Prison Cartwheels

I began getting very nervous.  My stomach started to do flips inside me.

Samuel my lifer assistant kept asking me what was up.  I told him I always get like this on the first day of a new class.  Maybe it is lucky it wasn’t until I had 6 months under my belt that they assigned me a class with half of the inmates being sex predators.  By now I have become much more thick skinned…perhaps I was ready and didn’t know it.  God’s plan never ceases to leave me amazed in its perfection, timing included.

Slowly they began to trickle in.  God was taking it easy on me.  Not overwhelming with them all arriving at once like they usually do.  I was kind and gentle.  My nerves began to calm down.  The first inmate to arrive was the one I had been fearing the most.  He has the most violent history with a bonus of charges that include aggravated stalking.

They were calm and even-tempered. They waited quietly and patiently for the rest of the students to arrive.  I passed out puzzles and brain teasers to keep them occupied until we could get started.  Number 1 on the agenda is always introduction followed by the RULES.  Samuel had even suggested I dip out briefly so he could give them the most important rule man to men.  No bathroom, no touching their junk, no messing with me.  Period.  I could say it, but being told to them by a respected fellow inmate serving 3 life sentences for a triple homicide seemed much more effective.

The class ran beautifully.  It was nothing short of pure magic. I felt like doing cartwheels across the prison yard when it was all over.

It’s always fascinating to see how the inmates will react to me.  They are so used to being yelled at all day and treated like animals, when someone patient and kind addresses them they are always caught off guard. Some become suspicious, others relieved.  It takes many of them time to adjust and learn to trust me, while still more take to it like a long-lost relative resurfacing to offer them love and support.

We had real talk today.  I didn’t hesitate to start asking them how long they have been incarcerated, if they have been locked up before, and what their plans are for release. There are 2 students who are old enough to be my grandfather, and one of them is mentally handicapped…he has been in prison for 25 years.  I cannot describe how much that hurts to witness.

Part of my challenge is to always keep up a strong exterior. These are grown men in prison.  There is no time for a sad teacher.  They need a strong leader who will encourage them and strengthen them.  Guide them and confront their erroneous thinking.  There is no room for my fears.