Karma

I passed the examination and was now the official GED Proctor at our prison school. Our new principal made sure that I had all of the support I needed to make it successful. We went over how the exams were to be administered, how often they were to be given, and the security needed to protect them from being stolen. They would be kept in a safe in her office, and only her and I would have the combination. There was a certain combinations of stops and starts that would always mix me up, and it would take me awhile to get it right to open. It was a gun safe but had been converted to our new GED Test safe. Our staff Lock Smith new how the combination was to be entered but he didn’t know the numbers. I would call him often in the beginning to get it right. He was always helpful and would just say, ” how long have you been teaching?” My reply was always, “obviously too long.”

We had a staff meeting which included all of our teachers, our secretaries, and the school officers. Our principal was very thorough on what was expected by everyone involved in this process. They all played a key role in the success of our program. The school officers were instructed to shake the prisoners down (frisk them) before they entered the exam room. They had to be dressed in their state blues (prison uniform) and were to be sent back if they were not. The prisoners could not take anything in with them, including jewelry and watches. The officers would enforce the rules of testing. They would also make regular rounds, and observe the testing process. If they felt anything was not right, they would address it with me, and if need be I would have the issue corrected if it needed to be. The school principal also wanted the officers to report any issues to her. She stayed totally connected. I had heard she was very thorough, and she demonstrated it in this meeting.

Her final instructions were to the academic teachers. They were in no way to enter the testing area, under any circumstances. It just wasn’t permitted by the GED testing service, and we could lose our license to give the exams if it was reported they were in the room while the exams were being given. The school officers had an open channel to our school principal and the warden if they felt the exam process had been compromised. A suspected serious compromise could shut the testing down until it was resolved. The prisons emergency response system was also addressed by her. In the event the system was activated while testing, a protocol was established that I had to implement, and secure the exams. The school officers would help in the process of securing the exams.

Before the meeting ended our school principal announced that all the GED testing was halted at our upper peninsula prison schools. The officers found answers to the exams in Mr. Dandy’s school. I couldn’t help but smile. I thought of my old boss Jesse and how he felt about Mr. Dandy. She shook her head and said with a smirk, ” A good guess, he’s no longer the apple of their eye.!” I thought, just like the MDOC, to go from hero to zero in a heart beat. Full circle karma for him…. Prison Stories To Be Continued..

The truth matters. Thank you Mosab Yousef.