By John Schick, Retired California Department of Corrections
California Institution for Men, Chino (San Bernardino County)
First watch anywhere is boring! In a prison, it’s usually really boring. Almost every inmate is sound asleep. Employees do their assigned jobs such as nightly fence checks. This was done on foot around our facility. Big place. On foggy nights it’s cold, and sometimes creepy. Coyotes, owls, snakes, skunks—you name it’ we saw it. One night, however, we saw something very different. One of our gun towers radioed they had a man at gun point between our security fences on the south side.
After his parole agent violated him, he did, in fact, come home. We advised him next time just get caught stealing a can of beer. Much safer and easier! Many crazy things happened in there. Just pays to keep your eyes open.
Surprises are not always pleasant.
~~~
John started working for CDCR in April 1982. He worked
custody positions for many years to include Search & Escort Officer,
Complex Transportation Officer (Bus & Van Crew), Perimeter Towers,
Administrative Segregation Unit, and various other assignments. In
2000, he promoted to Correctional Counselor, and took a desk job. In that
capacity he got involved in the classification, gang investigation,
court pre-sentence report referral, and numerous other related
activities. He interacted with many other agencies, and met some VERY
unusual and interesting people. No regrets. He retired intact 2007.