This week at the halfway house has been Crazy!!!!
My goal was to lay low at the halfway house in Fresno (I guess as soon as I learned I wouldn’t be here long I thought I should spend more time catching up on what I missed out in the free world and less time figuring this place out). But c’mon, this place, the people, are absolutely fascinating. How can I possibly resist? I knew once I started getting involved here the stories about this place would come out. I figured inmates getting busted at a frequent pace here would be the houses most fascinating highlight. Ha…nope.
As I mentioned last week, I began working with some of the inmates on whatever they needed (mostly trying to improve their legal situation). I don’t want anyone to be impressed…. inmates’ options are limited…I have been very clear I am NOT an attorney, I’m just a guy who likes to argue when I can win (and I love helping people for the right reasons…especially anything BOP related).
So, like most places there are people here with more pull than others. Here at the Fresno halfway house, there is one inmate who clearly runs this place (at least on our side). He’s actually super cool (a bit scary) …. we didn’t speak the first couple of weeks but then connected watching football when he listened to me bad mouth my own favorite team (I’m a legendary bad fan and a totally different person watching sports…. family/friends can attest to this…. Patrick Mahomes, arguably one of the best QB’s in football, would have been traded multiple times after questionable plays if I was in charge…like I said I’m a terrible fan). So anyway, we got to know each other and we talked at some length about our rights as prisoners.
So fast forward to this week and I get called on the loudspeaker to come to the office.
It’s during the weekly drug tests (which I had already tested) …so I’m thinking what could they possibly need. I get there and most of the staff is there with our inmate leader in the center of the room standing around in a very defiant posture. Ha…this should be good!!! Staff tells me that the inmate has refused to do his UI test until an issue is decided. I say “Ok, what does this have to do with me?” Staff informs me that they have been told I’m somewhat of an expert on the BOP rules. I respond “NO, NO I am not…. I have given general advice on certain subjects…ha…. that’s it…anyway… how can I help?”
Here’s the question I get…. please be mindful I am not trying to offend anyone I’m just telling you exactly what happened. The inmate refused to take the drug test because the staff administering it is known to be gay. WHAT???? Does the inmate have the right. to refuse the test because the staff member is gay? How am I supposed to field that one. Piss off staff or piss off the inmates. So, here’s the best part I am fairly certain staff didn’t know the answer to this scenario so I honestly think they wanted my take. So, with kid gloves I gave the following answer.
“I do believe every effort should be made to make sure EVERYONE is comfortable in these situations, however legally a person’s sexual orientation does not impact their ability to perform their duties, including tasks like administering a drug test. As long as the person is professional their sexual orientation should not be the issue (objectively, being in CA makes my response all the more relevant).”
Now I have no idea what the answer is here (I still don’t know). I think I’m right. but who knows. But what a situation to walk into. It had a rather funny ending with the inmate basically admitting he did this just to see what would happen. He took his test and surprisingly everyone laughed it off. He’s the type of guy who has the charm to pull something like this off. Also, I think staff is afraid of him.
Craziest thing I have seen or heard @ Leavenworth (or the Fresno half way house).
Now what could have happened that is crazier than the story I just told? Well, I said this place is crazy so here goes. So just a reminder…. this place is Coed. Obviously sexual relationships are strictly prohibited. But what if you have a relationship without the sexual component.
Can the BOP/halfway house stop that? (I would have said YES…they can do anything they want…. but I may be wrong here). Two inmates here have been “hanging out,” for months and without physical contact. They decided they had something special. The staff found out about (what we all knew) a romance budding between 2 of the inmates. But here’s the kicker they can’t prove either inmate broke the rules. There are cameras EVERYWHERE here….and nothing inappropriate was seen/recorded (and staff reviewed the vids). No physical contact. Now some people will wonder how can two people claim they are in a relationship without being intimate…. fair question. But after you spend some time in prison a new bar is set for what you decide is possible.
But here’s the additional twist. The reason staff knows about the romance is another inmate went and told them. Knowing for certain someone snitched is a big deal…. also, we are not at a camp anymore. There are people here from all institutional levels (including the NorCal head of the NLR - Nazi low riders). So, an all-inmate meeting was called and it was made abundantly clear whoever divulged this information is in trouble.
But there’s more. He tells everyone (including staff) he and this now ex Halfway Houser are engaged and that nobody can stop them. Bold move. But so far staff has reluctantly stated they don’t see an issue since the rule really only states “there can be no physical contact.” Confusing but interesting.
I had never heard of the gang NLR until I got here. “The NLR is the fastest growing prison gang in California. The tenets of the gang are rooted in white supremacy. The NLR was formed within a correctional institution. Membership has grown out of necessity and popularity, absorbing other white gangs, generically called Peckerwoods, into the ranks.”
The Fresno halfway house has a disproportionate number of gang members (especially NLR, 13th street gang, & 38th street gang - crips).
Smoking. I am one of 3 people here who don’t smoke (I counted). The entire staff smokes. Most of the jobs here that are required (as your house duty) for inmates are cleaning up the cigarettes. We have like 15 metal buckets around the compound and all are used as ashtrays. They are dumped every 3 hours. I’m going to start selling cartons here. Make a killing. With how boring this place is I actually get it.
The other big drama event happened with the cook and another inmate. I tell this story just to show how easy things can go sideways. Our cook is super nice but he kind of overestimates his power as a staff member to avoid issues. We have a laundry room (more like a hole in wall where machines are). There are 5 washers (only 2 work) and 4 dryers (again only 2 work). So, it’s pretty packed during the day. The cook needs to clean the rags/towels the kitchen uses and rather than use staff washer/dryer’s he uses the inmate ones (but it makes sense since the inmate laundry room is right next to the kitchen…its lazy but it’s also convenient). So, he gets impatient waiting for empty washers so he will stop other people’s laundry and stick the rags in with others inmate’s stuff. You can see where this is heading. He was bound to piss the wrong person off. Surprised he got away with as long as he did. Well, he did piss the wrong person off and things escalated quickly. At first the inmate thought another inmate switched out the laundry…. but when the inmate learned it was the cook…he went off. Let me say this…. people here are not as worried about getting in trouble. He confronted the cook in front of everyone and eventually made him take out his rags…. rewash the inmate’s stuff and fold it. He also made him apologize to all the inmates for months of “inconsiderate behavior.” (There was more). It was actually pretty embarrassing but I think if the cook hadn’t done everything something would have gone down.
I made it home. The whole process for leaving the halfway house was pretty mellow (only signed 2 documents). Which was very Un-BOPish and made me wonder. My suspicions were confirmed when I made it to the Sacramento center and they had no idea I was coming. NO IDEA!!!! Love it.
I was told in initial intake that the only reason I was allowed to go home, the first night, is the person at the front desk recognized my father from his home visit (he happened to be the one who checked out my parent’s place so he knew there must be paperwork somewhere….and/or he felt bad, which is rare). So otherwise, we would have had to turn around and go back to Fresno and await whatever paperwork was missing. (Sacramento to Fresno 190 miles one way).
I did get fitted for an ankle monitor that 1st day (which is not small…. hell, an I-watch tracks where you are…you would think we could do better). These things are next to indestructible…. you just can’t submerse it in water (you can shower though…. I remember seeing in the movies/TV you have to wrap it up so it doesn’t get wet…. not true). Don’t break it…. It’s 4K if you do that and they will bill you (which they make you very aware of)
There are a ton of rules I will get into next week as I learn them all. It gets old complaining about the BOP (there is literally nothing you can do about it…so why bother…also constantly complaining about it focuses you on the wrong things). But let me say this…. I know people find a way to get things done when options are limited. People are resourceful (especially inmates). But I seriously wonder how people make it through this process without some money and a PATIENT support network. Fresno was just under 4 hours from my house in Sac (that’s ridiculous). The Sacramento center is about an hour away (varies with traffic) from my folk’s place. The RDAP treatment center is 45/50 minutes away in a different direction. So, it’s not like my folk’s place is just inconveniently located. How are people supposed to get to these places? Best case scenario (in CA) it takes 2 weeks to get approved to drive your own car (this is new). So, for 3/4 days a week (for about a month) someone has to drive you (wait hours for you to complete whatever) and drive you back. I could Uber there but that’s over 100 buck’s roundtrip every time. You could take the bus but that would mean leaving 3/4 hours early to make sure you get there on time & don’t get in trouble (you are not allowed to be one minute late without possible penalties….it may slide a couple times but they expect you to leave as early as it takes). That’s asking a lot from people. Now I’m lucky my family & friends can help…. but I still feel terrible….my folks have to drive me around (and put up with this whole colossal fuk up on my part) …. I have leaned on friends to hire me (don’t get me wrong I’m a rockstar when I’m sober) but that’s still a big ask. That’s on top of the not so little request to forgive me for this whole debacle.
So, what’s my point? At this point of the process the BOP beats into you they are here to help you reintegrate back into society. I wonder if they understand my biggest problem reintegrating back into society is dealing with them (and how amazingly complicated they make everything). The best part…. the ABSOLUTE BEST part….is if I was given the FSA, I earned I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this, I would be done with my incarceration - I would be on supervised release (except the 2-1/2 hours of RDAP a week). So, I wait to hear back from ANY of the 3 BP’s I filed. My FSA will kick in at some point…ha…. too bad it won’t help me. It’s like having to take an extra semester of school because the university didn’t bother…wasn’t in a hurry…. (or couldn’t figure out) how to give you the credit.
I can think of no other area in society where this would be tolerated.
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