Prison Politics

Of course yet again and probably for the foreseeable future I am going to start out with the kitchen. After all, other than that the mail call is the highlight of my day, so sad! Yes, I am still the “oven guy” but today was very different than yesterday. Today it appeared we had too many people even though everything was prepared in the oven. Nothing was prepared on the griddle which meant there were two additional helpers with the ovens. The menu consisted of farina, beans (don’t ask me why beans are a breakfast dish, because I am confused as well) and what basically was an egg Mcmuffin (this was a prepackaged item). All of these items were prepared in the ovens and because there was so much help, my Tasmanian devil trainer was much more subdued today.

I found out a few “kitchen secrets” about how to get the most of the food. When the farina and beans were done in the oven about 4 cups of water were added to each. This appeared to get the most out of these items. I had suspected the hot cereal was a bit watered down and being in the back kitchen yesterday and today confirmed my suspicions. One of the perks I discovered today was I could get my breakfast (which today was only farina) whenever I wanted. In addition, I could take the farina before the water was added and it tasted much better.

I was able to prepare the farina with leftover peanut butter (yep, peanut butter) and bananas. I was shocked as to how tasty this concoction turned out. I have never added peanut butter to my breakfast cereals but apparently here in prison, peanut butter is a very popular condiment. Some inmates add it to their coffee, cinnamon rolls and other cakes along with the hot cereals. Also, now I know where the secret stash is hidden.

I need to make a transition into a very delicate discussion and I will tread lightly. As I was working in the kitchen this morning, I noticed some tension between the kitchen workers. This tension was definitely divided on racial lines. For the most part there are three races who work in the kitchen - Whites, Hispanics, and African-Americans. I am one of only two Whites who work in the back kitchen along with two African-Americans and the balance is Hispanics. Most of the Whites work on the front-line and there are only two other African-Americans in the entire kitchen staff. The majority, as is the case of the overall prison population, is Hispanics.

I am being trained by theTasmanian devil who is Hispanic, which is acceptable. However; according to prison politics, I cannot be trained by an African-American. I don’t have a response as to why; it is just the way it is. I am not going to question it and just go with the flow.

This morning there were two crews working the ovens, one was Hispanic with me and the others were the two African-Americans. I don’t know what happened but there was no communication between the two crews and I did my best to keep my nose clean. Everything did work out fine in the end because the process is very simple.
All of the trays needed to be cooked, taken out of the ovens, put into bigger trays and finally placed on the front-line. There was a small issue with the farina, but that was because one of the ovens was broken, but the overall tension was palpable.

One of my faults or detriments in a place like this is I seem to get along with just about everyone. There are some inmates who don’t understand this concept just as I don’t understand why any race, creed, or color of people shouldn’t be treated like human beings. I know I am very naïve when it comes to the prison world which is why I try so hard to keep to myself. However, with working in the kitchen I can’t help but to be the way I was brought up which is to respect people as to how I would want to be respected. If someone needs help in the kitchen I should help them. Also, if someone talks to me I should show them the respect and talk with them as well.

There was another incident this afternoon of prison politics. Last night I was speaking to another inmate who just happened to be African-American. This man was truly a gentleman and he is here for the same reason I am. However, it genuinely seems he was caught up with others who hung him out to dry. This really is not the point. Last night I had a very lengthy conversation about the conditions here at prison. We also discussed the never-ending rumor of how the Federal Government is going to take over the California Prison System because of the mismanagement and severe overcrowding. This fine man was telling me something should happen by October 1st and one of the proposals from the Governor of California (Governor Arnold) was to reduce the sentence of all non-violent offenders to 33% of the stated sentence. The most intriguing rumor he heard stated that the Federal Government wanted to take over the California Prison System and grant early releases to some 47,000 non-violent offenders. This really isn’t very far-fetched because the Federal Government does this currently at the County level in California.

I strayed off the point slightly, but today every inmate received a survey. This survey asked is if given the opportunity would we transfer our incarceration time to another state, however; not all of the other 49 states were represented - only about 18 states. Yes, New Jersey was one of the states which posed a dilemma for me. Given the opportunity I would love to be near my family, but on the same token given the opportunity I would want my freedom and to be with my family.

When I received this survey I instantly thought back to the conversation I had last night with the very nice gentleman regarding the overcrowding issues. I saw this survey as a political delay tactic. Apparently, there is something going on or this survey would not have been distributed. Someone is trying to do something about the overcrowding or put up a smokescreen (in my opinion). After filling out the survey honestly; I did enter yes, I would like to be transferred to New Jersey so I could be near my family. This in no way guarantees or even gives the possibility of me being transferred to New Jersey. This was my honest opinion. Getting back to my long belabored point, immediately after filling out the survey, I went over to this nice gentleman’s bunk and asked his opinion.
He did agree with me that something is happening and this appears to be a political ploy to delay the Federal Government from taking over the California Prison system. I believe he said it was just window dressing and no substance should be put into this survey.

As we were having a conversation at his bunk (again, please keep in mind I am White and he is African-American) I had my elbows on his bunk. We were conversing across the bunk and I seem to do this no matter who I am talking with. Anyway, as we were talking, another White inmate came up to us and interrupted. He told me I should not touch this African-American’s bunk because some other inmates maybe offended even though he didn’t care. I immediately dropped my arms and the very nice inmate I was talking with couldn’t believe what he just heard. He had no problem - but both of us understood the rules of prison. Maybe we didn’t understand the rules but we will obey them in order to stay safe.

I was not going to put myself in a position to argue with the White inmate so I dropped my elbows and continued the conversation, however; inside I was not very happy. I really cannot be myself because I could be misconstrued as being disrespectful but in effect I am showing respect. Maybe I should have known I shouldn’t touch the bunk, however, I felt so comfortable and we were so engaged in our conversation I just placed my elbows on the bunk. This was my mistake and now I know what NOT to do. Someone should provide a rule book for inmates by inmates on the do’s and don’ts of prison politics. This really does get confusing and the consequences of disobeying these rules can be severe. I am trying to avoid any further consequence of my actions because the overall consequence (which is me being in prison) is severe enough. Another prison lesson learned.