Once More in Book Two: The Fifteenth Year of the Third Millennium of the Common Era

Oh today. Veteran’s Day. A day I usually try to hold open in reverence and respect. This day, more than most days, I try to do those things which make me reflect on the freedoms our Veteran’s have purchased for our country.
EXCEPT today, I can’t. If I were in any other department in this job, I’d have the day off. If I were titled as a Correction’s Officer… I would get time and a half for working today. However, as is often said about this job, they’ve designed it to screw on all levels. I’m here on a Government Holiday because I have to be. However, I’m still considered “an expendable part timer” so I don’t even get Holiday Wage Enhancement. Such a wonderful system I am a part of. Frankly, it is why I’ve been here for 38 minutes this morning… and I haven’t even started paperwork yet. Fuck ‘em sideways with a morning star. Especially considering the following: I have worked an average of 4 days a week since starting in the law library… 4 days a week… but the average number of hours worked is 47. That means I’m averaging around 11 to 12 hour days consistently… with no support, security, or assistance… and all I hear is bitching from superiors on how not enough housing units are being seen while at the same time trying to tell me to cut hours. Fruitcake, psychotic, irrational, cock sucking assholes. Pay me my money, get out of my way… or come down here and work a shift in the Law Library on your own and experience what I’ve been trying to tell you.
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I’m not surprised by it at all, but I feel that it does bear (bare?) mentioning. I am the only one present from any “non-essential” department. Nobody in Programs is here at the jail… nobody from Chaplain… nobody for Education… as I walk around the jail today it is just me, the Correction’s Officers that pulled Holiday Pay, and the inmates.
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Today, in a mad plan to get through as many MODs as possible… I’m combining. It is where I call different mods from different parts of the jail to come in at once. It is risky… in fact, it is how that horrid story I shared earlier this week happened… but it isn’t exactly against the rules. In fact, last year when they only had one employee for the Law Library… she would combine 8 mods at once. I’m not that reckless. I’ll combine three at most and ONLY if each mod has 4 or less people who want to come down. But… yeah. Superiors looking over the numbers keep thinking “She didn’t have this much trouble, what’s your issue” and apparently saying “She was a Corrections Officer and a Probation Officer with the requisite training of both” isn’t exactly the answer they want to hear.
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Guh… my mind is wandering. Something I try not to let happen here because I need to be very aware and on guard what with prisoners wandering free with access to chairs, heavy books, and computers. But… all the same. I’m thinking about my PC. I really need/needed to purchase replacement computers by now. I’ve been without a laptop for months now and the PC problem has been off and on for months. I should get a reliable laptop for Business Use and a cheap Desktop for Personal Use. But… meh. As worried as I am… I just have a hard time justifying a purchase like that considering the laptop and PC were only bought 4 years ago. So yes… considering my extreme uses of both, all experts say that both the Laptop and Computer lived their full life cycles. But… I’m still a bit old school. Hell, I remember my great gran’s Zenith Tube TV; monster lasted 20 years even after she died! But I suppose that is the way of things. My old 1991 Mercury Sable lasted from its birth through 2013. But modern cars are expected to get, at most, 10 years… and that’s pushing it. The ever increasing disposablility of the world, I suppose.
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Of course this happens. I should have realized. Things were going swimmingly, I’m booking along, I’m within sight of actually accomplishing some sort of catch up on work and… boom. Call in the first of the Maximum Security Mods. And. Everything. Slows. Down. Which is rough cuz these guys are a handful. Oh well. It just means that I won’t be absolutely blazing through these guys today. Just… more or less… meandering through. It is one of the reasons I only take care of about one or two Max Mods a day. Slow and sometimes problematic. There are certain Max Mods that I have to call down, though… strangely because my superiors don’t give a shit about their employees but bend over backwards for inmates. WHAT? But yeah. Case in point: Loud, litigious individual in one Maximum Security Mod says he has “personal issues” with one of the COs that helps on the weekends… so I’m now required to call him personally to make sure he gets his library time with me. If it was some risk of violence or something like that? Maybe. Maybe I could see why I should call him down. Maybe. But it isn’t. This is a guy that converted to Black Muslim in the joint and now “refuses to recognize the authority of a female.” Which, yeah, is why before I got here… he wasn’t even allowed to come down… because the Law Librarians were female. Now that they’ve got a guy here… okay, he goes to Law Library. What? Why are we going so far to cater to convicted criminals? This kind of massive catering wouldn’t fly in the real world, why does it fly when they are being punished/restricted for criminal behavior? Grumph.
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Ooooo… my first verbally expressed threat of stabbing. I am not allowed to print websites out for inmates. The reasons for that are numerous and many are obvious. Guy wanted me to print a whole bunch of information on artificial insemination (he is charged with getting his underaged girlfriend pregnant… he fired his lawyer and is now proceeding pro se under the defense that he got her pregnant with a syringe… not… exactly brilliant legal defense but whatever). Anyway… I told him that no, I can’t print a lot of information for him on Insemination; when he went Pro Se, a legal consultant was assigned to him allowing him to collect materials through that means. He said, “Shit, son, I should stab you for that. It’s right on your screen, print it out.” Fun. As I have no backup and no security officers… my best recourse was to say, “Sorry, can’t. But you can write down the web address and give it to your consultant.” Thank Goodness it didn’t escalate… cuz… yeah. That would have been very bad. I mentioned something about “a stab threat.” to the person who “trained me” and they were very worried (as I appreciate) but I wound up lying my ass off to them about the details. I said the inmate said it jokingly to a friend of his and I didn’t see any harm in it, but intervened to make sure it didn’t happen again. Honestly, I feel bad about lying about it but I don’t want to stir things up, I don’t want this guy to get thrown in lockdown… because if I make his life more difficult… what is he going to do next time? They certainly won’t put a security officer in here because we’ve seen things like this before. I’m not going to ruffle feathers over something that wasn’t that big of a deal. When and if I genuinely feel like my life is in danger, I won’t hesitate… until then, I can handle it.
Another fun Maximum Security story for today: Seriously… guy wants me to literally and physically copy a page from our books for him. He keeps saying “I don’t want to rip it out” as though following the rules is some concession to us. That’s what I’m noticing about the criminal mind… following the rules, for many I interact with, is seen as a tit for tat agreement… you break the rules for me on this and I’ll follow the rules for you on that. Which… boggles the mind… because.... no? You follow the rules because if you don’t; you could be locked down or otherwise punished… and I’ll follow the rules so I keep my job and my legal license.
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Shift Change 1500. That means I have to wait an hour for Counts to Clear. Then I’ll have enough time to get ONE group through, and then trays for an hour and a half. I’m really tired and honestly considered just going home now. I mean… I’ve put in a lot of work and gotten a lot done all ready. But.. no. If, against my better judgment, I can get these last two combination MOD groups done… that would be good. It would leave me with only 8 houses left. Come in tomorrow and take care of a few before my interview and leave (1) Vicious Killer & 5 Mods or so for the Weekend Support Staff. Since they get through 4 a day… they should be able to take care of that easily.
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Hooray for potentially racist part of the entry. There is a gentleman that was once in our jail for ICE… an immigration issue. The rules of ICE are that, until your lawyer is assigned, you get 3 days of Law Library a week. This inmate has officially had his lawyer assigned. That means he only gets one hour a week like every other inmate. However, he will harass his supervising CO to call me every day and ask when he can come down. He will write to my boss and the ICE Squad and report “abuses.” The rules have been explained to him but he responds “It is hard for me to read English so I need more time.” That isn’t unique to you, buddy. There are a lot of people in this facility that have a hard time reading English… the rules don’t change for them, they shouldn’t change for you! But… because my direct boss has ZERO spine, I call this jackass in 3 times a week. EVEN STILL he has a CO call me EVERY DAY bugging me. Really? WHY would ANY CO even allow that? Who is running this jail?
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Bahf. Now I’m just reaaaally super duper sleepy. I suppose that makes a lot of sense. After all, I’ve put in 36 hours this week and it is only Wednesday. I just keep thinking… how does THIS job affect my CAREER path? Not only just “it doesn’t provide experience” but… is this while situation trying to demonstrate that the Desk Jockey, Law lifestyle may not be for me? If so… what should I do instead? What can I do instead?
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NOTE TO SELF

Have to write it down or I’ll forget… I’ll likely forget anyway…
After phone interview tomorrow… contact Rural Practice Head for connections in Iowa.... contact Dickhute’s husband for Clerkship work (?) and draft letter to PC Attorney for assistance. If not Thursday night… then when you get home Sunday!
Interesting Read