A Day In The Life

Have You No Decency?

I was sick. I didn't want to admit it, but I was so sick. Yet, there I was, at work. Dumb, I know. I was sitting in the control center with another officer. I felt worse for him. I way praying that he didn't catch whatever it was I had. He had a couple of small daughters and a pregnant wife to go home to. So I disinfected the place three of four times. And I tried to stay away from him the best I could.

In control there is a lot of stuff going on. Staff and inmates coming and going. We control the doors and make announcements. We control the equipment. On weekends, we allow visitors in and out. It was a Saturday, so this is what I was doing. I was letting visitors through and watching the cameras.

A visitor lady came through and her outfit was a little questionable. It was a yellow dress. It was very pretty and it looked lovely on her. It was not low cut and really, it looked like a dress she might wear to church on Sunday. However, it was a little bit more north of the knee than it should have been. She had a couple of kids with her, one boy and one girl ad they looked to be between 7 and 9. I was sick and she didn't look too bad so I let it go.

I was sitting watching the camera. I noticed the same lady sitting in the visiting room across from her inmate. The inmate was holding the boy and kind of curling him up to his chest making him laugh. The little girl was at the vending machine. There was something odd about the way the lady kept fidgeting in her lap. A lot of contraband comes in through visiting. I motion to my partner to take a look with me.

He adjusts the camera so we can she what she is doing. No contraband, but every time the inmate curls the boy to his chest, the lady spreads her legs. And that's when we realize she isn't wearing any panties.

No way.

He calls the visiting room officers and asks them if they see what we see.

They do.

As we watch, the inmate puts down the little boy and the little girl comes back. The lady has pulled her skirt way down and closed her legs. She says something to the girl and gives her a little bag of change. The two children run off to the vending machines.

The lady hikes her skirt all the way up and starts touching herself. Seriously. She really did it. We got it on camera.

I was sick and livid. There were kids in there, two of them hers. I get on the phone and ask the visiting room crew to make it stop. One of the officers goes over there. As soon as she sees him coming she stops and pulls her skirt down. The visiting crew was all men and they didn't want to tell the lady what we saw. The inmate could have accused them of looking at his girlfriend/wife the wrong way. He could get violent. The lady could start claiming harassment. They needed a female touch.

So I decided to go have a few words with her myself.

I marched myself right to the visiting room. The visiting guys had already removed the inmate and had him waiting in the back. I walked right up to the lady and asked her to join me in a private room. I told her I saw what she was doing. She said she wasn't doing anything. I told her not to mess with me, I saw and I knew and I was not about to tolerate it. She said she was just adjusting her dress as it was riding up a little. I again, told her no, I saw her on camera. I saw her lift her skirt and give her inmate a nice peep show. I told her that I would be reporting this to my supervisor. I told her I couldn't believe she would do that with kids in the room, including hers. I was so mad.

I walked to the back room to have a few words with the inmate. I walked in there and just glared at him. The nerve of some people. I tell him I saw what they were doing. He starts to deny it, but I cut him off and tell him not to bother. I tell him he disgusts me. He breaks down and admits to it. He says he is so sorry and he has a long sentence and he was just getting a little thrill.

I go and talk to the lieutenant and he says as long as they don't do it again, they can go back to their visit. I went back to control.

They didn't do it again.

The next day, I stayed home. I tried to work the day after that, but they sent me home. So I stayed home the day after that too.