Smashing my face in
Yesterday an inmate was put in detention for going around his unit, talking about how he’s going to smash my face in.
Ah, the joys of prison librarianship…
Said inmate has been requesting information and books on white supremacy organizations lately. If I were a public librarian, I’d likely fill his requests, regardless of my personal opinions on his choice of subject matter. But I’m a prison librarian, and our collection development policy prohibits materials that “may pose a threat to the secure and orderly operation of the facility,” including materials that “suggest affiliation with unsanctioned groups.” So poor little whitey has to go without.
Anyway, my most recent denial must have rubbed him the wrong way, so he spouted off about all the violent acts he’d like to perform against me. Three or four other inmates overheard him and alerted unit staff. The sergeant called me to see if there was any credence to these reports or if there were just a couple of inmates trying to get someone in trouble. I explained what had been going on, and within minutes, the little twerp was on his way up to maximum security.
The thing about the whole ordeal that strikes me isn’t that someone wants to cause me physical harm (which is a testament to how much working in a prison can change someone) but that there are three or four inmates in that unit who seem to have my back, sort of like the inmates who saved the guard in a Florida jail from an attack yesterday.
Pretty cool stuff.
