DannyBoyinExile

Long before I got my job on B wing, I LIVED there, back when it was High Security. I’ve come a long way since then – and so has B wing. All of the G5 inmates have been shipped off to other units, and it is now a “transit” wing, where people only stop here for a day or two before being transferred to the units they’ll be permanently assigned to. You may think B wing would be a lot calmer now that most of the troublemakers are gone – but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
When I worked in the hallway, the strangest thing I encountered was probably when I was called to clean up a pile of dog poop, from where a drug dog shit (or is it shat?) in the hall. I hadn’t worked B wing a week before I was summoned to clean up a pile of HUMAN feces! What made it more strange was that the culprit was on “CDO” (suicide watch), so he was naked, in a completely empty cell. In other words, he had to scoop it up with his BARE HANDS, to try and throw it on the guard he was mad at!
You may be thinking, “Who hasn’t done that?” haha (Well, I haven’t!) But I did my best to keep a good attitude while I cleaned it up. And I DID get it cleaned up, right away, because I didn’t want to smell it any more than anyone else did!
Every day I see some sort of disturbances, shenanigans, and plain old temper tantrums. All of our residents may be transients now, who are only passing through – but some of them are still G4, G5, or Ad-Seg status. We even have the occasional transgender inmates from protective custody, who will act out as much as the others – even if it isn’t very ladylike…
I try my best not to get into unnecessary disputes with them – but I do that at all times – even in population. When they flood the runs, start fires, or throw their bodily fluids on the run – I just clean it up, without taking it personally. (Though I’m always relieved that it wasn’t ME they were throwing it at!).
Some days are more chaotic than others, and some days are downright calm – at least, “calm” for a place like this. But I realize that like all of life, it’s what you make it. So I try to be the same every day, regardless of my surroundings. I’ve even decided that it’s not such a bad place to work, after all. (I just hope that doesn’t mean that I’ve gone crazy, too!).
Rather than absorbing my environment, and letting it rub off on me, it feels better to stand out as someone who is different – even when the proverbial shit hits the fan. People may say that “if you can’t beat them, join them” – but that DOESN’T apply to B wing. So says DannyBoy.