Vanished

I would remember him for his honesty. I would remember him for his strength, but most of all, I would remember him for his one saying that I can not forget to this day. In the face of calamity, uncertainty, and fear which could occur daily in this prison setting he would say, “we will approach this like fools on the horizon.” I could see him using that philosophy on almost every decision I saw him make on the workings of this prison and how it would be managed under his tutelage. He was not a man who was afraid to make a decision. I had seen many in leadership positions who refused to make the difficult ones. He was not one.

He made several of them on how I would run my program, who would get the produce from the school garden, and how tools would be accounted for. He told me he wasn’t a fan of flowers, and asked that I not landscape anything by the level four housing units. He also asked that I not landscape the walkway leading to the school . He was fearful that my students would be accosted when there was prisoner movement on that walk way. He felt that prisons needed to look like prisons, (all concrete) but that I had carried out the wardens wishes well by landscaping it so abundantly. “Your a good soldier, and teacher,” he would go on to say later. I took it as a compliment coming from him. He had war wounds.

His last decision that effected my program was how prisoner movement would be carried out in the prison. He did not want level four and level two prisoners having direct contact with each other even in just passing. What he proposed and did was make a walk way through the garden next to the school building. I would lose having the only access to the garden in an area that was prohibited by all accept for my students, tutors, and our teachers. Out of Bounds signs were distributed between the walk way and the garden. Later those signs would mean nothing to a jailed population wanting their way, and the produce.

Because the new walkway cut through the garden I was given permission to establish a garden in another restricted space behind one of the housing units. I didn’t move on that immediately. It would take some planning. Now I would have to establish a border between the walk way and the garden. Something that would not be that appealing to be stolen but could have benefits to the community as well. I decided that in the first year the sidewalk was installed we would plant a perimeter of green cover crop along side it. I started with winter rye, used clover and buckwheat. The clover and buckwheat attracted thousands of bees a natural repellant. Anyone trying to access the garden from the side walk and ignoring the signs, would have to take the chance of being stung. It was an effective deterrent. At least, in the first year.

On our Wardens last day of work he stopped by to talk with me. He thanked me for implementing the horticulture program here, and felt I went beyond his expectations. I just thanked him for his support. Without it, the program would not have been successful. I questioned him on if and when our acting Deputy Warden would be promoted. He then confirmed what I thought were just rumors and hearsay. He had informed me that our acting Deputy Warden was an ex-offender and he believed the department would not promote him above an assistant grade level. If that was the case, he believed he would probably just retire as well, and maybe seek litigation. We said our goodbyes, and I really never saw what happened with our acting Deputy Warden. The Deputy Warden he filled in for was back from medical leave, and he never returned to his Assistant Deputy Warden position. He just seemed to vanish. ..Prison Stories To Be Continued..