Читать книгу Prison Puzzle Pieces 3 - Dave Basham - Страница 35

Sometimes officers just shouldn’t be here. Sgt. Respect was a very good respected sergeant. He had diabetes and other complications. He was extremely close to retiring. His health was drastically reclining. I could see him across the hall from my cell block when he was working the door post in his cell block.

He could barely walk. He seemed dazed; like he was in another world. He looked like a zombie the way he shuffled around and not seeming to know what was going on.

One day his wife had to be called to pick him up because he didn’t know where he was or what was going on.

Because he was so well respected, everyone, even the inmates, covered for him to help him make it to retirement. At times, I would see inmates open the door for him. They wouldn’t take the key and turn it for him, but they would help him up, get him close to the door and get him to turn the key. They would then open the door and go where they were assigned. At times he would just stand there until someone came along and closed the door for him.

He just barely made it to retirement. I never heard what went on with him after that.

It was sad to see him deteriorate in front of my eyes, but it was enlightening to see even the inmates helping him out and not creating problems when he was around; out of respect to how he had treated people before his health got so bad.