Canteen talk
Hi, wanted to kinda share a post about canteen, hope it sheds some light about some of the things that go on. Keep in mind this may not be as disturbing as rape, gangs and other violence in prison, but I assure you, to an inmate it means much: Here is a journal about a problem many prisons may have from officers abusing their authority. In prisons there are canteens (kinda like stores) for inmates, where they can purchase the things they need and want. Keep in mind it is called "Inmate Canteen", meaning it is for the inmates. I will grant you that officers should be able to purchase a drink or chips or snack from time to time since they are on the prison grounds, but they have other snack machine for them, not for inmates. However, this gets out of hand when officers start "breaking in line" to get what they want. It is a disrespect to inmates, who can't readily go to the neighborhood store. Anyway, here is a particular situation: Oct 19th- Today is the perfect reason for my pushing the grievance on the canteen privileges. I wrote a second grievance on the fact that staff wasn't honoring the previous ruling. From OCt 4th to Oct 13th, suddenly the rules changed. When I met with Sgt. Spears and Sgt. Faircloth, they told me that the rule (previously ruling that officers could not cut in line of inmate canteens) was taken down Friday (13th) and they were supposed to have a meeting today (Thursday) of which this topic will be discussed. By the way they were explaining it, it seemed like they were trying to pacify me, perhaps to get me to tear up this grievance. But I wasn't about to let them get away with it. When I asked if the results wuld be in the first response, the conversation turned off, as they realized that I wasn't interested in getting my grievance destroyed (which is illegal). We ended the discussion with me not getting my grievance receipt. I'm supposed to get one 3 days after I turn one in. I'm going to ask about it today. The problem with this situation, as I knew it was, was the previous grievance clearly points out that the canteen belongs to the inmates. For officers to blatently break in line shows no respect to the inmates thta have waited patiently for their items. Today, an altercation occurred when CO Mullens cut in line to get canten. It ticked off a lot of guys, and started a shouting in which, as I hear, Mullens said some derogatory remarks about the inmates. In the area was not one, but 3 sergeants; Bond, Dineen and Leigh. How much they heard, saw or what ws told to them I do not know, but I can believe they know enough. The problem is that when an officer abuses his authority for something as little as a drink or a bag of chips, it causes disharmony amongst the inmates. I hear that the officers now claim that they can do it (break in line) because the sign no longer is effective. It makes me upset to see what's going on. It's almost a clear cut case of Tyrrell taking privileges from inmates just to benefit their own officers. Granted, Sgt. Faircloth and Sgt Spears pointed out that an officer can't wait 20 minutes if he/she has other things to do, but the priority of the canteen is FIRST to inmates, not officers. Today, I'm going to ask for my grievance; Heaven help them if they "lost" it. To anyone who has not been in prison, this is an extremely trivial thing; surely this is not important. Yet it is things like this that are so damaging to an inmate's integrity; a clear indication that officers really don't care about them. Not all officers, mind you, but the good ones are rare. Think about this; an inmate waits for their loved ones to send them some money so they can have a few snacks or needed items like razers, shampoo and the like. Because most prisons "pay out" on the same day, the lines are usually very long on payday, and inmates have to wait for a long time to get the things they need. Then an officer walks past 20 guys in line, cuts to the front and takes 5 minutes just to order a Coke and a some "Nabs". If you've every been cut in front of at the grocery store, or know how it is to wait in a long line, they you have some feeling of how these guys feel. It is unfortunate that this happens, but I assure you it is common in most prisons like Tyrrell. It was a situation that never got resolved while I was there, especially since they shipped me out to Sanford not too long after; in fact, only a few weeks later.
Hi, wanted to kinda share a post about canteen, hope it sheds some light about some of the things that go on. Keep in mind this may not be as disturbing as rape, gangs and other violence in prison, but I assure you, to an inmate it means much: Here is a journal about a problem many prisons may have from officers abusing their authority. In prisons there are canteens (kinda like stores) for inmates, where they can purchase the things they need and want. Keep in mind it is called "Inmate Canteen", meaning it is for the inmates. I will grant you that officers should be able to purchase a drink or chips or snack from time to time since they are on the prison grounds, but they have other snack machine for them, not for inmates. However, this gets out of hand when officers start "breaking in line" to get what they want. It is a disrespect to inmates, who can't readily go to the neighborhood store. Anyway, here is a particular situation: Oct 19th- Today is the perfect reason for my pushing the grievance on the canteen privileges. I wrote a second grievance on the fact that staff wasn't honoring the previous ruling. From OCt 4th to Oct 13th, suddenly the rules changed. When I met with Sgt. Spears and Sgt. Faircloth, they told me that the rule (previously ruling that officers could not cut in line of inmate canteens) was taken down Friday (13th) and they were supposed to have a meeting today (Thursday) of which this topic will be discussed. By the way they were explaining it, it seemed like they were trying to pacify me, perhaps to get me to tear up this grievance. But I wasn't about to let them get away with it. When I asked if the results wuld be in the first response, the conversation turned off, as they realized that I wasn't interested in getting my grievance destroyed (which is illegal). We ended the discussion with me not getting my grievance receipt. I'm supposed to get one 3 days after I turn one in. I'm going to ask about it today. The problem with this situation, as I knew it was, was the previous grievance clearly points out that the canteen belongs to the inmates. For officers to blatently break in line shows no respect to the inmates thta have waited patiently for their items. Today, an altercation occurred when CO Mullens cut in line to get canten. It ticked off a lot of guys, and started a shouting in which, as I hear, Mullens said some derogatory remarks about the inmates. In the area was not one, but 3 sergeants; Bond, Dineen and Leigh. How much they heard, saw or what ws told to them I do not know, but I can believe they know enough. The problem is that when an officer abuses his authority for something as little as a drink or a bag of chips, it causes disharmony amongst the inmates. I hear that the officers now claim that they can do it (break in line) because the sign no longer is effective. It makes me upset to see what's going on. It's almost a clear cut case of Tyrrell taking privileges from inmates just to benefit their own officers. Granted, Sgt. Faircloth and Sgt Spears pointed out that an officer can't wait 20 minutes if he/she has other things to do, but the priority of the canteen is FIRST to inmates, not officers. Today, I'm going to ask for my grievance; Heaven help them if they "lost" it. To anyone who has not been in prison, this is an extremely trivial thing; surely this is not important. Yet it is things like this that are so damaging to an inmate's integrity; a clear indication that officers really don't care about them. Not all officers, mind you, but the good ones are rare. Think about this; an inmate waits for their loved ones to send them some money so they can have a few snacks or needed items like razers, shampoo and the like. Because most prisons "pay out" on the same day, the lines are usually very long on payday, and inmates have to wait for a long time to get the things they need. Then an officer walks past 20 guys in line, cuts to the front and takes 5 minutes just to order a Coke and a some "Nabs". If you've every been cut in front of at the grocery store, or know how it is to wait in a long line, they you have some feeling of how these guys feel. It is unfortunate that this happens, but I assure you it is common in most prisons like Tyrrell. It was a situation that never got resolved while I was there, especially since they shipped me out to Sanford not too long after; in fact, only a few weeks later.