can squash most anything or anyone. Just writing this, I may become a target, but hey, I'm getting old anyway. If they don't get me, cancer or a heart attack will probably get me.
I needed this to be interesting from start to finish. I realize that 100% of this probably won't be interesting to 100% of the population. Some of this, I found a bit dry, but others told me to include it because it was interesting to them. I hoped that by interjecting my perspectives and different sense of humor that this would be interesting to most that thought about reading it.
In my opinion, showing how dysfunctional this system is, was important. It was also important to show how and why it actually works, but there could easily be massive improvements. Hopefully someone would read this that could and would do something about it.
Most people think that the inmates are the biggest problem in prisons; not this one! The officers and other staff were the worst problems that I had to deal with. If there was any consistency among staff and officers, the problems that did exist from inmates would've decreased drastically.
It was necessary to inform people how the relatives, friends and society that created the criminals put pressure on politicians to interfere with those that know how to handle situations in the prisons. The prison higher ups have paid some awful dues to get to where they are. Their lively hood is often threatened by a phone call from a politician. It all rolls downhill. Keeping politics out of the prison system would greatly reduce the problems that we have with inmates.
To show how the union protects bad employees was important to me. The jerks need the union to protect them from being fired, so they are strong supporters of the union. The rest of us better watch our backs.
I wanted to show that this could be a great job. If some of the problems were fixed, they could hire people that better fit the job and had better work ethics. Getting the good ones in charge is difficult. Getting the good ones to stay is difficult. Some of the best personnel they have wind up having to ride their time out so they don't get chewed up and spit out by those without ethics.
Training could be a lot better. Sergeants are not trained; they are promoted according to seniority.
During my time working in the prison, lieutenants were chosen more by diversity than anything else. Even though some of these people were qualified, many were not.
The historical society could use this as a rather detailed eight year history of life in Stillwater Prison.
These things and so many more, I felt were important for the public to know.
I realize that endeavors like this are generally not something that produces a cash flow; but if it does, I'd be darn happy about it. After working just under eight years, my pension is not significant. It was necessary for me to leave as soon as I could. Even though I had some supporters in the prison, the ones that weren't, were in much better positions to do me in.
NAMES WERE CHANGED TO PROTECT THE IDIOTS
Due to the nature of things inside the prison walls, I will not be using real names, even if they would be OK with that happening.
The only times I will use real names is if they were in some sort of a highly publicized event and a matter of public records.
I believe that I made only one exception to this. This man was highly respected by officers and inmates. He had a huge influence on everyone and the prison.
I have tried to come up with names for some that are at least somewhat descriptive of who they are, what they look like, personality traits, anything that would help you to keep track of the numerous people that I had some sort of acquaintance with in this weird dysfunctional world within these walls.
There are many varied instances and events where knowing the name of someone doesn't matter in the least. What happened is just another piece to this puzzling prison environment.
SECURITY & SAFETY
Anything important for the security and safety of the prison, inmates and officers is not divulged.
Some people may be able to identify themselves, which they may like or dislike.
Some may be extremely upset with what is divulged. I have been warned that some may choose to retaliate with violence. It would be best for them, and for me, for them to not front themselves off with such actions. I believe that most of them are intelligent enough to not want to wind up behind bars. If any of them want to be behind bars, I suggest becoming a bartender.
The only ones able to identify themselves or others would need first hand information to do so.
THE PITCH
Maybe I should pitch this like an old time movie trailer...
Experience the existence of a unique society within high walls, barbed wire and armed guards!
Discover how murderers, rapists, thieves and other violators of society's guidelines survive when locked up together.
Do you really want to know what goes on in this dysfunctional world?
Will you maintain your sanity once you have been exposed to the things these people do to each other?
How do the people employed to control this environment stay sane?
Could you stay sane behind these walls?
Must you be insane to survive here?
Perversions, drugs and violence, to twist your mind!
Do you dare enter this world where every move you make must be calculated in order to survive!
Who can survive and who won't!
So I've given you fair warning, if you continue to read, it is at your own risk.
SOME BACKGROUND ON ME
WHY WRITE A SECTION ABOUT ME
I was asked, why write a section about me? I was a unique corrections officer in my mindset and how I approached the job. By informing you a bit about me, you might be better able to understand the decisions that I made. When a decision seems ludicrous, knowing a bit about my life up until the point that I started working at the prison, might make my decisions more understandable. People have asked me how I could place myself in an environment like that every day and continue to exist as a normal person. The fact is that a normal person cannot exist in a prison and stay normal. The normal ones leave. Those that realize they are not normal are able to exist in this dysfunctional environment if their dysfunctions line up well with the strange situations that need to be dealt with.
HOW DID I WIND UP IN HELL BEFORE I EVEN DIED?
Many things determine the paths we take. We think we are in control of our lives, but things happen to us that push and pull us in different directions. How we process and act on these things determines the overall situations that we put ourselves in. Guess I really screwed up to wind up in Stillwater prison, even if it was me committing myself to doing time there.
There are many interesting stories I could tell you about my twenty years at McDonalds, my time doing comedy and my time in Toastmasters, but I'll just have to lay enough ground work for you to be able to understand the decisions I made that eventually landed me in the prison, so here it goes.
While in high school, I started working at McDonalds. Due to unsavory family situations, I moved out on my own as soon as I graduated high school. McDonalds, at this point, was to be my lifetime occupation. I was making a buck thirty an hour and dreamed of the day that I would be making five bucks an hour and be on easy street. This proves I was not properly educated on how the economy works or on politics in the work place.
Oh stupid me! I thought that if you worked your tail off, that if you stepped into a job and were a human dynamo, that effort would be rewarded. Wrong! Our society does not reward top