San Fransisco, Alcatraz et al.

fog on the day we drove over the Golden Gate bridge though

Archie at the bridge

me at the bridge

we had not ever eaten at a Hard Rock so decided to

tunnel from the military days of the prison

prison viewed from the ferry

San Fran viewed from the Rock

prison recreation yard

old military morgue

The lighthouse you can see the city behind it.

Our ferry captain

The bay bridge as viewed from the ferry we lucked up and had no fog on the day we went to "the rock"

sign on the admin building

ASFA's Convention of Delegates was in San Jose, CA this year. Archie and I went. I'd never been to CA, we both work in a prison ( I'm a teacher he's the accounting manager ) so of course we went to see Alcatraz (also drove through the up and down streets of San Fransisco and across the Golden Gate bridge before we flew back. Alcatraz was originally a military prison , the tunnel photo is from the old part of it. American Indians briefly occupied the island in 1970-1971 after it was closed, and the spray painted signs still attest to that. It is administered to by the National Park Service, you ride a ferry over and get to wear a headset with neat tour information and walk around to your heart's content. The view of the bay and the city is beautiful but I could not help but think what a horrible, cold, detached place to confine people. The day we drove over the Golden Gate bridge was really foggy but got a couple of good photos. Free to drive North over it and $6.00 to return to the city on it. Saw my first redwood trees, wow are they big, and managed to get a photo of a Western gull at Alcatraz. Unfortunately it was a traumatic weekend, I knew I had a biopsy coming up the Tuesday after it ( I had a "hot" mammogram) and on the Sunday of ACoD I got a phone call from my son that my father had died. My last couple of months have been kind of full of traumatic events so I have really kept to myself about most everything. Thanks to all who were kind during this time though, you will never know just how much it meant to me.

What a job

I'm not sure anyone would believe what my job was like if I told them. Even on film I suspect it would be surreal and people would say, "yeah that's Hollywood for you." I have 20 students all of them adult convicted male felony offenders, some for violent crimes, some for property crimes. No boy scouts here. Do I know what they are in for? Well, if I want to know I can find out with a phone call but for my purposes ( teaching) I don't need to know. My exception to that rule is if I am going to have them help me on a project that requires me to be there early when I'm locked up alone with a group of 4-6 or 7 at 4 AM then yes I want to know but for the most part no I don't care.

While only one of the mission statements of the department is to help reintegrate these men back into society, my theory is that is the most important one. Specific skills aren't nearly as needed by most of these guys as are social skills because believe me that they are lacking. If they are working on a project with someone and they think the person they are working with isn't trying or needs to do something differently do they ever TRY to have a calm discussion with their partner? Almost never. Instead they run to me, "Ms. Moore, Ms. Moore, I can't work with Billy Bob, he gets on my nerves or he is lazy or he won't do this or he can't do anything right or he has a booger on his lip." You get the idea. I say"Bubba, have you tried talking to Billy Bob?" "No, I just can't talk to him."

Yes, it is like they are socially retarded, so I mediate it seems most days in the hopes that when some of these men leave that they won't come back (recidivism rate is around 50% though) because they are so unable to cope with work partners that they beat somebody senseless at their first job post release.

Yes, my knives are chained and padlocked to the work tables. Hard to chase somebody around with a 250 pound stainless steel table attached to it.