My work assignment is work outside the buildings; I am a ground maintenance worker at the Kirk School building--I pick up trash and paper on a section of the yard around the building. But I usually have my daily work done anywhere from a half an hour to an hour and a half, five days a week, and the rest of my time is my own.

The assignment is part-time, and pays $12 per month. But I like it, now that I have become used to it, because there is so much time I have to spend like I choose——with limited options, naturally. The neatest part for me is being outside on the yard, regardless of the weather, for about a half an hour when the yard is "closed" to other inmate population. It is the only time I can feel almost alone, especially in bad weather, because other inmates are inside the buildings except for a few others who have the same kind of job that I do, working on ground maintenance.

An interesting development going on here at this institution is some of the "forced" renovation and repairs to the buildings where inmates are housed. The "Feds" have insisted that the State boys come up to standards set forth in the American Corrections Associations standards or be cut off from funds available to state correction systems who comply with certain mandates.

The states love autonomy, but they love money more. Plus, the Feds can shut them down if the State falls too far below the standards for prison operations.

One of the housing Units here had roof leaks so bad that beds had to be moved around in the bays to avoid the dripping water. All the buildings are old and most all of them have been poorly maintained over the years. A lot of the old "chewing gum and bailing wire" type repairs have mounted into major problems from accumulated patchwork. So it isn’t the fault or incompetence of the present administration as much as it is the inherited shortcomings of the entire physical plant of this institution.

On one housing unit (#5) there had been a major renovation attempted with inmate crews doing the labors. The finished product was so far below standards that an outside construction company was called in to do all the work over again so that it would be done right to meet the building code standards. It still isn’t finished yet, and I’m curious to see what the finished product will look like and how well it will function. One of the problems from the inmate crew efforts was too small of a sewage pipe line.

Much of what is done seems to be throwing good money after bad. A lot of what goes on here is a lot like painting the smokestacks of a sinking ship. The superficial and the crisis are the primary projects at this institution. I talked with some inmates who had worked building maintenance on the outside before coming to prison and they have said that most of the outside construction department supervisors have learned to get by on patch repairs, because a lot of the projects they are assigned to work on are usually superficial and partial at best.

Here again, it isn’t the fault of anyone at the institution level, because the real money and decision-making is at the state capitol administrative levels. Before any of these people will make any decisions which might have political ramifications, they will wait until some higher authority mandates action on a crisis basis. It all seems to be crisis orientated.

This isn’t only manifest in an old institution such as here at Orient Correctional Institution, but the same kind of pattern is being established in new institutions such as at Belmont Correctional Institution. I talked with the Physical Plant Supervisor and asked him how they were setting up their maintenance and preventive maintenance programs for their new facility and he told me that he couldn’t get the funding or the people to facilitate those concerns. So when the new construction and new equipment warranties expire, or are defaulted because of non-compliance with maintenance requirements, the state will find the typical crisis with emergency repairs mandating replacement or repair mandates and whatever ensuing costs which may be incurred.

The sensible, cost-effective way to maintain a facility is to not only have an effective maintenance program, but further to have an effective preventive maintenance program. Once in a while, an institution will be fortunate enough to have the services of extra—competent personnel——inmate as well as supervisory people. When this happens, these people know to look beyond the obvious and take it upon themselves to check beyond the obvious problems being dealt with to check for potential problems and take corrective measures such as bearing replacements before breakdowns to replacing worn belts on pulleys before they break and shut down the unit entirely.

A little over a month ago, there was an article in a local newspaper about a proposed increase in spending for prisons in the state of Ohio. There was a rationale provided by the Secretary of Corrections and an "apology" by the Governor of the state of Ohio. The Corrections boss said the extra money was being spent for security concerns for inmates and their institutions, and the Governor lamented that the money was being allocated because of legislative entitlements, such as a certain amount of bed—space, etc., for Ohio’s prisons and prisoners, as though he wished it didn’t have to be so. I read it and wanted to steal it off the bulletin board in the library so I could send it to you with a commentary of my own, but someone beat me to it last week——stealing it, that is! Smile?

Anyway, the crux of the matter to me was a further misrepresentation to the taxpayers in the state of Ohio. Granted, the additional moneys to be spent may be spent on "entitlement" issues, but where does the money go? Does it go to the inmates in question? No, not a penny of it. It will go as salaries to more employees, to vendors for materials, to contractors and business people on the outside; nothing to the nasty, filthy inmates. The additional money goes back to the freeworld people; to the criminal justice empire. Larger work forces, more lands and buildings, more funding to warehouse and manage unwanted people from the larger communities, even those from victimless crimes such as drug abuses which have been defined as criminal with prison sentences as punishment; something about "war on drugs?" Actually it is "war on drug users."

When I read articles like that, I feel a bit exasperated because I believe the people in general are being misled when the extra funding is postured as "entitlement" money being spent on worthless criminals. It is right in line with all the money spent from indigent client funds in the criminal courts as though the criminal gets any part of that money. It all goes back into the pockets and coffers of the law enforcement system right up through to the legislative body which continues to create more and more statutes defining more and more human behaviors as criminal with penalties of imprisonment as consequences for breaking such laws.

Naturally, there will be those who will argue that these moneys would not have to be spent on crime prevention, criminals and prison systems if not for the criminals themselves making it necessary to do so. My argument is, that all through history you have human behaviors which have been defined as criminal. And because such behaviors have been defined as criminal, you will always have crime. And when you have crime there will always be penalties measured-out to fit those crimes. The more undesirable the crime, the stiffer the penalty for that crime. The theory is that such responses to undesirable behaviors will not only punish the violator, but will further serve to deter further transgressions by the punished and by those who become aware of such punishment. That is all well and good in theory.

The error seems to lay in the folly of trying to end all crime, once and for all. As George Bush would have said, "Not going to happen...." The more rational approach would seem to be one which would keep crime per se at a minimum; to discourage over—reaction by politicians who would continue to "over—legislate" a forced morality on the citizens under its power. The ultimate error seems to come about when people who become defined as criminals, they cease to be "real" human beings any longer; in fact, it is usually suspect if they were ever "real" human beings. It is simpler to see such "fallen" people as scum, misfits.

If you could really see the number of people in our prisons for possession of marijuana or controlled substances, or for domestic violence. Domestic violence sounds terrible when we consider what the media has encouraged us to think. The TV dramas about domestic violence shows us some character who is demonic with the combined characters of Adolf Hitler and Charles Manson who is determined to murder some lovely, innocent, adoring wife because she can never do anything right.

If you can remember past the media hype, you will realize there has always been domestic violence, always undesirable but seldom fatal or even crippling. The classic example for our Western Hemisphere and Civilization might be the "hill billy" marriages. Clem Cadiddlehopper might smack the piss right out of Mae Belle Cadiddlehopper after every weekend drunk fest, and she might dent a skillet over his noggin, but sure as shit, come Sunday, they’d make up and make love. For many such relationships, this could easily become ritual. And there are always variations to the themes, but nearly all would qualify for the label of "domestic violence.

Well, when Mae Belle found out from the boob tube (TV) that she could send Clem to jail for bangin’ her around, she found the telephone receiver easier to pick up than the skillet, plus there was always some "Battered Wife" group willing to help her feel sorry for herself for the black eyes and bruises that ol’ Clem would put on her. Hell, there were even places she could go with the kids that had clean sheets and hot food that were free for "victims." Being a victim ain’t so bad when you get so much attention and sympathy. But...