My visit to see Jeff (#11)

Over the 4th of July (long) weekend, my wife Beth and I flew to CA with our two children so that we could visit Jeff. We rented a car and piled into it with Jeff's wife and Jeff's two children. Starting from Carmel at 7:30 am it was about 55 degrees and foggy. By the time we got to Taft, it was about 111 degrees. It was quite an adjustment. After checking into a hotel, Laura (Jeff's wife), Jeff's two kids, and I drove over to the camp. It is about 4 miles or so from the hotel to the camp. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, a person could just walk away from the camp. It would be pretty easy to do so, but that would subject the escapee to a much higher degree of prison security, and a longer sentence. It's not worth it, but people do it.

I have never been to Taft before, so seeing the oil pumps reminded me of Bakersfield, except Taft is much smaller, and the terrain looks like scorched earth. Just barren. The drive up to the prison wasn't too bad for me, since I knew what to expect. There is a low security prison in front of Jeff's camp that holds non-citizen prisoners. Although it is low security, there are a lot of wires and protection because the inmates there are considered a high flight risk. To visit, we drove around this prison to the camp. You basically park outside of a building, and there are camp prisoners wandering about (they are taking care of the garden outside of the building). This is a hard job to get since there is a great degree of freedom. New inmates don't get this job. Off to the right there is a huge garden, it's as big as the recreation area, which I couldn't see all of, since it was behind the buildings, but Jeff told me that the garden was very large. I could see the garden, and it was at least as big as a football field, perhaps larger. In the middle, Jeff says, is a little pond, and there are paths through this garden. It has a lot of shade compared to the rest of camp, has fresh vegetables (which the prisoners are not supposed to take back to their bunks), and is very peaceful place compared to the rest of the camp. Jeff says that working in this garden is the best job, and the hardest to get. Anyway, that is what you see to the right of the building as you enter the prison facility. To the left there is a loading bay for the goods that the prisoners can buy, mail, food, etc.

As you walk into the building, the first thing I noticed again were the prisoners wandering about or waiting for something. I'm not quite sure. It was air conditioned (the second thing I noticed) and perhaps that explained the number of prisoners there. It is quite likely that they were all assigned to the lawn and plants just out front of the building, but were inside to escape the 111 degree sun. Since I am related to Jeff, I was cleared for a visit, but I didn't read my visitation rules very well and Laura told me that I could not wear shorts or my Adidas sandals. So, I borrowed some of Jeff's jeans and shoes before I went down. At any rate, I mention the clothes because the prisoners also have a strict dress code, they have to wear pants, and most wear some tan pants. They can wear tan or white t-shirts, but on a day like Friday (July 6th) they were almost entirely in white t-shirts. I later learned that I may have been mistaken for a prisoner in my khaki and white t-shirt that I wore while driving, and I understand why.

The room was very crowded this Friday. First, it was the 4th of July weekend, and second, we got there a little late for visitation. Visitation ends at 3, and we arrived at 12:30. We were still ushered right in to see Jeff, but he expected us about 12. We sat down at a table, and just began talking. Jeff looked the same to me, except much thinner than I had last seen him. One thing that struck me immediately was that the guards pay very little attention to what the inmates are doing, but in a minimum security camp, the prisoners know that being stupid and trying to bring in real contraband (drugs, alcohol, etc) would be a big mistake and not worth the risk. I wasn't even searched. Jeff is searched after every visit and must go through a drug scan as well.

The next thing I noticed was that every table was full of food that you would find at 7-11, stuff like candy bars, mini-bags of chips, and bagged sandwiches, hot dogs, etc. I couldn't figure out why the prisoners got so excited about this stuff, but Jeff told me that you get pretty sick of the food that they offer every day and so this 7-11 food is a nice treat. It also explained why you always bring some cash because they charge outrageous prices for this stuff. Jeff was craving a hamburger, and so we got him that (two of them - you can't buy only one) for $6. I ate one, and it wasn't bad. Jeff can get soda at this time pretty easily as well, even though they sell soda at the commissary. He still likes the freedom of being able to buy one whenever he wants without waiting for his turn to go to the commissary.

We spent about 2 hours and 15 minutes there on Friday. Jeff seemed in good spirits. We went back again on Sat at 8:30 and stayed until about 11:30. The hardest part about the visits with kids is that there is really nothing for them to do. There is a little room that the kids can go in and play and watch TV, but the prisoners can't go in there, so if you are bringing kids to see their dad, there is little point to send the kids away. At any rate, the prison visiting area does have crayons, books, and some puzzles, building blocks (well Jenga) and stuff to do at the tables.

I was very proud of my brother. Not only has he lost about 20 pounds in 3 months, but he is well thought of by many of the prisoners and seems to be well liked. It would be very easy for prisoners to ignore each other when they are spending precious time with their families, but a few prisoners made their way over to meet Jeff's twin (Jeff and I are identical), and to meet his wife and kids, if they hadn't already done so. Jeff knows people from playing soccer, from church, and from his dorm in general. He has gained some fame for being a decent Caucasian soccer player, but on this day, most of the guys were surprised what might have been Jeff's doppelganger. But, when they learned that we were identical twins, it just added more things for Jeff to talk to the guys about. I can't remember if Jeff has mentioned this, but prison is a place where being open, making friends, and talking about your personal life is not typical behavior. So, for the men to want to engage Jeff about his twin is a great starting point for him to engage these men.

Well, I'm not going to get to Jeff's blog, and I'm already behind one blog, so I'll get to one of them this weekend. I just wanted to share another story that Jeff talked about. As Jeff has mentioned previously, many of the guys look for creative ways to change the food options the prison gives them. Since they have access to microwaves, they try all kinds of things. Jeff says one guy in his dorm makes great tacos. It is quite an honor to have tacos with this guy, as Jeff says, because they are so good. Jeff says that if you have this honor, it is called, being in the car. So, the guy will go and say, hey what can you bring to ride in my car. Jeff will say, I can get some meat, or whatever they get. Jeff will ask, "who else is riding in your car?" which means either means who else is going to be eating tacos or what kind of tacos are we having, and could mean both. I'm not sure why I'm telling this story, but it really made Jeff smile that he was frequently offered to ride in this car and enjoy some tacos. A little variety for these men can make all the difference, and I just liked seeing my brother considered for a ride in the car.

This weekend, more from Jeff.