The year was 1989 and I worked at Twin Rivers Corrections Center for one year. I trained at the Washington State Reformatory with Rod  and Virginia . About six months into my work there I was asked by Rod if I could go over to the SOC and fill in while Virginia took some leave. What did I know ? I said sure. SOC stands for Special Offender Center and houses psychotic sex offenders. I will never forget my time working there. The library was underground and there was no officer anywhere near. I wore a panic pager on my belt and the room was panned on closed circuit tv every ninth frame. The first day an inmate returned a paperback book that had a bite taken out of it like a sandwich would. I asked him how the book was and he replied  ” It was delicious” ! There was a counselor whose job it was to tell this inmate that he was not getting out. She was beaten so bad that she had to leave state service. After a few weeks there I asked an officer how long he had worked there and he said 15 years. I said how could you do that for so long and remain sane and his comeback was  ” Bates Motel……Norman speaking ” !  I was only there for 3 weeks but it seemed like 3 months. This library was Virginia’s normal everyday environment. My hat goes off to her because she was and is one tough cookie !

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.