Читать книгу Prison Puzzle Pieces 3 - Dave Basham - Страница 55

The prison has the wall around it with a fence around the wall. The fence varies in its distance from the wall. We had to keep a close eye on the area between the fence and the wall. A technique used to smuggle drugs or whatever else into the prison was to have someone put the drugs in a tennis ball and toss it over the wall. If items didn’t make it over the wall, they could land in this area. Officers would search the yard before releasing inmates out there for recreation. This would be to recover items like this before inmates could get to them.

Some time ago a trip wire was added to the top of the wall. While working the towers, I found that the least little thing touching it could set off the alarm inside the prison. There was a Peregrine Falcon nest on the Northern States Power Plants smoke stack between the prison and the river. One day I saw one of these falcons knock some snow onto a trip wire and that caused the alarm to go off. I saw other small birds land on the wire and set it off. I also saw snow pile up on top of the wall, fall on the wire and set off the alarm. Any time that happened, an officer would be dispatched to that area outside of the prison walls and another one inside of the prison walls. Nothing could be left to chance, even if all inmates were in their cells and accounted for.

Later while I was working there, razor ribbon was installed at the top of the wall close to the trip wire. You can never have too much security in a place like this. One day my job was to provide security in the area where two men were installing the razor ribbon. Many officers looked at this as a good assignment. I was bored out of my gourd. It was a nice day, but just watching these guys install this stuff all day was tough. I preferred being busy. It was necessary to have an officer supervise people that came into the prison. They have no idea of the things to do or not do to maintain security. Leaving a tool, a piece of wire, a piece of steel or many other things lying around could be an opportunity for an inmate to create a weapon. I had to keep inmates away from the area. They could easily over power someone and use the workers equipment to get over the wall.

While I was observing the goings on in this area, I saw a large tree relatively close to the wall. Years ago when it was planted, it was too small to be a problem. With how large it was now, it could be a way of escaping over the wall. Granted the inmate would have to be in good shape, but it was possible. I knew of one guy in particular that could’ve made it out this way. He was a gymnast in high school before he wound up in here.

I was a gymnast in high school before I came in here. Back then I could’ve made it over that wall by tying some sheets together, climbing the tree, tying one end of the sheet rope in the tree and swinging over the wall.

Creating the opportunity would’ve been the hard part. But more difficult challenges have been accomplished here.

Dropping to the ground on the other side of the wall would’ve been the painful part.

I notified my superior of what I saw. He brushed it off and didn’t want to be bothered. Nothing was done with that tree, not even a trimming, until it had to be removed years later to make room for the new segregation unit.