The Bomb and the Cage: Doree Anne Read Online Free
Author: Eugene W Cusie
television. None of those are true for Florida prisons. The inmates didn’t get personal televisions and the televisions that were in the dorms, didn’t have cable. There wasn’t air conditioning just blower fans. This meant working confinement on dayshift was brutal and you got zero relief from the heat. At least on the other two shifts it was dark half the shift, which lowered the temperature. To make things worse, the one-year rotation for staff in the unit wasn’t followed. The sergeant and two officers in the two hundred-man unit worked there until they either screwed up or promoted up.
Worse, when I got to confinement, I saw there was a group of four inmates in restraints sitting on the bench just inside the unit. Since they didn’t have any property with them, it meant that they were coming into confinement and no one had processed them yet. It didn’t take long to process an inmate. Night shift was just lazy and figured they could get away with piling on more work for us.
The unit was once a max unit called Delta Dormitory . Some of the officers that worked there still called it by that name. However, I had only been working at the prison a few months when they changed it from a max custody housing unit to the confinement unit so I knew it as, that or The Box . The Box was a two story concrete building that had one hundred cells that housed two hundred. On a good day, the count was around a hundred and fifty. The highest I’ve ever seen it in my seven years of service was three-hundred-twenty, which was during a hurricane. Since it was solid concrete, it was also a hurricane shelter.
You could tell it was solid concrete by the way it heated up in the summertime, which in Florida is all year round. The thing about Florida weather, even on the hottest day it was still wet. That humidity would make you sweat and once you started, it was next to impossible to stop.
“Good morning Sergeant Williams.”, Sergeant Brooks said to me while handing me his keys. “You got a total of a hundred and eighty inmates present and that includes the four new gains sitting on the bench.” He pointed to the group as if I hadn’t seen them. “It was a boring night with nothing to report. Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you in sixteen hours.”
“Hopefully you won’t.”, I said. Sergeant Brooks smiled and then walked out of the unit and I joined my crew for the day, Officer Jacobs and Officer Roberts.
Jacobs was new and most of the old timers didn’t care for him. He was a white country boy in his early twenties that was big into weightlifting, which showed. He was five foot eleven and built like a house. He was very high tempered which was a bad mix with being new. Inmates always try the new officers. When you’ve been a correction officer for any length of time, you’ll learn that you get respect by giving it. It can take years to build a good rapport with the inmates, and a second to lose it. Jacobs hadn’t had a chance to build any because he was quick to be an asshole. I was sure Jacobs would find his place here; it was just going to take longer than normal.
Roberts on the other hand was in his mid-fifties and approaching a wonderful retirement. He planned to spend it with his wife Sarah in an RV traveling around the country. He had a ton of respect from the inmates and staff even though his reputation was spotted with various disciplinary problems. I heard stories about him losing his temper with a young inmate when he first started. I never heard the story from him and doubted that I ever would. If the rumors were true; he shared more with Jacobs than I’d care to know.
***
We conducted a count and called it in to the main control room. After that, we stripped out the group of new gains. Strip searches were a way of life in corrections. I couldn’t tell you how many I’ve had to strip search and after a few years, you almost do it on autopilot.
“Strip down to your boxers. Hand me your clothing
Worse, when I got to confinement, I saw there was a group of four inmates in restraints sitting on the bench just inside the unit. Since they didn’t have any property with them, it meant that they were coming into confinement and no one had processed them yet. It didn’t take long to process an inmate. Night shift was just lazy and figured they could get away with piling on more work for us.
The unit was once a max unit called Delta Dormitory . Some of the officers that worked there still called it by that name. However, I had only been working at the prison a few months when they changed it from a max custody housing unit to the confinement unit so I knew it as, that or The Box . The Box was a two story concrete building that had one hundred cells that housed two hundred. On a good day, the count was around a hundred and fifty. The highest I’ve ever seen it in my seven years of service was three-hundred-twenty, which was during a hurricane. Since it was solid concrete, it was also a hurricane shelter.
You could tell it was solid concrete by the way it heated up in the summertime, which in Florida is all year round. The thing about Florida weather, even on the hottest day it was still wet. That humidity would make you sweat and once you started, it was next to impossible to stop.
“Good morning Sergeant Williams.”, Sergeant Brooks said to me while handing me his keys. “You got a total of a hundred and eighty inmates present and that includes the four new gains sitting on the bench.” He pointed to the group as if I hadn’t seen them. “It was a boring night with nothing to report. Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you in sixteen hours.”
“Hopefully you won’t.”, I said. Sergeant Brooks smiled and then walked out of the unit and I joined my crew for the day, Officer Jacobs and Officer Roberts.
Jacobs was new and most of the old timers didn’t care for him. He was a white country boy in his early twenties that was big into weightlifting, which showed. He was five foot eleven and built like a house. He was very high tempered which was a bad mix with being new. Inmates always try the new officers. When you’ve been a correction officer for any length of time, you’ll learn that you get respect by giving it. It can take years to build a good rapport with the inmates, and a second to lose it. Jacobs hadn’t had a chance to build any because he was quick to be an asshole. I was sure Jacobs would find his place here; it was just going to take longer than normal.
Roberts on the other hand was in his mid-fifties and approaching a wonderful retirement. He planned to spend it with his wife Sarah in an RV traveling around the country. He had a ton of respect from the inmates and staff even though his reputation was spotted with various disciplinary problems. I heard stories about him losing his temper with a young inmate when he first started. I never heard the story from him and doubted that I ever would. If the rumors were true; he shared more with Jacobs than I’d care to know.
***
We conducted a count and called it in to the main control room. After that, we stripped out the group of new gains. Strip searches were a way of life in corrections. I couldn’t tell you how many I’ve had to strip search and after a few years, you almost do it on autopilot.
“Strip down to your boxers. Hand me your clothing
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