DAWN AND DIRT in Adventures From Prison

From the Rec yard I can see miles and miles of wooded hills. During the day they provide a pretty backdrop if you can ignore the razor-wire fence. Many times, I’ve sat on the hill that overlooks our track and athletic field and just taken in the view. Thursday was the first chance I’ve had to see it at day break. It was stunning. The sun comes up over the horizon right in the center of our field of view, casting orange and pink light over three overlapping hills. The valleys between each of the forested mounds were filled with thick, white mist that shined in the low light. It seriously looked like something out of a fantasy movie. Just gorgeous.
I sat and drank my coffee, reclining on one of the few benches, loving my new job. The light grew stronger and things came into view around me: Bocce Courts, Baseball Diamonds, Horseshoe pits, Big pile of dirt…huh? Piled off to one side was just a random mound of dirt. Weird.
So being curious by nature, I started asking around.
“What’s up with the dirt?” I asked one of the clerks.
“No one is really sure,” he told me. “Yesterday, they closed down Rec and two dump trucks drove in, dumped the dirt and left.”
“Odd.”
“The only thing the C.O.’s can figure is that because it’s the end of the fiscal year their boss had to spend what money was left in his budget. So he bought dirt.”
(Sadly this is not the dumbest thing I’ve heard them liquidating their budget on. That would be the $10,000 the dining hall spent on two milk dispensers that were used for a week then placed in storage to this day. At least the dirt will get walked on).
“What are they going to do with it?” I asked.
“No one knows.”
An hour later, I see a parade of inmates pushing wheelbarrows. They all looked confused. As I watch they go over to the dirt pile, scoop a little into their wheelbarrow and start wandering around. Every now and then, one would stop and take a shovelful from the wheelbarrow and toss it on the ground or grass. I walk over to see what they’re covering. To my surprise there is no reason for the dirt to be there.
I go over to the inmate, “What are you doing?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. We were just told to come down here and to move the dirt.”
“Move it where?”
“Anywhere. They just said it’s against prison rules to have a large standing pile of dirt on the compound.”
“Seriously? They have rules about dirt?”
“They’re afraid someone might hide in it.”
“Why would anyone want to hide in a dirt pile in the middle of a fenced in prison?” I asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
I walked back to my bench and watched the one large pile of dirt turn into a few hundred small ones.
The next afternoon, I’m out at the bocce court with my friends. As I am waiting for my turn to play, I noticed a single inmate with a wheelbarrow and a shovel. He walks over to the first small dirt pile and scoops it into his wheelbarrow. He moves to the next and does the same. Then he takes it back to where the original pile was and dumps it. Over and over, this one guy worked to undo what I watched the day before. I think about going over to ask him what he’s doing but then notice he’s swearing to himself…a lot.
For the rest of the day, this guy walked all over the rec yard hunting for his dirt. Eventually, he started to shape it into a small berm, tamping it down until it resembled a long flat ledge. My friends watched with confusion. Most of these guys have worked construction or landscaping for a living and immediately noticed an issue.
“He just covered up the natural drainage canal. The first good rain we get and that whole pile of dirt is going to wash right down the hill.”
“You going to tell him?” I asked.
“Nope.”
When we were heading in for the day, the guy had just finished and was showing off his work.
That night it poured.