When i heard that i would be shipping out of Colorado to the ends of the earth after finally becoming used of the environment that i had been placed in it was shock to the senses. i took the last test of my AutoCad program and received the second diploma that they had offered, unfortunately i wouldn’t be able to continue my education in the then latest updated version of AutoCad and my schooling ended. my only hope was that my next spot would offer a course just as entertaining as well as useful.
the institution went on lockdown as we were all redesignated to our knew unknown destination. during the month prior guys were being shipped out to RDAP and Life Connections programs but no-one knew where we were going to be sent as it looked to be a mass movement of 90 percent of the prison population leaving at one time. the reason being that Englewood was being changed from a medium to a low security and i was along with many others didn’t have the points to stay.
we were kept in our cells and the anticipation of being moved had everyone on edge, excited and worried because a lot of people in Colorado were special cases that wouldn’t be welcome on some yard were the politics reigned supreme. i was actually one of them but i didn’t have any overall fear and i knew most of my new homies were going to be sent to the same spot and we all agreed to keep our politics alive when we got to the next yard. most were of the same mind but we did have dissidents who thought that getting to another place with different view on how to do time were thinking of using this as a reason to form clicks and get rid of unhonorable inmates, as if there is such a thing.
so on the day before we were moved we were given two large black trash bags in which to put or personal property and told to put them in giant bins as we were sent en masse to R and D to be stripped down searched and redressed in bus clothes. R and D wasn’t large enough to accommodate us so they put us in the visiting area with temporary partitions where we were declothed and inspected like cattle before being handcuffed and shackled, then put on a bus. there were fourteen buses in the parkinglot and each was loaded to full capacity two men to a seat. after that our journey began.
after 18 hours of non stop driving we pulled into the garage of Oklahoma City transit center. we all thought we were going into the building to be processed and get to sleep after being on such a long ride. we stepped off the bus and lined up. the cops inspected the cuffs and shackles to make sure they didn’t come loose while the bus an empty bus in front of us was being swept of all the used sack lunches from the previous occupants. then we were each given two sack lunches and marched onto the cleaned out bus. we pulled back out of the garage and resumed the journey to where ever.
16 hours later after i awoke i looked around to see another day beginning as we drove through down town Dallas Texas and continue south east of the city. my eyes stung with sweat that i was unable to rinse out as i rubbed them uselessly in attempt at relief. we kept driving and i was starting to think they were going to drop us off in the gulf of Mexico. that was closer to the truth then i ever realized.
the backwood swampy area we ended up driving through was ominous as the last hurricane had completely wrecked the landscape. trees stuck out of the roofs of houses and convenience stores alike. we could see alligators and such meandering on the edge of the road. hurricane Rita was her name and as i was to find out one of common occurances this far south in Texas this time of the year which was early october. as we neared our destination one of the inmates began to hysterically narrate his fear that we were going to one of the worst prisons in the system known as Bloody Beaumont and it would be best if we all asked to go to the SHU as soon as we got there if we wanted to live. not a good outlook to have.
we pulled into the parking lot of the facility that was surrounded by a forty foot wall and almost a dozen towers. the gigantic door that seperated the inner area from the outside world slowly slid open and the guy started to break down saying we were all going to die if we tried to walk the compound even if we had good paper work which most of us didn’t. when the bus doors opened the late summer heat blasted us as we got off and walked into R and D.
the guy who was losing asked to talk to the lieutenant and we never saw him again as he opted to be put in the SHU rather than take his chances on one of the most violent prisons in the nation. as we walked to our building in our Bob Barker shoes carrying bed rolls we could see faces looking out of the cell room windows. i could recognize none of the faces but could see that the inmates of the Texas USP did not look happy to see us invading their territory. the unit we were came into was empty and the cop said half the prison was empty because they emergency evacuated the lower cells because the last hurricane flooded the lower dorms. the whole unit was covered in black mold and stank of like a swamp. i could tell this was going to be interesting.
we were marched into the building and immediately one of my native homies claimed a T.V. for us and a table in the day room. this would later cause slight trouble for us as the Colorado boys that came in the next group from Rand D tried to claim the same T.V. but this was not Colorado and they didn’t have any back up like they did in Englewood. this was new territory and they would have to fight to get what they wanted. this time it was against the Natives and we not only had numbers in the unit but we were some pretty big boys who i can say actually knew how to scrap and none of us were afraid, plus it would be a welcome chance to let out some built up aggression after the long bus ride and being shackled for 34 hours. they capitulated and let us keep the T.V. with no trouble.
after chow the next day we were kept on lockdown in the units. after dinner they let us go to the recreation which was divided into three yards by fences. north yard which had a soft ball back stop and cement track bordered by the commissary, laundry, and unicor facility. center yard which also had a soft ball yard but had a squat tower on the northern most section. and inside recreation area which had two basket ball courts, handball courts positioned against the 40 foot wall and a volley ball pit. this was all connected to the inside recreation area that had the check out exercise equipment, guitars, paint area, leather shop. and it also had several small rooms for using the projector machine to for tracing. you could also check out dungedungeonsdragons books with all the little game pieces and dice sets.
our first day out we were on the center yard and the USP inmates were on the north yard. we met the natives on the fence that seperseparatedeeing that they only had about eight in number compared to us from Colorado which numbered about eighty. they at first welcomed us with open arms and we didn’t know at the time but over half of them had just got out of the SHU form previously being checked in by inmates who were later shipped off during the hurricane. afterwards when they started to get close to the one they could easily manipulate to their way of thinking our unity as a group began to fall apart, but this happened later.
i noticed a commotion from the left of us and saw a group of illegal mexiMexicansing to talk to the Hispanicsthe other side of the fence who stood about ten feet away never getting closer. the guys on the other side were yelling out for all of them to go to the SHU or they would be killed when they opened up the yard. the illegals didn’t want no trouble. but they were adamant. turns out that the BOP administration had placed these illegal immigrants who call themselves Paisa’s and the gang Sureno on a yard with a few gangs that were enemies with them historically. these gangs were the Texas Syndicate, Nortanos, as well as a Mexican Mafia that had allied themselves with the two former gangs so they had to abide by the decision to not allow them to walk the yard when nomarly they would have. why the BOP thought this was a good idea is beyond me because i knew there would be blood shed.
three weeks went by before the administration opened up the prison so inmates from all the units could mingle. the night before all the surenos went to the SHU. on the first day out three paisa inmates were stabbed and we went on lock down until the next morning at which time during the breakfast meal three more paisa inmates were stabbed and two were beaten on the yard prompting another lockdown of the facility unti the next morning. at which during the recreationmove after the noon meal more paisa inmates were again stabbed as the gang members were trying to rid the entire yard of them. the administration finally took notice what was happening and initiated a longer lockdown that lasted three months. during the first month they put all the paisa inmated and the three gangs into one unit and had the shot callers of each group meet each other every friday in an attempt to rectify their differences. the answer was the same, that all the illegal immigrants needed to leave or there would be blood shed until there were no more to stab. so the second and third month the BOP officials began transferring all the gang members out of the USP until they were all gone and the paisa inmates could safely walk the yard.
during these three months i was put into the food services department to work. this is were i learned the ins and outs of organization between inmates so that we could steal all the food we could get our hands on without getting caught. the high security inmates were already pretty good at it and us new guys picked up the routine easily. that is until the paisa inmates were re-introduced back into population. when they came they did respect the fact that there has to be order to how you get things out the kitchen so as to not get caught and they didnt respect peoples hiding spots by stealing from other inmates causing fights. this alone caused the most tension and there was even talk of the whole yard getting together and running them off just so the kitchen could run smoother and we could provide the inmates who were buying everything from us with the vegetables and meats they needed to cook in the unit. unfortunately the paisa inmates started to inform on all the guys who were telling them how to do things to prevent them from putting the spot light on all of us. they felt they didnt need anyone telling them what to do and they now had the idea that the administration would protect them like they did against the gangs who tried to get rid of all of them. thats when i learned that you cannot win against someone who is using the cops as a weapon and a shield when you yourself will not. through them alone the correctional officers reclaimed control over the yard as long as they were informing on all the illegal activity that the paisa inmates were not in on. they were using them as a weapon.
but i had my won problems during all this time because the native inmates who were already at the USP were getting it into the heads of the ones that came with us to run all the natives with “bad paperwork” off the yard even though secretly they were messed up themselves. so when the AIM group leaders heard about this a war counsel was organized and we started preparing to go to to war with the other group secretly. a plan was formed to seek and destroy these guys on a certain day and hour. but the plan never came to fruition because the one of the AIM group members infromed the SIS department on our intentions along with who, what, why, everything was going down, without telling us he did so. so the institution was put on lockdown and all the natives were called to the captains office one by one to be questioned of their feelings toward a certaintype of inmate and whether or not they cared to share the yard with them. eighty inmates went for interviews and only eighteen came back out with a messege. this was going to be a yard with no prison politics that decide who can stay or go and the administration was in control.
after this everything was pretty much subdued even amongst the other races and gang affiliates. later on about two or three weeks later did the person who informed confess what he did and why. he said the reason he did this was to prevent the young inmates who had never been in such violent confrontations would not have to risk injury and/or getting more time for assaulting inmates. he himself was a lifer and had done over thirty five years in prison already and said this was the best way to do things because no one gets hurt, no one gets in trouble losing good time or recieving new charges to increase their prison stay. he did it for us.
