The Beginning

I never thought I would work in a prison.  Yes, work in, not live in.  I don't know why I thought that.  Maybe because criminals were scary.  But in 1997 I started working at a Level IV prison in Northeastern California as a medical transcriptionist and then an office technician (the State of California's version of a secretary).  None of those jobs had too much inmate contact, though I did supervise the inmates who cleaned our building when I worked in Mental Health.

In March 2007, looking for a bit more money and to get away from a cranky supervisor,  I became a Library Technical Assistant, which is somewhat of a misnomer.  Most days I feel like I'm babysitting someone's delinquent children.  Wait, I am!  My job is to manage an inmate library, with three inmate clerks assigned to me, and up to eight (albeit sometimes more) inmates using the library to work on their appeals or to find yet another way to sue the State of California.  Once in a while someone will actually want to read a book other than legal.

I have no "custody" experience and certainly no formal custody training unless you count the annual training we are forced to endure.   I am alone with these guys all day, without a cop. I have an alarm should I need immediate help.  Mostly, I rely on my training as a mom and my sense of humor. 

I never thought of doing a blog about my days in prison.  I have amused people with some of the experiences I have had, and it was suggested I write them down.  A friend suggested a blog.  So here I am.

Now that I've made my introduction, I'll work on prettying this place up.  I wish I could remember some of the stories from the past four years of working with inmates, but I assure you that there will be more to come.