He Made It!

After the TB test was complete, an unlock came for the PFT class where I was officially an Instructor once again. This was the first day with the new Instructor and it gave me the opportunity to encourage my friend as he was in the class. He was able to make it through the power walk and completed his run in 9 minutes.

I have seen many differences between the old coach and the new coach. At this time, I would like to add my opinion which in the grand scheme of life means nothing and hopefully within the next few weeks I won’t ever have to see this place again. However, I need to air my thoughts. I worked for 3 months under the old coach and I must say he was very consistent all throughout and all the inmates knew where they stood in terms of failing or passing. After spending only 2 hours with the new coach I recognized a huge difference between the 2 of them. The new coach seemed to want everyone to pass in the class and changed the rules all the time. It’s obvious that this new coach will become a favorite very soon. The old coach had a very rough reputation and worked us hard which is a good thing. Easy is not the best way to go as I have found out.

There are so many different types of personalities in this world and everyone was not made from the same cookie cutter. What I don’t understand in an institution like this, discipline and consistency should be prevalent. However, from what I have witnessed – in the past 8 months, it is far from it. The PFT Program has a schedule for each day and the old coach adhered to this in every class, but the new coach was more than happy to deviate from this schedule daily. I’m a person who enjoys structure and consistency which was lacking all throughout the day yesterday. The Fire Camp Program is a very important program for us and the California Department of Forestry and having properly trained inmate/ firefighters should be a requisite. The standards appeared to be tarnished yesterday. Quite frankly, I would want the inmates who have participated in the old coach’s program as opposed to the new coach.

I was concerned for my friend during the test; however, he did very well and I congratulated him on his performance. He just had the hang left which the new coach left for tomorrow. The class was released and I had an hour left of yard time. I decided to pass on the exercises and wanted to follow up with my friend. I found him sitting outside the dorm and I sat down next to him and we talked. I mostly congratulated him and encouraged him for this morning. He was genuinely grateful for my help and I was genuinely grateful to lend my assistance. Over one month ago, my friend could barely run one lap and yesterday he not only ran 3 laps in 9 minutes, he power walked 12 laps as well. He came a long way in a short period of time. The human body and mind are very special and are capable of anything given the right tools.

The evening yard opened last night and I was hoping to get a haircut in the barbershop. The front of my hair is too long and I can feel it hanging in my eyes. I made my way over to the barbershop and asked the CO if I could get an unlock and he said, “No, because there wasn’t a barber of my race on duty.” Yes, racism carries over in all facets of prison life even cutting hair. As I was walking to find my friend, I met up with my dorm mate who is an Instructor. I told him about not being able to get my hair cut and he volunteered to cut it. At first, I declined because I didn’t know if he was an experienced barber (he was not!). However, he assured me he could do it. I thought, “why not?” If it was a terrible haircut my hair would grow back. We walked over to the barbershop and told the CO that I found a volunteer to cut my hair, but he wouldn’t let us in because only scheduled barbers were allowed and no volunteers. The barbershop here is another one of those “pains” and hopefully the situation will be better when I reach fire camp.

My friend had to make a phone call to his mother for her birthday so he was not around and I decided to go back to the dorm a little earlier than usual. I listened to “U2” on a CD and went to sleep.

The yard is once again under lockdown so the releases for dinner and breakfast have been modified. The PFT class was delayed by an hour and a half. After I warmed up the class with a series of stretches, the new coach tested 4 individuals at a time. With the old coach, he would have tested half the class first and then the rest of the class right after that. The class did the 60 second hang which was not done yesterday. It seemed as though the new coach wanted to stretch things out a bit. What should have taken 3 minutes took 30 minutes. Anyhow, my focus was on my friend and as he approached the bar, I encouraged him with a “You will do this” statement. Guess what? He did do it and made the 60 seconds on the hang. This meant he passed the class. The new coach didn’t tell each individual whether he had passed or failed which the old coach would have done. He was going to post a list later with the names of those who passed which I found to be quite unusual. When the list was posted, my friend did pass and it was official.

When he saw his name, he came over to me and gave me two big hugs and thanked me profusely for my help! It was my pleasure and now my friend moves on to the wildfire firefighting training in the next few weeks. I was very proud of him and he was rightfully proud of himself. I even told my friend, he would have passed with the old coach as well. It was a good day for my friend and I was so happy for him!