Let me start by saying that the facility doesn’t look scary. At all. It’s several buildings grouped close together, some newer, some older, and at first glance, it reminded me of a high school or community college. Seriously, if not for the high fence topped with the curly barbed wire, I might not have even realized I was heading to prison.
I entered through the main entrance and was greeted by a cheerful, uniformed man at the reception desk. Since I was there between visiting hours, the place seemed fairly quiet (more about that later). I gave the officer my name, signed a clipboard sheet, stuck my purse in a locker (I got to keep my notebook and pen), and got searched with the electronic wand thing (the name of this device eludes me). I was issued an ID badge that said VISITOR which I clipped to my jacket. The superintendent then came out to greet me, even though I was a good ten minutes early, and we headed a few steps down the hallway to her office.
The thing that struck me right away about the superintendent was her big, welcoming smile and her passion for her job. Her office was spacious and bright, with a separate table for meetings just like this one. I had a list of questions prepared, but realized quickly I wouldn’t need to refer to them, because she was very comfortable talking about the prison. Our conversation was natural and easy.
Here’s what I can remember from the interview (and I’m making every effort to use layman’s terms, because it seems the Department of Corrections has an acronym for everything):
* There are about 850 offenders currently incarcerated at WCCFW. There are eight living units in the prison:
- Reception: Offenders stay here when they first arrive at the prison in order to be classified. Classification involves diagnosing their medical and psychological health, their programming needs (should they take courses or are they better suited to have a job while incarcerated?), and any personal needs/issues they might have. Offenders will stay in this unit for the first 3-4 weeks of their sentence until classification is complete.
- Close Custody Unit (CCU): Basically maximum security. The offenders here require a higher level of supervision, either due to the nature of their crime, or due to bad behavior while they were in another unit.
- Medium Security Unit (MSU): The majority of the offenders reside here. Most are long-term.
- Treatment and Evaluation Center (TEC): Offenders stay here if they have mental health issues.
- Segregation: Basically “the hole”. Offenders are placed here if they’re in protective custody (meaning they’re at risk for being hurt in general population), or if they’re being punished due to an infraction while in another unit. Offenders are kept in their cells for 23 hours a day. They are allowed zero contact with other offenders.
- J Unit: Where the babies are! Offenders who were pregnant at sentencing may qualify for this unit depending on their offense. Mothers get to live with their babies full-time in their cells for up to 30 months.
- K Unit: Minimum custody, general population.
- L Unit: General population and Community Corrections violators (I forgot to ask exactly what this means).
Other facts:
* 30% of offenders in Washington state will re-offend.
* 90% of WCCFW’s offenders will ultimately be released. Only 10% have life sentences without parole, or sentences extending beyond their life expectancy.
* 75% of offender conflicts (arguments and fights between the inmates) are due to drama stemming from romantic relationships between them. While most of the offenders are heterosexual, it’s quite common for the women to go “Gay for the Stay”, even though they have husbands and children on the outside. The official policy of the prison is that sexual contact between offenders is an infraction, but it happens quite frequently.
During the interview, several employees came into the superintendent’s office to fill her in on a crisis situation that was currently happening. The reason the place was so unusually quiet was because it was on lockdown! An offender in MSU (Medium Security) was freaking out and acting violent. She had dragged her mattress into the showers (in MSU the cells are “dry” – showers and toilets are not inside the cells), and then for no apparent reason, she started kicking another inmate and screaming.
The Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) was sent in to try and verbally calm her down. They weren’t successful. There was then discussion about sending in a Quick Response Team (QRT – they wear masks, shields, and body gear), but ultimately the decision was made to use a pepper spray-like device referred to as “CO” on her instead.
I timidly asked one employee what “CO” stood for. He couldn’t remember the exact chemical name, but I was told that the spray hurts. It’s purposefully designed to inflict pain, and is very effective in getting situations like this under control.
The superintendent asked her staff if they knew offhand whether the offender was the same woman who had “poked children’s eyes”. Excuse me? She explained to me that they currently had an offender who was a caregiver in her outside life, who liked to stick needles in the eyes of the kids she looked after. The superintendent thought maybe this was the offender who was acting up.
Guys, you really can’t make this shit up.
I never did find out whether it was that particular offender who was causing the ruckus in MSU, but later in my visit, I got an update on the outcome. They went in with the CO spray, and when the offender saw it, she suddenly became very cooperative. She wasn’t sprayed. Crisis averted. She was sent directly to TEC (the mental health facility) for evaluation.
According to the superintendent, this is all part of your average Friday.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I’ll tell you all about the tour I took. With the exception of the actual cells in Close Custody and Medium Custody, I got to see everything, including many of the offenders, right up close. I even talked to one.
But I’ll say this for now: My first impression of the offenders is that I’ve never seen so many young women with face and neck tattoos. For some reason I found this really disturbing.
Click here for part two of this series.
WOW!!!!!!! Can I just say you have so much more calmness when it comes to these things. I would have been terrified, I would have had no idea what to ask the lady, umm, I would have been a turtle who climbed right back into their shell.
Fascinating, absolutely fascinating.
I'm very excited to read part 2. I have to ask, are you going to share with us what your plans are with all this information?! I would love to know the little seed that crawled into your brain and sparked this idea!!!
Yay for a productive field trip! 🙂
AWESOME.
This was awesome! Can't wait to read part 2. I'm one of those people that get a kick out of this kind of in-the-field research. Sounds like you had a great interview. Go you!
Oh, and I would imagine that "Community Corrections violators" are parole violations. But I could be wrong.
Sounds like you had an interesting day!
This sounds like it was a really informative and interesting day, makes my week look pretty dull!
– Sophia.
Fascinating! I imagine some aspects of it are very sad. The baby unit sort of made my heart hurt. 🙁
Fabulous post! Thanks for posting this. 🙂
OMG!!! Poking childrens eyes!?!?! That made my stomach hurt! Blech and awe!!
What cool research, though. Makes me want to write a novel around a prison just to go and get to do the research. Very interesting stuff. (I bet she did calm down. No crazy fit is worth being hit with that stuff!!) I'm all for tattoos, got bunches myself, but not face or neck ones. Those weird me out. Can't wait for more!
That is really interesting. Makes me want to go to prison. Wait, that came out wrong.
Fascinating stuff and a real inside look at something most of us (hopefully) will never see in our lifetime.
RE: the tattoos… as you know, I have many (nine to be exact), but none on face or neck. I, too, find tattoos in those areas to be a little disturbing on men or women. Neck is not too bad, like at the base in the back, but face? You're really trying to say something then or be as intimidating as possible. I often think face tattoos reflect some kind of gang association or prison stay. Isn't it said that tear tattoos on the face represent how many people you have killed? Something like that….
And OMG about the caregiver and the needles! Really, she needs more than a mental assessment; she needs some psychological help. Would be interested to know how much help mentally ill inmates actually receive and how much it works.
Thanks for this post Jenny! So interesting!
Wow Jenny very cool. Really enjoyed you post and am looking forward to Part 2. Found it to be kind of eery though! Teri
Usually, only criminals or wannabe thugs have the neck or face tats (or both). Basically, people who never intend on obtaining gainful employment, like, EVAR.
So, yeah, prison would most likely be the place to get one of these.
Wow. I mean wow! What an experience. Even though it looks like a community college it must have felt very different on the inside.
@ Joy, Colene & David: I think what saddened me about the face tattoos is that by doing that, even if these girls (yes, some of them looked like girls to me) change their lives for the better, they're always going to have the past inked on their faces. I saw lots of teardrop tats and names stenciled across necks like dog collars, plus other symbols I didn't recognize. If they were going for scary, it worked. I was intimidated, big time.
I'm all for tattoos (I have one) but having them on your face makes a serious statement.
OMG. Crazy awesome post. I would have loved to come along on that field trip! It's facinating to hear about. I like tats (I'm cool because I abbreviate), I have two but they are stratically placed so I can cover them!!! I cannot imagine ever putting one on my face…for any reason.
Also, that chick who poked kid's eyes…can't they find a reason to spray her with that chemical shit every day?? I'm just sayin'.
And I meant 'strategically'. Now I'm not so cool because I can't spell.lol
That's amazing that 75% of the conflicts stem from romantic relationships (leave it to me to have that be the stat I'm most surprised by). I can't get that damn needle in the eye thing out of my head though. That's going to give me shudders all day.
How can you ever expect to fit back in outside and get a "normal" job with face and neck tatts? Seriously. How incredibly sad that they either aren't thinking of a future or don't want to have one.
OMG that is awesome!!! Is this research for a book or class?
Good post Jen, very interesting. As you can imagine, I see all kinds of tattoos – I had one recently where a guy had one word on each eye lid:
TRUST NOBODY
I kid you not.
Great report. Prison is no joke that's for sure. Can't wait for part 2.
Holy crap; truth is definitely more horrific than some fiction! Eagerly awaiting Part 2…
I'm so glad you learned so much in this field trip! YAY! And it sounds like with all the drama and all you had fun! 😀
Creepy eye-poking stuff.
My husband used to work corrections for Oregon. Here, the recidivism rate for sex offenders is a whopping (and sad) 90%.
Good work!
lol my dad has a HUGE thing against tattoos and i remember when i was a kid and you got your butterfly tattoo he did NOT approve hahahaha. Perhaps he was right… but it's not like you turned out to be a criminal, and as far as i know you haven't poked any kids eyes out lately, but i DO recall one instance when, while under your care, my fingers got stuck in the elevator doors for 5 floors! ….good for nothing punks…!
@ Erika: OMG, ONE TIME! You will never let me live that down, will you!? You still have all your fingers, don't you?
Yeah, nobody liked this tattoo. I initially told my mom it was fake and she believed me for like, a year.
@ Mark (D.A. Confidential): See, it's these little details I need! Can't wait to pick your brain. 🙂
What an intense day. I can't imagine all the emotions I would feel standing in a prison like that.
Holy crap! Who would stick needles in kids' eyes???
Ugh, am so freaked out by the needle thing – like someone else said, she deserves to be sprayed with the pain spray. A lot.
You're brave, I imagine I'd be pretty freaked out going into a prison. But I do love tales of real research like this, can't wait to read part two.
PS I gave you an award on my blog 🙂
Yeesh, that is so fascinating and chilling. The needle thing also freaked me out.
Wow, this is SO interesting! I had no idea that pregnant inmates had their own section and they could keep their babies with them for 30 months.
That's kind of cool that you were there to witness some drama. I can't believe there's an inmate who poked childrens' eyes with needles! WTF!!
Thanks for sharing this. I'm exited for your next post!
Holy Shit.
Wow.
I don't even have words, I'm so intrigued (the part of the eye poking made me tear up and cover the large gaping hole I call a mouth in total dismay).
Off to part two …
What a fascinating experience. I just can't imagine living in a world where this lockdown situation is just par for the course.
And sticking needles in children's eyes?? How sick do you have to be before that sounds like a good idea?
Gosh, what an interesting post. Sad in a way.
This is absolutely fascinating! And even more interesting because I'm originally from Seattle.
New blog follower here, nice ta meet ya!
New one? Hummmmm