DannyBoyinExile

I’ve had some pretty cool jobs since I’ve been on the Wynne Unit. I suppose being an SSI is the one that suits me best. SSI stands for Support Services Inmate – which is basically a fancy way of saying “janitor”. When I was a kid, making fun of the janitor who cleaned up after us at school, the last thing I’d have wanted to be when I grew up was a janitor! Yet here I am.
I used to work in the main hallway here (for two and a half years!), which was cool – but I got fired. Then I worked in the kitchen, assigned to the utility squad – and basically did the same sort of things I did in the hallway. I did all the detail work that makes us look good during inspections – and quite a lot of it! – but I was fired.
Now I’m an SSI/janitor in the mattress factory, where they make (you guessed it!) mattresses. I haven’t been fired yet – but I’m still hoping! just kidding
I do all the detail work I’ve grown famous for. I regularly check out an air hose and wand, to blow down the dust, cotton fibers, and cobwebs from the ceiling. I take apart and clean all the fans. (All 10,000 of them, it seems like!) I’ve cleaned all the windows along the front and back walls. In other words, I’m more of a Special Forces SSI than someone who just sweeps and mops the floors.
I even paint everything that needs painting there! I painted a “shadow wall” with the outline of each tool and piece of equipment we use (such as brooms, mops, shovels, scrub brushes, dustpans, etc.), so that everything has a place, and we can see when anything is missing.
I painted yellow hazard lines around all the hazardous machinery and equipment. It’s debatable how effective they are at preventing accidents – because people couldn’t even avoid stepping on them when the paint was wet and the lines were roped off! But we tried.
I even painted about a million squares for the inmates to stand on during count time, to make the process more orderly and (hopefully) quick.
Some people hate to see anyone doing any more work than they absolutely have to, but I don’t mind. We live here, so I want things to be as neat and clean as possible. Not to mention that prison is what you make it. So I try to make the best of the situation, as that’s always preferable to making it worse. That’s the one thing that I can still control in here. So says DannyBoy.