So the OJT business was over and it was time to move on to being full fledged Correction Officers. This was before GPS's and Google maps so I took out an old fashioned road map and figured out how to get there. I remember reporting for the first time. Now I had been there on my "Tour" at the academy so it wasn't a big shock when I saw the 40 foot wall surrounding the whole place. I also had been inside so I knew what to expect. I can describe GH as one really large place with walkways that connected the blocks and the Industrial work area. It felt like you were in a cave while walking the halls and the blocks were straight out of what people see in Movies. You pretty much could walk everywhere indoors. I recall this one academy instructor who's permanent work station was GH saying he got a lump in his throat when he drove up to the place. I never had that kind of reaction. Mind you it is one intimidating place. Old and dank. Kind of like the old farm house I grew up in, In a lot of ways!! Yea there were no bars but it was totally isolated. So What do I recall about the first few days and months at GH. Frisking cells, (and lots of them) Learning a different job almost daily, Nuts and butts (leave that up to your imaginations)after visiting hours. Pretty much any job that no one would ever want is what it comes down to. But Seniority is everything to Correction Officers and New Jacks would be in soon enough. One big advantage I had and this didn't take long for it to kick in. Although it did take years for me to figure it out, was this: I was called in to see the Sgt on duty one day and he said to me " You're not on a transfer list?" I said "Nope". That was the end of the conversation. I never left the day shift the two years I worked there. And my jobs got steadily better. Instead of running the 60 Inmate Underwear making shop I ran the gas booth during the movie. That sort of thing. Bringing up the Movie theater. That was one thing I found truly bizarre. Soon after getting to GH more than likely the first weekend. I had to escort a company of Inmates to the Movie theater to sit down and watch a movie. It was just like the old time theaters we had in the "Old days" One big theater. We would sit right in the middle of (and at the time GH had the most lifers in the state) the Theater filled with Inmates. And yup they turn the lights off. I saw "Desperately seeking Susan" with Madonna in it and I remember seeing "Beverley Hills cops". That day was one of those days that reminded you these men were of a different kind. In the scene where the execute Eddie Murphy's friend the convicts cheered!! There were two other days I remember that Movie theater. One was this time I was sitting in the middle watching and the film melted.. It's something that doesn't ever happen any more but anyone with some age remembers that it use to happen quite often. The light source for the projector looked like burning welding rods!! I know this from working the gas booth during one movie. I thought the place was going to tip over big time!! The place is dark and I'm thinking what to heck would I do if the "S" hit the fan? Try to run to the side I guess was what I came up with. But I was figuring I would be pretty much screwed. The Inmates were getting ticked off and just when one of them says "Lets "f" this place up" the CO's running the projectors got the film rolling again. It always made me wonder why we did the movies this way. The only other story I got about the movies to conclude this section of the blog was one day I am up on the roofs covering the yards when the yards closed we waited for them to open. Well this weekend we heard a lot of talk on the radios and the gist of it was the movie theater was having problems. We were ordered to step out on to the roof and be prepared to fire or use gas. We didn't have to do any shooting that day. They got it under control and OT (over time) was hired and they shipped out half a block of Inmates all at once!!! I'll never forget the show of "we will not tolerate this behavior" that the state showed that day. They hired a lot of CO's for OT and I was hired to work the few hours extra it took to pack them all up and then the Grey Hound style buses rolled in and they were off to other Max's. It wasn't too many years later they quit using the movie theater. And that's a good thing..,