The CO's said they would bring me disinfectants and a mop in five minutes. Two hours later I have finished cleaning with only the hot water and my bar of soap (with pork) and I am totally wet with perspiration. Yes, we can get soap with or without pork. Who's winning this war on terror? Unlike my other room this one is very hot with minimal air circulation. Maybe that's why the mold exists. I have cleaned as best one can with only a bar of pork soap and a wash cloth.
How could the previous inmates have been able to leave it that way? A simple glance and lifting up of the two mattresses would have exposed the mess. Looking under the bed would have clearly shown oranges uneaten and partially eaten food (I'm hoping it was the inmates). What exactly are we teaching inmates in prison? This is not about my indignation at the filth. It is my indignation over the fact that the CO's never came with the promised supplies. Like the Warden, promises but no follow-up. This goes beyond my phone call and incarceration ... this is a clear set of eyes telling you what you (and I) never wanted to know. Hold on because I'm now taking a societal leap - It's worse than the Iraq War because it will never end and there isn't even a debate about how much this broken welfare system costs. Look at the BOP Budget. Examine where monies spent actually go. Examine what relationships between friends determine contracts. No one cares because these are society's invisible people. Until after they fester in here and then they rob, rape, frighten, or kill someone you know. This place makes them much worse, not better. Even in solitary confinement we don't have them clean under their bed! As they listen to head phones in the jail, the CO's have no problem with them. What garbage rap music do they listen to? Continue the stereotype that only music soothes the savage beast. Consider hard work, pride, discipline and respect of officers that say what they mean and do what they say. These inmates already have enough broken role models.
Sure I remain indignant at the Judge who wrongly put me here. But this is just another part of the broken justice system that Judges simply don't understand, and don't care to understand. Every coin has two sides. The court room and the jail should complement each other.
Trust me; this is a poorly run and weakly administered facility from top to bottom.
As a former Marine and real executive, I am appalled at what I see on a minute to minute basis in here and we continue to pay without comment.
My sons know the following poem by heart:
For lack of a nail, a shoe was lost.
For lack of a shoe, a horse was lost.
For lack of a horse, a rider was lost.
For lack of a rider a message was lost.
For lack of a message, a battle was lost.
For lack of a battle, a war was lost.
For lack of a war, a country was lost.
The country was lost for lack of a nail.
I'll pick up the nails and I'll clean under the bed. You and I have been doing such for all public employees, Judges to guards, who are simply contributing to the country's economic decline. The Wall Street Journal recently said that counterfeiting of securities (Naked Short Selling) costs Americans 3 billion dollars a day! Some governmental agencies and Congress are questioning the SEC's police tactics. My reward, while they ponder my criticism, is prison. Could naked short selling be funding terrorists? Are these prisons weakening America's future?
Chapter 12 – The Escape
Well my new best friend across the hall has taken me under his wing. He has been yelling at the guards for me. He also told me to shave because we can't let those guards get to us. His entire body, fingers, face, and scalp are tattooed. I'm glad my 3 day beard growth was so noticed by him and considered unattractive.
Well, just when I thought I would he boring you with meaningless complaining about my new dirty room, I was given my finest prison story to date.
My new tattooed friend told the guards that they had forgotten to give me a shower. He keeps track, I guess. They took me to one of the lower showers. Our shower is out of order (no comment). I took a pretty long shower because of my cleaning efforts and they also gave me a new razor so I shaved. Everyone, including my Illustration Man Friend, would be happy. So, I finish, dry down and step out with my small wrap around towel. As I am standing in my most provocative position (I wish) female inmates working on the floor with a female guard handle me standing there semi-naked like a Brad Pitt sighting. They are clapping and whistling. I am still there waiting for my clothes, and the guards are simply mulling around discussing some basketball game. The female guard says "Honey, you better get in the shower you "upsettin' my girls. Go in the shower, boy". With embarrassment, I did.
As I stood in the shower, the "count" began. The "count", as a review, is the quality control, like a prisoner of war camp, of this fine-tuned BOP machine. I couldn't help myself. I decided to see if they would miss me in the count.
The female guard and her harem left. The CO's began the "count" while I stayed now out of sight and in the darkened shower. The dialogue was priceless. It must mean I'm going home soon. Please let this be my final story.
"What you mean Altomare's gone?" "I brought him back from legal 2 hours ago"; (Apparently no one remembered they had brought me to the shower.) Despite the fact that both of those guards, who were part of the search, were the ones who placed this nude, chilled and toweled hider in the shower; they were like the Keystone Cops in their search approach. They all started yelling at each other, as I quietly stepped out of the shower and now stood waiting to be noticed and taken back to my cell. The search and recount continued until one of the guards finally saw me quietly standing where I had been placed over 1 hour and 30 minutes ago. They were so happy to see that I hadn't made a break for it. Can you imagine that paperwork? Everyone started blaming everyone else, and only I knew that for at least 20 minutes I enjoyed some retaliatory "sunshine" against a system that tries its best, but it is broken. My escape was short-lived, and the head guard couldn't have apologized more that I had been left over an hour during the count and had been so missed. I'm really going to have to send pizzas to him when and if I finally leave.
When I was in the military in the 1960's there was a joke that asked the difference between a drafted Army and the Boy Scouts. The answer was that the Boy Scouts had adult leadership. It simply flashed back to me tonight as I disappeared for the count. Where is that adult leadership?
The pile of garbage I left outside my cell, during its initial cleaning, remains piled in front of my window as I return to my cell. The pile of garbage, which has been there for hours, represents the disdain those inmates and prison employees have for our society and our system of justice. How different a prison could be run if those in charge really cared.
I'm really not going to forget that on Memorial Day weekend the Warden went on a 4 day vacation while disregarding my polite and professional request for phone call assistance.
Initially, I was going to let Warden Star hide behind the “suits”. If a fish stinks - it stinks from the head down. I intend to try to assist in whatever investigation this Sing-Sing, Shawshank Redemption story may one day find itself. Normally the truth does come out. It's similar to the reason I was invited to visit prison by a Judge, who like the Warden, thinks he is above reproach. The cleanliness transformation of this cell, if I may say so, is remarkable. I have disinfected, mopped and changed the linens as well as protected the perimeter with toilet paper that may inhibit evening visitors. I am quite proud of my efforts.
But that's not all I wanted to speak about. The real issue is that along the perimeter of this new cell are ripped out baseboard heaters. Connecting them are 5" or 6" long metal spikes (knife like) that are quite easy to break off and use now or whenever appropriate. I, of course, still care for the safety of these CO's. I may hide during a count, but these young untrained and unmotivated men and women are dealing with hardened criminals or hardened civil “contemptors” like myself. The point of interest is the CO stated, "We know, we told management." We are on a "list" to have the cell made safer and closed off from the walls. Yes,