JOBS

Prison is a world unto itself. As you can imagine there are a multitude of things that have to be done every day to keep that world turning. From cooking to cleaning, from maintenance to upkeep, almost every labor or service necessary is done by the prisoners, the individuals in blue uniforms. Working is not optional. All individuals that go to prison to serve a sentence of imprisonment are required to have a job and are usually assigned one within two weeks of arriving at the institution where they are placed. You do not get paid for working in prison. If you refuse to work or quit your job you face punishment. You could get disciplinary action, lose your precious gain time or you could be placed in handcuffs and taken to jail. (Confinement, the prison in a prison.)

Below is a list of just twenty of the different kinds of jobs that exist at my current institution, and the general tasks the individual given that job is required to handle, which I have observed myself or had myself since I have been behind the barbed wire fence

1. Houseman.

Required to sweep, mop, and clean the Quad where he is housed. 2. Showerman Required to clean the showers of the Quad every day. 3. Hallway Orderly. Assists dorm officers, assists with callouts, cleans hallways, handles dorm chemicals, and assists with running the canteen line. 4. Canteen Orderly Runs the canteen store, handles purchases and inventory, and stocking. 5. Rec Orderly Assist the recreation officers with Recreation, cleans rec yard, and takes out rec yard trash 6. Library Orderly Assists Library staff, handles check-in/check-out 7. Law library Orderly Provides legal guidance and legal assistance 8. Electrical Orderly Assists Electrical professional and handles electrical maintenance. 9. Plumbing Orderly Handles sink toilet and shower maintenance. 10. Kitchen Orderly Assists with food preparation and cleans food trays and cooking utensils. 11. Laundry Orderly. Trained to operate Washer and dryer machines, and handles laundry 12. Chemical Orderly Handles chemicals and the replenishing and distribution of chemicals to the dorm units 13. Tailoring Orderly Operates Sewing machine and handles sewing tasks. Repairs mats and uniforms etc. 14. Barber Cuts hair and trims beards to length regulations. 15. Chaplain Assistant Assists the Chaplain and helps with chaplain services. 16. Medical Orderly Assists medical staff. 17. Property Orderly Assists the Property officer. 18. Landscaping Orderly Cuts grass, keeps the landscape tidy and up to par. 19. Education Orderly Assists Education staff. 20. Intake orderly Helps with Intake processing.

These are but a few of the many kinds of jobs carried out by the individuals in blue., but as you can see it's mostly the prisoners that make the world go round on Planet Prison.

 Breathing but Dead Alive

What's up everybody. My name is Evander Caige. I'm here to tell you the truth about the system and what life is really like behind the barbed-wire fence. One thing I know is that if people go to the sources the system puts in place for this kind of information, the truth is something they are never gonna get. Only a very carefully prettied-up illusion. But before I get there. Let me tell you how I got here.

It's about 2 AM. I am crammed in steel in a windowless steel box in the back of a van, along with about ten other people, five in the box I'm in, five in the one that is adjacent. We are packed tight as sardines. I can smell the sweat and body odor of every man including mine.

We had been riding for hours in that steel box. Couldn't see. Couldn't stand up. The steel cuffs pressed into our wrists and ankles and sitting on hard steel had our bottom halves completely numb. Some of the men's faces showed courage. Some of them were wide-eyed like a deer in headlights. And then there was me, watching everything and seeing nothing. There but not there. Breathing but dead alive.

About 60 days before that I had signed a state plea deal, agreeing to say that I was guilty for something that never even happened. Sounds crazy. Why would I do that? Once you read the whole story you might understand. I wonder: would you have done the same?

Since my public defender was no help, I hustled up stamps and envelopes and wrote every government agency I could find. The average public defender conspires with the prosecutor to win a conviction. Everybody gets a piece of the pie, and everybody covers each other's tracks. I was a sitting duck, and if I didn't act then I had no chance of getting justice. So I began to study the law myself. I collected statute after statute of law and jurisprudence and tried my best to absorb it. At first, the complexity and the alien words made my head want to explode. But determined to redeem my freedom, I slowly started to become knowledgeable in the law. I discovered something called a Feretta Hearing. Every time a court makes a ruling or a judgment in a case it becomes a rule of thumb in future cases. In Faretta vs California, the courts set a precedent that every competent individual has the right to represent himself. So I made a decision, and I wrote and formally filed a motion for a Ferretta hearing, fired my public defender, and became my own attorney. Still, it made no difference. Even though I was my own attorney and willing to do whatever was necessary, I was still in jail. I had no outside support or no way to do the things that an attorney has to do in conducting a defense according to court procedure. When I filed motions for assistance the judge denied them. Motions for materials and resources - denied. The judge even denied my request for co-counsel. All of my motions were denied, including unbelievably my motion for a speedy trial. Still, at least I was in charge of my own case. I kept on trying. Learning from trial and error. I kept on fighting.

Finally, I kept at it and I got what at first thought was a small victory. I filed a motion for a court hearing. Having gotten better at law, I properly presented all the facts and evidence establishing my innocence. I exposed and addressed blatant prosecutorial misconduct. I asserted that the government had violated my so-called constitutional rights. I didn't get the case dismissed, but I did get ROR (Release On Recognizance) This meant as long as I gave my word to show up at court and abide by certain conditions, I could be released and wait and prepare for trial on the outside. Curiously the Judge required me to give up my self-representation and accept another public defender. I was so excited about going home that I instantly agreed. Additionally, I would have to wear a GPS monitor and check in at the ROR section of the courthouse once a week. This was so that they could monitor me at all times in case I tried to flee the states. The monitor had to be charged three hours a day. If the signal went out, the tracking agents would call my phone immediately. If I missed a court date, failed to check in every week, let the battery die on the monitor, or missed a phone call after a loss of signal, I would immediately be arrested and taken to jail.

So for the first time in years, I was free again. But there was no home to go to. I had been in jail for so long, I had lost everything. I cried like a baby after walking out into the fresh air, but then it came time for what to do next and I was devastated. Thankfully, due to my character and my reputation for hard work. I got my old job back at the seafood restaurant in the town where I lived, even after having been gone for years. I had nowhere to go but I didn't let that stop me. The town I lived in had a public pier. Sometimes I slept on a bench at the end of it, comforted by the peaceful rocking of the waves. Sometimes I would rest my head on one of the picnic tables. I had to balance work, survival, checking into ROR every week, making every court date, finding a place to charge the monitor for three hours, and getting some kind of rest. I stashed my food and clothes in hidden spots in parks and woods. Many times I would come and find the food ravaged and devoured by animals or taken by people who were probably also homeless, or that my things had been ruined by the weather. I changed stash spots often. Ubering around and transportation is too expensive so I got a longboard and started to skate to most of my destinations.

Then one day when I went to sleep at the pier, I woke up to find police standing over top of me. They told me I couldn't sleep there and that I had to go. I guess someone saw me sleeping and called the police. I tried several other parks but every time, someone would eventually call the police on me and they would wake me up, ask for my identification, and check for warrants then tell me to leave and threaten to trespass me if they found me in the same spot again. It became fun for them. It was like they made a game out of trying to find wherever I was sleeping for the night to wake me up and make me move. They seemed to enjoy it. But I didn't. I was becoming a sleep-deprived zombie. Finally, I bought a tent and put it In a spot in some woods about a mile from work. That made a huge difference. As long as I could rest and recharge I could keep on going.

But I needed a place to stay. A safe place to keep my clothes and food, a shower, A place for all my law work and studies. I had to get a roof over my head. The town that I live in was very expensive. The average 1 bedroom place was around $1200 dollars a month and required a first month's deposit up front. I needed to save about $3000 before I could even try to get a place. To do this I would have to find another job, so I did. I got a second job at another restaurant, this one being a Thai food place. But even with those two jobs I still could not cut it. I began to post on sites like craigslist and Facebook community pages looking for side work and taking shifts at a day labor place. Between working nonstop, trying to make it to every court date, checking in every week, keeping the monitor charged, and operating on minimum rest, I guess I bit off more than I could chew.

Later on I was skating down the road after a late night, and a police SUV rolled up. Seeing me, the lights began to shine and I was pulled over on my longboard. You know that you can't skate on the streets right?, he asked me. You have to stay on the sidewalk. Yes sir I replied, thinking that was all and I would be able to continue my day, but then he asked for my identification. Still, I wasn't worried. I was completely confident in myself because I knew that I had been doing the right things. I happily complied. And next thing I know I'm being placed under arrest AGAIN. I had a warrant for my arrest for a failure to appear. I had missed a court date.

I couldn't believe it. My spirits were crushed. Once again I was locked in the back of an SUV. I could do nothing but stare into space watching everything replay in my mind like a movie. All the people, friends, achievements, and things I was about to lose AGAIN. All of it for nothing. I think at that moment in life something died inside of me. I have never been the same. I'm now back in jail, once again waiting on trial. By this time I'm in a pitiful state. I have lost all of my enthusiasm for life. I am mentally exhausted and depleted. Psychiatrists are telling me I'm depressed and trying to give me medications, but I didn't agree with them. I didn't think something was wrong with me. I think anybody would have felt like that after that kind of beating from life, and dealing with those kinds of circumstances.

I couldn't believe it. My spirits were crushed. Once again locked in the back of an SUV. I could do nothing but stare into space watching everything replay in my mind like a movie. All the people, friends, achievements, and things I was about to lose AGAIN. All of it for nothing. I think at that moment in life something died inside of me. I have never been the same.

Now I'm back in jail, once again waiting on trial. By this time I'm in a pitiful state. I have lost all of my enthusiasm for life. I am mentally exhausted and depleted. Psychiatrists are telling me I'm depressed and trying to give me medications, but I didn't agree with them. I didn't think something was wrong with me. I think anybody would have felt like that after that kind of beating from life and dealing with those kinds of circumstances. Once again the days roll by and then the days turn to months. I was beyond tired. Tired of being tired. Tired in my soul. My new attorney persistently whispers plea deal in my ears and those whispers ring in my head day and night. I just wanted it to be over. I wanted a conclusion. A lot of time that I would have to do I had almost been in jail for anyways. Finally, I relented. I agreed to deal with the Devil. I signed on the dotted line. I quit the fight. There were so many inmates and correctional officers that I left dispirited and disappointed. I am ashamed and I will have to regret my decision for the rest of my life. But that is my story.

And that is how I came to be behind the barbed-wire fence