Teacher’s Gang

Today they came to me in waves.  The outcry on my behalf…”Teacher, we heard what happened!”, they shrieked.  They were angry on my behalf. They swore their allegiance and oath to protect me forever, as long as I am there.  They had a meeting and discussed why my safety was vital.  My mission to be there and help them would be compromised if any asshole scared me, hurt me, or worse. And they feel responsible for ensuring I am there for them, by being there for me.

This is both awesome and rare for 1 big reason.  This is because inmate code states you NEVER get involved in another man’s business.  You see what is going on, but you don’t “see” it.  You keep out, mind your own business, and keep your mouth shut.  Snitches get stitches…and wind up in ditches. True story. They have shank fights every day over the smallest infractions that break this code of inmate conduct.

Yet a group of 10+ inmates have pledged to defy this rule.  To protect me at any cost. To secure their teacher will be there to help them and support them, for as long as she wants to be.  And more importantly, they want it to be in the capacity that I am myself.  Where I feel truly safe enough to be the genuine, caring staff member that I have been since my first day.

Wow.

Walking in today, despite what occurred yesterday, my trust in HIM lead me without fear.  This is yet another confirmation of HIS awesome power to work in our lives.

 

Injustice within the Justice System

One of the scariest inmates I have had as a student, is actually also one of my best pupils.  He is always engaging, participating, and challenging others.  He monopolizes most conversations, but he is also quite a good listener.  He is a walking contradiction in so many ways.

I wrote about him in my “Parenting with Pistols” entry a few weeks back.  For anyone who needs a refresher, he locked his young son in the trunk of his car at gunpoint and drove him  into the woods… to teach him a lesson.  Are you surprised one of his many charges is for child abuse?

He often shares stories, which he has no shortage of.  Most are about his life on the streets as a pimp and drug dealer, or his time behind bars.  Most of his life has been spent behind bars or under some kind of state supervision.   If you met him in person you would understand why.  This guy is DANGEROUS and scary.

He mentioned today that he once spent 24 consecutive months in solitary confinement. His point in sharing this was to relay how cruel such isolation is.  How psychologically damaging it is.  But I was more curious as to WHY he spent so long in solitary. The answer I got didn’t even make me flinch.  I am absolutely becoming institutionalized.

Some guards are on a real power trip.  They will intentionally house inmates together from opposing gangs for pure self entertainment.  Then they will taunt and provoke the situation until someone reaches a boiling point.  Such as what began this inmate on the road to 24 months in confinement.

He was housed with a much larger inmate from a rival gang.  To add insult to injury, his new cellmate was also a bully and chronic masturbator. Can you say recipe for disaster?

My student asked the officers to switch cells. He was told no.  He explained his reasons why he needed to move.  He was then told by officers: no blood, no cell reassignment. He was being set up to fail.

The bars of soap at the prison are like small bricks.  They are as hard as cement.  So, he began secretly stashing them.  In a tube sock.  When the day finally came, and he could no longer take the officer taunting and his cellmate bullying him and constantly jerking his junk in his face, he snapped.  He grabbed the tube sock filled with soap and began to beat the crap out of his cellmate. And he didn’t stop.  The officers finally responded to the screams coming from the cell.  They ordered him to stand down.  Then they gassed him.  Then they entered the cell by force and beat HIM into submission, cuffed him, and escorted him to solitary. Where he stayed for the next two years.

I made it out alive again today.  Amen.