Communications in those days (early 1980s) was pretty good. Besides the phone system (there were actually two systems), there was the radio. Every block had one. Unlike today, you could not tell who was calling in unless you recognized the voice. Today the radio user unit number shows up in the control room.
There was more than communication on those radio's at times... You would hear all kinds of odd noises. One night there were several sounds like something dropping in water and then the sound of a toilet flushing. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what that was. You would hear an occasional flush or the sound of urination, but once in a while someone would fart over the radio, and if you had the volume up it would sound pretty cool. Supervision got sick of it after a while though and started to crack down on unauthrorized radio usage. They were just jealous.
I had one inmate in the “Hole” or “Tiger Cage” as it was called in those days. They don't use those terms much anymore. Anyway, back then they allowed smoking in all county buildings, including the jail. I came in to work one night and he said, "Hey, dep? What would you do if I set myself on fire?" I told him I would go down to the kitchen, get some hot dogs and have an old fashioned weenie roast. He thought I was nuts.
I did a lot of jobs throughout my career besides working the blocks. I transported inmates through the old county court tunnel. I worked intake a couple of times. I even worked at a medical center lockup, but most of the time I worked the blocks. In my 25 1/2 years I had just one inmate "hang-up" on me. I cut him down, they sent him to the hospital and they declared him brain dead. He lived for about eight days after that.
We had a lot of training classes throughtout my career. CPR, First Aid, Article 35 (use of force), defensive tactics. I hated that one. I was always hoping I'd get hurt so I could get time off.
In one class (I can't remember which), they asked us what we would do if we found an inmate hanging. I said I would call the kitchen and cancel his next meal. I don't think the powers that be liked that one too much, though...
I remember walking inamtes through the county court tunnel ( the tunnel went from the holding center, under the street and to the county court building). They would be cuffed behind their backs. Sometimes, they would be walking along, see a cigarette butt on the ground, and squat down to pick it up- not an easy maneuver. They could be very resourceful at times.
