After my two new tutors tested positive for opiates, the school principal had asked our warden to conduct a search in the greenhouse and my classroom. My students would not be allowed back into the classroom or greenhouse until the search was completed. The school principal wanted to make sure nothing was being hidden in my classroom or greenhouse and had requested the warden to have the State Police bring in drug detecting dogs to scour both areas. Our principal had all the students removed from the school. We went into our conference room for a staff meeting with our warden and then our school principal asked that every room in the school be searched using the dogs as well. It was an interesting day. The dogs actually found one marihuana seed wrapped in cellophane thrown into a trash can. I was impressed. Our warden informed us that he felt the marihuana seed was a setup perpetuated by a disgruntled worker I had fired earlier in the year. The worker had access to the area it was found in. The ex-worker was then transferred to another facility. No other drugs were found in the school or greenhouse. The gardens were also checked and the dogs found nothing there as well.
Our warden informed us that the dogs would be used routinely to search out contraband and cautioned us to be alert. This was all new to me. I felt that we were all suspect, and rightly so. The prison staff were all possible contraband vectors. This was the reality right up to my retirement 25 years later. The prisoners would, could and did find mules to bring them whatever they wanted on a regular basis. This was a dangerous game and staff fell victim to it as well as visitors. I could not understand this, but it was an inherent part of doing business in the prison. I was ever cognizant of what was going on around me, and questioned if I was being distracted purposefully so as not to see what was happening elsewhere. It lead me to arrange my classroom so that my desk was in the back of the room, and my students’ desks were facing the front of the classroom. It was much easier for me not to be distracted having a view of them at all times as well as the hallway. I could respond quickly to any interruptions this way. It worked for me while class was in session but when class was over and students exited into the hallway it was much more difficult to monitor.
I was told later in the month that one of the tutors who had tested positive for opiates was released from prison after winning his freedom on an appeal. He had been incarcerated for over 25 years. A month later I was informed by one of his friends that he died of an opiate overdose. Unfortunately, this would not be the last time I would hear of opiate overdoses and deaths. The “opiate crisis” would wreak havoc in communities across the United States affecting friends and families of many citizens including those returning to their communities from prison. The Narcan pen had not been developed yet, and overdosing was very common. What I began seeing in the prison with opiates was the same thing I saw when “crack cocaine” hit the streets in the neighborhoods around the medical centers I worked. Crack cocaine junkies became scrappers and began to take apart their communities one house at a time to get the money needed for their crack habits. Gangs wreaked havoc in communities as they fought for control of this very lucrative trade. Fire bombings and drive by shootings were the methods employed for intimidation and control. The prison was a microcosm of those communities. Stabbings and beat downs were the methods used to settle territory disputes. This is real!
To Be Continued…
Isaiah 25:6-9
MJ-Way 