Psalm 139: 23-24
I don’t know where he thought he was. He was in the middle of our garden just picking everything he could get his hands on and stuffing them inside his state issued prison uniform. The out of bounds signs didn’t register with him, the orange snow fencing that separated the walkway from the garden didn’t stop him and when I began to question him, he bolted back to the housing unit. However, he was met by two officers who stopped him as I was following right behind him. He was asked to produce identification by the officers and he claimed he left it in his room and wanted to go get it. “Not so fast slick, ” the officers stopped him from leaving and then found the unit manager who identified the inmate. Not having his Identification was an issue. The officers asked him to remove his jacket. When he unzipped it about twelve large bell peppers fell out of the front of it. “Oh boy look at that,” one of the officers exclaimed. I was asked if he was my student and I informed them he was not. I informed them that I saw him in the garden and when I began to question him, he bolted.
“Not good,” they exclaimed. They directed him to remove his coat, and when he did, about thirty wax peppers fell to the ground out of his sleeves. The officers shook their heads. “looks like you are going into the vegetable selling business here Mr. B, but these aren’t yours to sell.” They then directed him to empty his pants pockets, and one of the officers examined his coat. “Interesting'” the officer exclaimed. “This coat has sown in pockets through both sleeves, the back and front of it.” I was later told what the ramifications of that was. The inmate was then asked by the officers if he had removed everything from his pants pockets and he informed them he had. There were over 100 cherry tomatoes now laying on the ground. The officers began their frisk and they stopped immediately. “what’s this under your shirt tucked into your waist ban, ” they asked? I immediately thought it was a weapon and I was shocked to see him remove a watermelon. The officers couldn’t stop laughing. I wasn’t smiling, and neither was the thief.
The officers asked him one more time, “is this everything?” He reluctantly informed them that his pants have the same pockets sown into them as his jacket did and they were full of cucumbers. They weren’t going to strip search him here. Instead they handcuffed him and lead him to our segregation unit. They said they would get back with me and I directed my tutors to pick up the stolen produce. I had them put it all out on the tables in the greenhouse. When the officers brought me the rest of the stolen produce it was all photographed as evidence. I would write a theft ticket, as well as, and an out of place ticket for him being in the garden. I didn’t quite understand why he had to steal. I was sharing our garden produce with the prisoner chow hall and they were all getting fresh vegetables. My tutors informed me he had a serious drug problem and was using the produce to pay his bills. Drug addiction in prison was not a good thing, The officers brought us another five gallon pale of cucumbers. He must have a hell of a habit to steal this much, I thought.
Once my tutors left, the officers informed me that the clothes were altered not for stealing but for escaping. The prisoner could stuff that altered uniform with what ever he could find and make an attempt to climb over the consertina wired fences. That was probably on his agenda as well. Today that would not be the case for him. He would receive the tickets I had written him, along with the photographed evidence, and he would stay in the segregation unit. After his hearing on the tickets I had written, he would eventually be transferred to a higher security prison. I had made a note to suggest he be drug tested and I don’t know if that was acted on. I do know that he would not be the first inmate to steal produce from the garden, and he wouldn’t be the last. The garden was just too inviting, and hard to stay away from when the produce was ripening for unrepentant thieves. I informed our school principal that I was going to start writing attempted escape tickets when catching inmates stealing from the garden. I would say they were picking up provisions on the way to the fences. He laughed. He didn’t think that would fly with the prison administration. However, he didn’t tell me not to and I decided that if I caught another inmate stealing from our garden, that’s what I would do.
To BE CONTINUED…
War Criminal not getting what he wanted Slava Ukraini Glory to the heroes
MJ-Way 