Question Time with Polish Avenger

Polish Avenger – A software-engineering undergraduate sentenced to 25 years because his friend was shot dead during a burglary they were committing. In Arizona, if a burglar gets killed, the accomplices can get 25-year sentences.

Leigh asked these questions:

So the toilet has something of a stall but the wall of it is smaller while raised off the ground?

Sort of. It’s sandwiched between two little cinderblock walls, no door. The second thunderpot is 90 degrees to that and behind, so there’s almost no blockage. Some of us rigged up a sheet to hide behind whilst eliminating, and the guards went insane! They rushed in to confiscate it and threatened us with disciplinary action. I wonder what they thought was going on behind there? None of us would do something illegal there because it’s too exposed.

When you say Jack was laid off what do you mean? He lost his previous detail or he lost his detail altogether?

Jack lost both prior position and detail altogether. The job he had does exist here, but someone else was handpicked for it (much less competent fellow, in my view!). Jack’s been unemployed for our time here so far, and not much relief in sight. Work is scarce.

Is 40 cents an hour the standard wage or can it vary?

.40 is near the top of the heap! Most people have to start at .15 or .20 and work their way up. .50 is the theoretical maximum, but due to budget cuts hardly anyone makes that much these days.

Are you able to get a raise after so long on the job?

Usually. It’s supposed to go up by a nickel every six months, but again it’s up to the budget.

Do you have to work or can you decide that you’d rather not?

Well, if they assign you to a job, you’re stuck with it for the most part. If you flat-out refuse, you’ll get disciplinary. The better way is to endure it for the week or so it takes you to either get transferred to a different job or to “unassigned” status.

Click here for Polish Avenger’s previous blog about his job cleaning up excrement.

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Shaun Attwood
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1 comment:

leigh said...

thanks for answering my questions! i'm sorry that you all weren't able to make use of the sheet privacy wall. somewhat recently one of the prisons in Georgia had a bit of frustrating battle over stall walls being taken down and they managed to get a partial wall put back up (though the shower curtains continue to be cut off at the bottom) after submitting letters en masse. that is why i was a little curious about the set up of them.

having heard your answer about pay i searched a bit online and it seems that (at least a few years ago) inmates in California, New York and a few other states get paid for work. in the state of Georgia inmates aren't paid unless they have work release. even if they are working on correctional industries products (they make furniture, clothing, and other items) i don't know if that is the case with correctional industries programs in other states.

i hope Jack will be able to have a detail soon (if he wants one). i suppose that inmates who are laid off in these hard economic times aren't eligible for unemployment even if they've been on the job long enough to qualify.

1:37 AM

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