Bone-hawk

While at work tonight I thought of an incident from a few weeks back that's worth sharing...

I was working in a housing unit one night, bone-hawking (this is the oh-so-clever euphemism for watching prisoners in the shower - something we have to do in order to make sure they get in and get out quick so we can get more in there), when one of them approached me before getting into the shower. He was pissed I hadn't let the gallery porters out to pass cleaning supplies earlier. Before I could even respond he was working himself into a rage, yelling about unsanitary living conditions and humans rights violations and all kinds of shit.

Now I'll occasionally lock in porters because most of the time they don't do much work, don't pass cleaning supplies, but instead spend most of their time passing contraband from one cell to another and kickin' it in front of their buddy's cell. Funny thing is, that night, I hadn't locked in any porters - they were all out, free to do their work, but were so exceptionally lazy and undedicated, had barely passed any brooms or disinfectant.

So this kid starts getting right up in my face, a bit threateningly so. I haven't had a chance to even respond, he's just yelling and telling me about the lawsuits and complaints he's going to file. As he gets more angry and closer to me, I'm edging my hand towards the emergency button on my radio. Suddenly, one of the prisoners in the showers yells the kid's name to get his attention. The kid turns around, looking puzzled, and four or five of the older prisoners just verbally browbeat the kid. They mock him, tell him that the porters are lazy and don't care, tell him that it isn't my fault, and mock him some more. When they finish laughing at him and otherwise belittling him, he goes back to his cell, apparently no longer in the mood for a shower, and locks in.

Bam. One minute I'm wondering what the hell is about to go down - the next minute my newest enemy is crushed and defeated, without any effort from me. Another night driving home feeling confused.

I see the kid every once in a while still. He says sir and has never misbehaved or argued with me over anything since.