Читать книгу Prison Puzzle Pieces - Dave Basham - Страница 39

In case you didn't already know, CYA is the acronym for "Cover Your Ass." Those three words cover everyone's responsibilities in the joint; inmates included. Those three words should be going through everyone's mind before they do anything here.

The best way to CYA is to "Know the Rules." If you know the rules and follow them you won't get in trouble as often as someone who doesn't. A problem here is that when I started working here there were supposedly three huge volumes of rule books in every lieutenant's office. Officers could've taken them and read them at a shower post or during a slow time at a door post. In their ultimate wisdom, someone higher up got the bright idea that once we got computers in the blocks, they would get rid of these manuals. They had all the information put into the computer and felt there was no longer a need for the books. Wrong! Someone always had to do work on the computer and guess what? There are no computers at the shower post or door post. These are areas that during certain parts of the day, it would be safe to read these books.

Even if you knew all of the rules forward and back and knew every angle to them or around them, you can still get in trouble. Every big shot saw things differently and enforced things differently. Every lieutenant, sergeant and officer saw things differently and enforced things differently. Everyplace in the institution was run by someone different, so the rules were different. If a different person was in charge of a cellblock from the day before, the rules were different. If a lieutenant walked through your assigned area, no matter what, you better know their pet peeves or you could get in trouble.

There was one lieutenant, who was not in charge of any cellblock that would pop into any cellblock at anytime, quickly walk down the cellblock and try to catch anyone he could at anything he could, whether or not the lieutenant in charge of that block was fine with it or not. He would even write someone up if they had their foot on the railing at the shower post.

If a situation arose where there was no cut and dried way of handling it, you could get in trouble if someone above you would've done things differently; even if the results of your actions were positive.

I schooled the inmates on CYA. I told them to just figure there was a rule against everything. This was a slight over statement, but only a slight one. I told them, when in doubt, ask an officer and that it wouldn't hurt to have a buddy or two close to hear what was said. I also told them to remember the date, time and name of the officer they asked and specifically what was said. This was because anyone ranking higher than that officer, that didn't like what that officer said, or didn't like the officer or the inmate, might put pressure on that officer to lie. You have to be able to say "so and so told me this was OK." That way your ass is covered, so long as they don't lie about it.

Here is a mild example of CYA that I ran into toward the end of my time in Stillwater. I received a call at work from an inmate that had been released. He had been a cell hall worker for me. He called wanting me to be a job reference for him. They are not allowed to contact us. If something like this happens, we have to notify our superiors. I notified my sergeant, lieutenant, case worker (past sergeant), investigations and the Watch Commander. It was necessary to notify all of these people in order to CYA.