Crews cont.

Crews cont.

Quite a different type of crew work compared to the one I just talked about was taking the Inmates out into the forest and cutting down trees.. I was kind of surprised that the State was allowing the Inmates to use chainsaws. They gave them safety gear, and one and sometimes two Inmates on each crew were tested and if they passed they gave “chainsaw licenses” to them so they could operate the chainsaw.. The rest of the crew would do the axe work or drag the bows off. The State basically handed over weapons to the Inmates just in case they may need them. I on the other hand had no weapons to fend them off if they decided to revolt ! Never had a major problem which was good for me. Other’s have stories of Inmates fighting each other swinging axes trying to take a head off if they could. I was pretty lucky not much fighting and injuries were mostly minor. I do remember having them rip apart a bridge way back in the woods and one of them stepping on a long spike and driving it right through his foot. (ruined a good pair of boots.). He had to be carried out of the woods. which was a lot of work. But he made a full recovery and was back to the chainsaw work fairly quickly. Not long after arriving at Georgetown they took away the chainsaws. Some Officers thought it was a bad thing I personally enjoyed the Inmates cutting down trees with Bow Saws. It was a much quieter day out there. It was a real drag of a job in the winter months. We had this one Superintendent who thought we should stay out all day and not return to the Camp for lunch. No chance of warming up and the days were really long especially on the cold windy days.. Really sucked!! This Sgt. back then (nameless) would actually come around no matter what and make sure you were working no matter what the conditions were. I couldn’t wait to get out of that type of work. But it did have it’s good days out in the fresh air and staying busy would pass the time quite quickly.. For the most part as I got more and more seniority I avoided taking the crews out and moved on to other shifts and other jobs to try and avoid the boredom of Correction work. The crews changed there functions as Georgetown tried to maintain a semblance of purpose. Later becoming more community service oriented. I never like that job at all due to always feeling I was taking the job away from someone who could use a good job. Also they seemed to always find something to get into trouble with,especially in the churches ...I had a crew up in a local town and the Inmates were allowed inside to use the bathroom one at a time. So I let this one kid go in while trying my best to keep the others painting. Only to hear soon after a “rapping” sound coming from the church steeple..Of course I was a little ticked off and he was surprised that it went over the speaker system for the whole town to hear. I never heard anything from anyone in the town. You get what you pay for when it comes to inmate Labor. Of course there are two sides to every coin and some may think well it’s good they give back to the community. I agree with that but maybe they should pick garbage along the roadways more often and stay away from the jobs where they cause an honest working man to not have a job. I guess I am old school in that way of thinking but I think they should be back in the woods chopping and sawing trees. Clearing ski trails that sort of thing. In the woods they can “rap” all they want as long as I can’t hear it!!