to release. He clearly is nervous about the uphill struggle that awaits him upon release. He found a place to go with a relative in Pewaukee. He insists he’ll be in a bar Wednesday night partying and he’ll be in touch. Regardless, I wish him well. He had a lot of trouble sleeping as one might expect that night. The next morning Sussex said he wanted to sit down and talk at some point. I said sure that’ll be fine. What else am I going to say? I really have no desire to talk to him. Right in the middle of breakfast, guard Roscoe Peters told Ball to pack up, give him his cell key and they were coming to get him right then. As I finished cleaning the tables he was by the door. He looked as stiff as could be. I told him to breathe and its all going to work out. He smiled and said I hope so. Then that was it. He was gone. Since it’s Wednesday, there were no ERP groups. I wrote my Phase 3 goals and objectives essay on patience which probably will be published here later, not because it’s good but because it shows how at a loss I am to explain my attitude as of late. Later that day Sussex decided he was going to take an extra banana from the leftovers from supper. I just threw the bananas and said whatever. Sussex said I was crazy. He might be right. Normally, I’d never react like that. Later on, I’d go apologize to him for my reaction as well as to the inmate who pointed out the dirty tables. I felt much better after doing that, like a load lifted off of me. Even if they did wrong, I had no right to react like that. The night ended with our cell getting tossed because cellie Brian Whalen left his oranges from lunch in plain view of the passing guard. He then tossed the cell next door, where 2 recent ERP graduates, including former cellie Malik Pearl, resides. The guard got his key stuck in the door. One of them offered to get his key out if he didn’t toss their cell. This just served to infuriate the guard. Pearl and an inmate who shares my table at meals, Todd Knight, got conduct report for altered property. Knight had altered his headphones to share them with Pearl. when he watched TV which is a rule violation. Pearl isn’t upset at all as he’s leaving soon. Knight, on the other hand, has got 4 months left, and will suffer the consequences for trying to help Pearl.
The Third ERP Graduation
Posted: November 19, 2011 in UncategorizedTags: About, Again, Albert, artwork, attendance, ball, behaviors, Brian, Carr, cell, cellie, cellies, ceremony, certificates, completion, conversation, Corey, David, departure, depictions, depth, dessert, Detention, didn, director, Earnie, extras, firsts, FMCI, food, From, graduation, Grey, inmates, Inside, Institution, June, Just, knowledge, Larry, Larson, Malik, manager, member, Milwaukee, MSDF, officers, opinion, outlook, Payne, Pearl, person, Pibts, presentation, Prison, Program, relationship, relationships, Release, revelation, role, room, Sands, Secure, series, shortcomings, Some, Sussex, swamper, System, tactics, theme, third, ticket, topic, trays, Unit, warden, Whalen, Wisconsin, workbook, worker, workers, zeal
I’m at the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF), an institution in the Wisconsin Prison System (WPS), participating in the Earned Release Program (ERP). Today is graduation day for another ERP group. This graduation includes 3 important characters in this blog – Brian Whalen, Corey Ball, along with former cellie Malik Pearl. About 9:30 am the ceremony started. They had chosen the name “The Pibts” as their theme in they’re another chance, a one way ticket out of here but if they don’t do what they need to do to stay clean and sober it will be a round trip ticket bat to MSDF or similar place. The artwork was impressive, with a wall trimmed with gold and blue. On top were blue circles with a plane inside along with each person’s name. After the opening remarks, there were comments by the unit manager and the security director who was standing in for the Warden, who couldn’t be there today. What followed was presentation of quotes by the inmates, who also took the opportunity to thank their ERP social worker Ms. Carr along with a list of others in the room. Some even took the time to thank the parole officers who took the time to attend, which was a nice gesture. Then Ms. Carr presented the ERP completion certificates to the inmates as those in attendance clapped. Like past graduations, cookies were given out. Since I’m a swamper the guard told me to hand them out, 2 a piece, one chocolate and one ginger. Of course inmates were trying to get me to give them extras. One positive thing about me is public opinion of me here isn’t high on my priority list! So that didn’t happen. Of course some got seconds before others got their firsts but that’s because they didn’t get in line right away. Just like first grade right? Then we got a big surprise. Our ERP social worker, Ms. Grey, showed up for group. Normally on graduation day we don’t have group in the morning but she decided to have group anyway. Cellie and ERP group member Larry Sands had had a conversation with her and she revealed the reason she missed the previous day because she had been mugged. It was good she was ok. Again we watched videos form the relationship series From the Inside Out featuring Earnie Larson. These were the last ones. We did the accompanying workbook sections for the videos. We flew right through. This again was another topic (relationships) that we could have spent weeks on. Larson did an excellent job through the role play depictions of portraying various relationship behaviors that I’m sure if we had the time it would have been beneficial to go into this in depth. But there isn’t the time left to do that and everything else scheduled prior to June 10th (our graduation). As we left group for lunch we noticed that the guy who said he’s going to tell on everyone at a community meeting and all his cellies in a rather heated meeting with two social workers. It seems all his cellies have tired of his bullying tactics in the cell. No big surprise huh? At lunch it was one of our better meals, the Baked fish and cupcakes for dessert. There were no extras because a guard named Albert Payne ate them all! He’s the same guard that makes us all stand with our hands to our side at count. We’ve seen guards eat multiple trays of food at FMCI before so its no big revelation. But doing it, I was looking forward to that extra cupcake I’d have gotten as a swamper! But no big deal. more importantly, my relationship with the other swamper, David Sussex isn’t as good as it was. He just likes to preach at people about their shortcomings in a religious way. His outlook is just very immature. I finally told him he talked too much and shared with him what scripture says about zeal without knowledge. He didn’t like that. But its okay. We’ll be fine. I’ve got 35 days till my ERP group graduates, no more than 45 till departure. I’m not letting anything here take my focus off of that.