Job hunt

Even though this place is like Paradise compared to prison, it’s still stressful looking for a job. I’ve only been here a week and they’re already acting like it’s my fault I don’t have a job. What makes it even harder is for my first week, I have to work in the kitchen 5 ½ hours a day, plus go find a job. It’s doable, but hard and tiring. Especially when you have to take the bus everywhere. I’m not used to it. I’ve never looked for a job so hard in my life. After this first week, it’ll be a little less tiring since I won’t have to work in the kitchen anymore. That’ll give me more time to find a job.

The best part of being near my house is that I know where everything is, so that’ll help me out a lot too. I won’t have to spend a lot of time looking up directions. A lot of people here aren’t from the same county. They can spend hours looking up directions.

Anyway, speaking of looking for a job, that’s where I’m going now. Wish me luck.

Getting burned

It’s kind of ironic that I just talked about no matter how sick you get in prison, all you can really get is non-aspirin. Well, about 10 minutes after I wrote that, I went to work to start cooking dinner for the compound. I was only at work for about an hour or two before I burned my right hand. I was lifting the lid to the kettle up and a huge cloud of steam came rushing out and burned my hand.

At first I thought that it would only hurt for 10 – 20 minutes and then it would feel better, but after about an hour, it only got worse. So they took me to Medical and gave me some cream that doesn’t make the pain go away, non-aspirin (prison’s universal cure) and a no-work pass for three days. Unfortunately, two of the three days of my no-work pass fell on my two days off anyway. Well, at least I get one extra day off work.

Ted's injury

I’m currently waiting for more letters from Ted.

Ted called me on Monday and told me he had burned his right hand. He was lifting the cover off a steaming pot of potatoes and the steam caused first-degree burns. He told me his entire hand was red (like a really bad sunburn) and hurt a lot. He was given Ibuprofen for pain and cream. He told me tonight on the phone that his hand is better. He did manage to write some more entries and sent them out in the mail this morning.

About three or four weeks ago, I noticed on the Florida Department of Corrections site that Ted’s custody level was dropped from minimum to community. Ted will be eligible to go to a work release camp. A work release camp is different from a work camp (where he is now). He is able to choose two work release camps near his home in Pinellas County. When a bed opens up at one of them and he has been processed, he will be moved. The whole process takes between 30 and 60 days.

In a work release camp, Ted will need to find a job and will be able to leave the compound to go to work. He will return to the compound each day after his shift. Ted doesn’t know much more than this. He doesn’t know if the camp officials help in obtaining a job and if transportation is provided, or if he must take public transportation to the job.

Ted also tells me he’s been written up four times in the past three weeks. Each write-up delays his transfer to a work release camp between 10 and 20 days. So right now, he doesn’t know when he will be transferred. In Ted’s words - “the more I try not to be written up, the more write-ups I get.”

Ted was also issued a subpoena as a witness in a criminal case in Pinellas County which will take place in early March for three days. He tells me that he will be transferred to the Pinellas County Jail for probably three weeks for this three-day trial. While in the Pinellas County Jail, he will not be able to earn any gain time. After the trial is over, he will return to Lancaster Work Camp to await his transfer to a work release camp back in Pinellas County. Ted will then be about 30 minutes from his home, rather than three hours away as he is now.

Ketchup on copper

Today I learned something kinda weird. I was given an assignment to clean the copper pipes behind the stove. As I went to go get some cleaning materials, the CO told me to go get some ketchup. “For what?” I thought maybe it was for lunch or something, but as it turns out, ketchup makes copper look brand new. Who would have thought! It was so easy too. I just let the ketchup sit on the pipes for 10 – 15 minutes and scrubbed the pipes. All the rust and grime came right off.

When I started, the pipes looked 50 years old and when I finished, the pipes looked like they were just installed. I didn’t even have to scxrub hard.

So if you have any copper pipes that look like they were installed in the 1930s, you should try putting ketchup on them. You’ll be surprised!

My new job

For the last two months, I’ve been working in the kitchen washing pots and pans, but just this last week I was promoted to cook.

At first even though I was excited, I was also nervous because the thought of making food for 300 people seemed a little overwhelming.

My first day, though, I realized it was actually pretty easy. All I need to learn were the recipes (which are all written down if I needed them) and where all the different foods were kept. I learned all that in about an hour.

I’ve been a cook for a few days now and it’s a breeze. I really like learning how to make all the different kinds of food. I really expected it to be a lot harder considering my only real cooking experience involved a microwave.

Who knows? Maybe when I get out, I’ll have enough experience to get a job as a cook.

The kitchen

I love working in the kitchen. Even though I just scrub pots and pans all day, it’s still a great job.

Of course, the best thing about the kitchen is the food. There’s always too much food for all of us to eat.

To me, though, that’s not why I like the job so much. I enjoy it so much because everyone in the kitchen is easy to get along with and we all just joke around. Sure we do our jobs, but we have a long break from about 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. and during that time we eat, drink, go outside and just hang out.

If I didn’t get along with the people in the kitchen, I obviously wouldn’t want to work there. Oh yeah, and the COs are cool too. As long as we follow the rules, they stay away from us. What more could I ask for?

Ted currently works from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. in the kitchen, except for Tuesdays and Wednesdays - his days off. He hopes he can become a cook, which would provide good training for a possible future job.