Prison Life (Series of small snapshots of a Modern Prison) by Geo #5
Even in dormitories, there are hustles. A guy will sweep, mop, clean your steel sink and toilet and make your bed every morning for $2.00 a week (Canteen items). There is another guy who will wash clothes for a $1.00 an article. The Prison Laundry is supposed to wash personal (as opposed to State Issued) canteen purchased clothing like thermals, gym shorts, and sweatshirts, etc. But the reality is if you send your personal in the laundry you’ll never see them again. They will be stolen and resold that day. So that provides a couple of guys in the dorm with a Chinese Laundry Hustle, and a guy that runs a good laundry makes at least $50 a week in Canteen Items.
Speaking of the laundry, everything about it is a hustle. The State is supposed to provide you with three sets of blues, four boxers, and four tee shirts and six pairs of socks; and a net laundry bag so that you can tie your clothes up in the bag to send it to the wash. You are supposed to be issued two sheets, a pillow case, towel and wash cloth and a blanket. The reality is that you will get all that, when arriving at a new Institution, but the blues will not fit, or will be dingy or stained. The boxers will be old with worn out elastic and maybe even skid marks from the previous owners. The tee shirts will be dingy with brown stains in the armpits far beyond the help of bleach, the socks will have worn out elastic, thin with holes. The blanket and sheets will be raggedy. In order to get good clean clothing, new or fairly new, you have to pay. Of course, that’s all against the rules too. But I do not like wearing ill fitted clothing, and especially wearing underwear another man has worn. It costs me about $25.00 just to get my clothing and bedding right. I want to lay my head down on a clean pillowcase, not some yellowish frayed thing a dozen heads have lain on for a decade.
Another laundry hustle is “Special Wash”. That means your bag will be washed with the special wash bags in machines that are not packed to the gills like with regular wash, and that gets extra detergent and bleach. And of course that extra comes from the issue supposedly for the regular wash. Special wash costs only $5.00 a month. Don’t try and duck it! If your dorm laundry man sees you going to Canteen and thinks you can afford it, your bag will come back just dipped in water and dried until you change your mind about signing up for special wash. Welcome to Prison…
Until next time….
Lynie Tru Vinyard with Bring In Light’s Inmate Art, Stories and Issues
Photo Credit: Projects Walla Walla Corrections /Seattle Times
Leave a comment