The Dynamic Duo

I haven’t talked about if for awhile, but I am still at the prison. I am becoming more competent at my job of running the prison canteen, but our sales are still usually the lowest of prison canteens in the state, as my supervisor Jackson keeps reminding me. It’s not like I can increase sales with better marketing; we have a captive clientele and, for the most part, if they have money, they spend it. Its just that most of the time, except for right after they get their small monthly pay, most of them have no money. We just got some new guys in the camp, however, with a little cashola on their books, so sales may be looking up. I asked the LT the other day if he had any ideas on new items we could carry that would sell well. Tongue in cheek, he mentioned that little wine-coolers or shots of whiskey or scotch would probably be pretty popular. I told him I had no doubt they would be, but I thought I may have a little trouble getting them approved by the warden.
I had a shock when I got to work yesterday. I was, once again, short one inmate clerk. Sean had been uncerimoniously “rolled up” (just means sent somewhere else with out warning) along with 2 other inmates and sent to Cedar Prison. He had left about an hour before I got there. There seemed to be no clear cut reason. There had, it appeared, been some trouble with some members from his “car”, and he was “guilty by association”. Did I ever explain “cars” to you? A car is “who you ride with.” It was surprising for me to learn that, apparently, prison systems are very racially biased and segregated, if the inmates have any choice. ( I just realized I am using a lot of “it appears, it seems, apparently” because, of course, I am reporting all of this as it has been told to me, and (thank goodness) have no first hand knowledge, so I am going to start leaving out much of those qualifying phrases, and just understand they are implicit in most of what I tell you, okay?) Anyway, a car is defined along racial lines. There is a car for whites, one for blacks, one for hispanics, and a different one for paises, or hispanics directly from Mexico who don’t speak that much English, and for whatever other races may be present. Sean, though half white, half Phillipino, and classified as “other” as his racial designation, “ran” with the non-paises Mexicans. He grew up alongside them, and considered them his “homies” or “homeboys”. I think there may be a difference between homies and homeboys, but the distinction was never that clear to me. I know that several recent transfers into the camp were guys Sean knew from “the streets,” and some of those associations may have gotten him tagged for this recent transfer. Also, Sean had been at Calvin for a long time, which may also have contributed to his leaving. We are warned not to become attached to our clerks, or consider them our friends, but this is rather improbable, if not impossible. When you work with someone, you have to develop a level of trust, which can lead to mutual respect, which makes for a much more pleasant working environment. Yeah, I realize these guys are in prison for a reason, and I’m not really that naive; I don’t uncategorically trust them or even like everything about them, but I do miss them when they leave and wish the best for them.
Sean is actually pretty young, and besides having been in prison for awhile, is also an alumnus of the state youth correctonal facility. You may remember from an ealier post that he had a bad attitude when he first got to Calvin, but that Carlos, my former store clerk, had helped him get that turned around. Sean was thrilled to get the store job, and I heard him tell several guys that he actually “looked forward to going to work now.” He was devoted to his family, esp his mother and brother, and worried when he hadn’t had contact with them for a while. He sometimes marvelled that his mother was still so supportive after all he’d put her through, and he was very proud of his younger brother for choosing a different path from his own.
Sean is on the parole agenda for this month, and if he gets it, he could be out In August. I hope he does and that I hope things go well for him. I will miss his enthusiasm, humor and hard work.
For now, time to start reviewing those job applications kites…...........

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