Sheep Shots

I should have worn this Habit shirt, (two people suggested it would be sort of cool) but I wound up wearing normal business attire instead. It was the right decision!







Seven hours of my life that I will never get back, though I was able to cross another thing off my Bucket ListTM.

Today, I visited not one, but two state prisons!

The first was by mistake (we took a wrong turn), but the guy at the desk set us straight, gave us a map, and we were on our way again. Apparently we are not the first to make this mistake. Who knew that there were two state prisons in the same county? Certainly not MapQuest!

On the way out we passed a tractor trailer with a decal: Big House Industries. I guess it's what replaced stamping license plates! Photos are not permitted. (Nor are cell phones, drugs of any kind, nor weapons.)

We made it to the right place with minutes to spare. Only to sit and wait, first 30 minutes in the outer waiting area, then 2 hours in the inner.

We (some folks that I work with, but who are not coworkers, if you get my drift) were there for a parole hearing. I cannot go into details. I do not know the outcome. I can say that the prisoner was clearly not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Probably because knives are not permitted.

My wait to testify (the sum of which, besides stating my name, employer, and position, was to say, "No, that is not permitted") was eye-opening.

We were instructed to wait in a section of the visitors' room that was cordoned off from where the actual prisoners and their actual visitors were, well, visiting. It was nothing like they show on TV! Prisoners and their families are permitted to touch, hug, kiss hello. There is a children's playroom (for children and visitors--prisoners are not permitted to enter), tables, vending machines (no outside food, but lots of choices of snacks and meals--for a fee, provided by the visitors--and a microwave to warm up pizza and hot wings and such), reasonably comfortable chairs, a cabinet full of board games suitable for kids and adults.

Granted, this facility is relatively new.

The visitors looked just like ordinary people you would see in the grocery store.

There were a number of small children and at least 2 infants visiting. That was sad. Then there were periodic announcements that those with "photo tickets" could proceed to the Christmas tree for photos. That was very sad. Imagine the album five years down the road: "Oh, that was the Christmas that Uncle Billy was in The Big House." I'm pretty sure these won't end up on Christmas cards!

Important! The thing that I really, really need to stress, though, is that prison garb is not orange. The Parole Officer that was with us said that she thinks only one state still uses orange, and as far as she knows, the black and white horizontal stripes are a thing of the past everywhere. I am really glad that I just found this out as those stripes and that ugly orange were the only thing that stood between me and homicide quite a few times when my kids were teens.

In Pennsylvania, prisoners wear stylish brown jumsuits that zip up the front. The short-sleeve ones have a very chic yellow band at the edge. There are also long sleeve ones without the yellow trim. Outerwear is a fashionable brown corduroy barn coat. The only downside that I could see was the large, white "D.O.C. " on the back of the jumpsuits. Well, that and the $5 white canvas slip-ons. Trustees wear 2-piece white suits and leather shoes. They have "D.O.C." in black on their backs. I could so wear those brown ones!


And though I could not knit in the waiting room (see explanation of Things Not Permitted, above), I was able to get in a fair amount of knitting on the way there and back, since I was the backseat passenger. I figure about 17 "small squares'" worth on the Tiny Prince's woobie. So the day wasn't totally wasted!