My day in prison
So, today was my field trip to San Quentin State Prison for my hip hop culture class. I have been looking forward to this field trip since I first found out we would be going there and it is the only reason I stayed in this class after having a very negative encounter with the teacher at the beginning of the semester. However, as soon as I got to the prison I started getting a bit more nervous.
First of all there are a ton of rules and restrictions to even get into the prison. You can't wear blue jeans, shorts, red, blue, yellow, orange, offensive/violent t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, etc. Also, all we were allowed to bring in with us were our ID's and car keys. Before we went in we got a briefing. The briefing basically consisted of the following: 1) If there is an alarm then follow my (the guide) instructions to get out of the way of the officers needing to respond to the alarm and you will see the inmates all hit the deck you do not need to hit the deck 2) If you hear gunfire, hit the deck and 3) If you are taken hostage we will not negotiate withthe inamte for your release that is San Quentin policy, we will do all we can do get you released safely but we will not negotiate. So after our briefing we go through the front gates where all of the employees go through and park and everything and walk towards the main entrance to the prison. We line up outside and go in to sign in two by two. Once signed in we get wanded to make sure we don't have anything on us that we shouldn't. Then we get stamped, checked under a uv light and go through the first of four barred metal doors. Once everyone has been "processed" we go through the second door then the third and then through a big heavy steel door into the courtyard inside the prison gates. We go to the chapel which looks just like any normal church would except for the bars on the outside of the windows.
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Then we walk down the corner to the prison yard. We can see from there the four stories of the main prison and all of the excercise yards, etc. From there we go into the gym or what the gaurds call "the zoo". That is the open dormitory setting in which there are currently about 250 men in there (at times up to 700) with only five guards. We were warned ahead of time that since there were a lot of girls in our group we would get in and get out quick because as soon as they guys realize we are there they will get very interested in us. We were in there for only a minute or so and then left and right as we were leaving you could tell the guys were getting very intereted in us. This was probably the scariest part of the entire tour.
After ducking out of the gym we headed up to the kitchen. There were some inmates there working in the kitchen definitely interested in why we were there, but they didn't bug us. In the kitchen our guide, a sgt, showed us how heavy the lid of a food ray was and how an inmate could easily knock someone out with it and to take it further they could file the sides down and make it into a weapon. From there we went into the dining room in which there was a nasty smell that I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but I can imagine it. The most interesting thing to see in the dining hall was the mural on the wall which was done by a prisoner in the 70's and is actually owned by the smithsonian. Its a really cool mural and actually has some elements to it that are optical allusions. There were also some inmates working in the dining hall cleaning up, etc.
After the dining room we went to the east block. We saw where the infirmary is (soon to be moving to the new hospital under contstruction) and we got a glimpse at a cell block, but a quick one because its a bit higher security level. The cell block is huge. There are five tiers and you could see all the guys. They were pretty interested in us. Then we went across the way to South block. There we went up to the fifth tier of the cellblock so we could see how high up it was. It was really high. There was also an inmate who had managed to hide when they went for showers and came back and was walking around in his boxers, pink boxers I might add. Apparently that is a common sight because its hard o get all the inmates locked up after a move from showers, etc. We also got the chance to go inside an occupied cell when they had the occupant leave for a bit.
Then we walked over by the canteen area which is where the inmates can go to buy dry food to have in their cells like top romin and candy and stuff I guess. The canteen is rigt by where death row is. We couldn't go in death row, but our guide told us plenty of stories and stuff about certain death row inmates. A lot of them are too graphic to repeat so I won't tell the stories, but there is one I can share. Apparently Scott Peterson's cell is on the back side of death row which looks out on the bay. Apparently he can see where they found Lacey Petersons body from his window every day. Now, thats irony. After the canteen we went to what our guide called the clean block. This is the mor elong term block where there are a lot of lifers. It is so clean because the inmates clean it. Because they will be there for long periods of time they see it as their home and keep it clean. A huge contrast from the other blocks.
After the clean block we walked up back int othe main courtyard and through the front entrance gates again. Then we went to the gas chamber, which was pretty intense and eerie. That was the last stop then we headed back out to the main gate where the cars come in and that was it.
It was really a lot to take in and I'm still kinda procssing some of it. I'm glad I went it was a really good experience to have and it really made me think about working in a prison as a prison psychologist with my future forensic psychology degree. It gave me a different view on things, but I am still considering working in a prison. I would assume you would eventually get over the intimidation factor of first coming through the main entrance and going through four different locked doors, but at the moment I think that was the most intimidating part.
Oh, and on a completely different note, Shannon is back in the States from Thailand so yay! I went and picked her up in San Fran after the field trip. She is just visiting until Junes unless she finds a job which I hope she does.
First of all there are a ton of rules and restrictions to even get into the prison. You can't wear blue jeans, shorts, red, blue, yellow, orange, offensive/violent t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, etc. Also, all we were allowed to bring in with us were our ID's and car keys. Before we went in we got a briefing. The briefing basically consisted of the following: 1) If there is an alarm then follow my (the guide) instructions to get out of the way of the officers needing to respond to the alarm and you will see the inmates all hit the deck you do not need to hit the deck 2) If you hear gunfire, hit the deck and 3) If you are taken hostage we will not negotiate withthe inamte for your release that is San Quentin policy, we will do all we can do get you released safely but we will not negotiate. So after our briefing we go through the front gates where all of the employees go through and park and everything and walk towards the main entrance to the prison. We line up outside and go in to sign in two by two. Once signed in we get wanded to make sure we don't have anything on us that we shouldn't. Then we get stamped, checked under a uv light and go through the first of four barred metal doors. Once everyone has been "processed" we go through the second door then the third and then through a big heavy steel door into the courtyard inside the prison gates. We go to the chapel which looks just like any normal church would except for the bars on the outside of the windows.
Read More...
Then we walk down the corner to the prison yard. We can see from there the four stories of the main prison and all of the excercise yards, etc. From there we go into the gym or what the gaurds call "the zoo". That is the open dormitory setting in which there are currently about 250 men in there (at times up to 700) with only five guards. We were warned ahead of time that since there were a lot of girls in our group we would get in and get out quick because as soon as they guys realize we are there they will get very interested in us. We were in there for only a minute or so and then left and right as we were leaving you could tell the guys were getting very intereted in us. This was probably the scariest part of the entire tour.
After ducking out of the gym we headed up to the kitchen. There were some inmates there working in the kitchen definitely interested in why we were there, but they didn't bug us. In the kitchen our guide, a sgt, showed us how heavy the lid of a food ray was and how an inmate could easily knock someone out with it and to take it further they could file the sides down and make it into a weapon. From there we went into the dining room in which there was a nasty smell that I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but I can imagine it. The most interesting thing to see in the dining hall was the mural on the wall which was done by a prisoner in the 70's and is actually owned by the smithsonian. Its a really cool mural and actually has some elements to it that are optical allusions. There were also some inmates working in the dining hall cleaning up, etc.
After the dining room we went to the east block. We saw where the infirmary is (soon to be moving to the new hospital under contstruction) and we got a glimpse at a cell block, but a quick one because its a bit higher security level. The cell block is huge. There are five tiers and you could see all the guys. They were pretty interested in us. Then we went across the way to South block. There we went up to the fifth tier of the cellblock so we could see how high up it was. It was really high. There was also an inmate who had managed to hide when they went for showers and came back and was walking around in his boxers, pink boxers I might add. Apparently that is a common sight because its hard o get all the inmates locked up after a move from showers, etc. We also got the chance to go inside an occupied cell when they had the occupant leave for a bit.
Then we walked over by the canteen area which is where the inmates can go to buy dry food to have in their cells like top romin and candy and stuff I guess. The canteen is rigt by where death row is. We couldn't go in death row, but our guide told us plenty of stories and stuff about certain death row inmates. A lot of them are too graphic to repeat so I won't tell the stories, but there is one I can share. Apparently Scott Peterson's cell is on the back side of death row which looks out on the bay. Apparently he can see where they found Lacey Petersons body from his window every day. Now, thats irony. After the canteen we went to what our guide called the clean block. This is the mor elong term block where there are a lot of lifers. It is so clean because the inmates clean it. Because they will be there for long periods of time they see it as their home and keep it clean. A huge contrast from the other blocks.
After the clean block we walked up back int othe main courtyard and through the front entrance gates again. Then we went to the gas chamber, which was pretty intense and eerie. That was the last stop then we headed back out to the main gate where the cars come in and that was it.
It was really a lot to take in and I'm still kinda procssing some of it. I'm glad I went it was a really good experience to have and it really made me think about working in a prison as a prison psychologist with my future forensic psychology degree. It gave me a different view on things, but I am still considering working in a prison. I would assume you would eventually get over the intimidation factor of first coming through the main entrance and going through four different locked doors, but at the moment I think that was the most intimidating part.
Oh, and on a completely different note, Shannon is back in the States from Thailand so yay! I went and picked her up in San Fran after the field trip. She is just visiting until Junes unless she finds a job which I hope she does.