LIFE AND TIMES OF A CORRECTIONAL OFFICER
By R. Mark Shepard

(Chapter 6)

The public is already worried and frightened enough trying not to think about anymore inmates escaping from a Maximum security prison, putting themselves and their loved ones in danger. They really have no idea what goes on inside the Fences of the Institution on a day to day basis. And it is really a day to day basis, because no one day has ever been the same for the Correctional Officer or the Inmate, even though the inmate has to basically do the same thing, in the same place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; living in the same cell, going to the same chow hall, living in accordance with the same rules and regulations, looking at the same familiar faces of each inmate day after day, month after month, and year after year, most of them will be there for the rest of their lives.

As I have said before, if an inmate cannot get the job he wants right away, he will play the system, or just wait it out knowing that someday the opportunity will arise and he will be in the exact position he has planned for all along.

For Example, the job as a Canteen Operator, having his own key to a store of his own, that he runs and operates, which is set up by the State.  He sells such items as soda, candy, chips, radio batteries, orange juice, raincoats, and all kinds of hygiene products, and the list goes on. Cigarettes and the few items that I have listed are made more affordable to the inmate.

These items used to be purchased by the inmate with real money that an inmate could carry on him, although the funds that he could carry would of course be limited. The Department of Corrections came to the conclusion that if they took the money off of the compound, a lot of problems such as paying someone for the making and distribution of homemade alcohol, or paying each other for sex favors, paying for drugs smuggled in, gambling debts and other Ill-gotten bootie that an inmate could do, or make money on would be less of a problem.

The idea was that the inmate would have an Identification Card with a Security strip on the back of the card.  It was a good idea. This was to cut down on all, and more, of the problems I just mentioned, because this would be the control the state needed to handle the inmates' money and everything would be fairly under control, Right?.....Wrong again.

The drug deals, the homemade wine, sex favors, gambling and  every other type of scam continued on at full force, but with new twists. Now the average inmate had to think a lot harder about how to get his money. Some of this resorted right back to the fabulous job of the Canteen Operator. For instance, when an inmate would bet on a football game, he would bet a few packs of cigarettes, cherry cakes or any other canteen items that the Bookie would demand. The Canteen operator would go along with whatever he could get away with, just as long as he made out in favors of his own, he demanded to play the New system. We, the Correctional Officers, are not so gullible as to think that there would be no more REAL green money on the compound.

On a day to day basis real money is found on the prison compound and confiscated. When the money is confiscated, it is put into what the state calls an Inmate Welfare Fund.  This fund pays for things such as TV's when they are broken, equipment for the recreation program for the inmates, the music room for the inmates, who came from the street actually knowing how to play an instrument.

Now you are probably saying to yourself, how does the Real money that is not suppose to be on the compound get into the hands of the inmate? Usually through the Visiting Park, on the weekends, by inmates who are called 'Mules'. These inmates have visitors bring money, drugs or what ever they are told to carry. Most of the items that are muled in are drugs with money wrapped around them with many layers of plastic electrical tape. Electrical tape is used because it is a softer kind of tape than any other kind, so that when the Mule puts the Item in his Rectum, it is supposed to be easier to slid in, and easier to slide out.

Another way to get drugs into the prison is inside a condom, also called a balloon. A small amount of drugs are put into a condom in the visitor's mouth, and when the visitor kisses the inmate, they transfer the drugs internally. After a period of time, as nature takes its course, the condom passes through the system and when the condom comes out, it is opened up and the drugs are then distributed.

This of course is very risky for the Mule because the balloon could break and the whole amount of drugs in the balloon could hospitalize the inmate or it could kill him with an overdose. The reason the condom is used is that it is supposed to be more durable than a regular plastic balloon, but inmates have been known to be hospitalized or die from this.

CONTACT MARK SHEPARD
markshepard2003@yahoo.com