Corrections_Today_Fall_2025_Vol.87_No.3

COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLICATIONS

control. But I was reminded inmates also “cared “for those they respected for running a good shift. The su pervisor was beaten and shortly thereafter resigned. The next chapter, which I thought had a good meaning, was Prison in a Prison. I found it interesting that prisoners wear different colors of clothing depending on their classi fication. Death Row prisoners wore red clothes with two or three other colors of clothing. Many institutions do similar things for easy recogni tion. I felt yellow clothing for the protection cases was probably inap propriate. This chapter also talked about smuggling, suicide ideation and the restraint chair. I thought it interesting the author said the institution needed to provide some thing for the errant to keep their mind busy. As it evolves, technology may assist with loneliness, but it also could cause loneliness. Mr. Palmer discussed a suicide attempt, having to cut down the inmate, and begin ning CPR. Regrettably, the young man did not survive, but I thought Mr. Palmer’s reaction would be the reaction most staff would have. One of the last chapters dealt with assaults on staff and inmates. He comments on the three times he had been assaulted. He commented on being able to call the alarm on the radio and the feelings of relief when other staff arrived to assist. He reit erated the reason it was essential to follow policy and procedure. Different worlds Almost a decade later, Mr. Palmer published a second book, More Tales from the Yard. Some chapters

covered or amplified issues he dis cussed in the first book. He talked about dirty staff, solitary life, cell searches. He discussed cell entries in segregation and characters in seg regation. All of this struck a chord. His first chapter, Time, illustrated how prison and the free world were different. He discussed the few min utes of phone time he received with his family, reiterating that this con tact with family was fleeting and a visit would be for a couple of hours if they were scheduled. However, the emphasis was on the time lost by the inmate. This chapter is a list of things inmates need to do. From minding your business to waiting your turn, these snippets of behav ior go a long way toward behavioral expectations. Others included not abusing your phone privileges, not being loud after lights out, not discussing your crime with others and not befriending the guards. As common sense, all of these “laws’ made perfect sense and needed to be written down and given to every in mate. The three behaviors that close the chapter are not discussed: sex, politics, or religion. Those should be careful to mind their own busi ness and a re-emphasis that snitches always get stitches. Many of these informal standards are mentioned in a manner staff could also learn from. The book’s next section was as valuable as the first: staying busy with productive work. Find some thing you want to do that would benefit you and do it. Many times, you will find your action benefits others. Tutoring an English or Math class, taking and later teaching the skill levels it takes to run a small business. And the list could go on

and on. In my orientation, I was always told the offender: No one faults you for not getting at least a high school education on the street, but it would be a shame not to get a high school education while confined. Our policy provided the warden could exempt an individual from attending school because of an intellectual deficiency. Very rarely did I exempt anyone. Of course, you wanted the inmates to remain productive on positive interventions because, as Mr. Palmer reminded us, if they were not busy doing decent things, their behavior quickly took on the flavor of the inappropriate. Dealing with the downsides Mr. Palmer penned a chapter on dirty staff, much more elaborate than the first book. This includes drug trafficking, sex for money, and other types of fraud. A moment about the sex-for-money charges: this book was written in 2024, and there were many sustained PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) cases with a female staff member being the instigator. Sex cases were com plicated as there are no secrets in prison, and unless things were held close to the vest, someone on staff found out about the investigation and generally gossiped about what he or she had heard. This reminded me of the three notorious cases that occurred on my watch. The first involved an Associate Warden who had fallen in love with an inmate. The inmate did not give herself or the paramour up, but every time she was granted a furlough, she would meet the AW in the same motel. After a couple

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