The author has a interesting and informative insight in observing incarcerated men and the harsh and sometimes humorous lives that they live while being incarcerated. The book is a journal from the time Mr. Rainge spent working in the PRIDE Strip Shop. Mr. Rainge burned plates for the presses, filed jobs, and delivered finished product to the pressmen. The journal chronicled the in shop lives of the men that worked in the Strip Shop and the sometimes dangerous atmosphere of being incarcerated.
The Strip Shop
An Insightful Journal By D.B. RaingeAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 D.B. Rainge
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4567-1653-0Chapter One
The purposes of these writings are to entertain, inform, and make you wonder. The innocent has been protected because most of the people I'm writing about were guilty. I include myself in these writings to give my own outlook and perspective on matters of the heart, fair play, and down right nonsense. These writings were written over a seven or eight month period. The information is true and exact due to firsthand knowledge of the events, dates, time, and places. I will incorporate opinions, biblical text, and memories from past experiences to relay my message to the readers. I hope this will be enjoyable reading for all.
I'll start with a little background information about myself, the writer, my name is Darrell Rainge and at the time of writing this I was 25 years old and still had a lot to learn about how the "system" operated. I was in my second year of a lengthy prison sentence for a felony that I committed as a 23 year old man. I did the crime and I did the time and through that experience I learned several things about myself, things about others, things about the "system", and the things about the Lord. On the flip side I also learned some things about the devil and how he and his imps operate.
The writings take place at Calhoun Correctional Institution in Blountstown, Florida in the year of 1995. It was a very turbulent year since this was my first time being incarcerated and truthfully I was a little scared. That same year there was a riot between West Palm and Leon County with Big Kelly leading the Leon County boys. The riot was over a Black History Talent Show gone badly during the month of February. The two groups were rioting because one of the groups didn't want to pay after they lost the bet. The bet was on whom the best singing voice belonged too and the West Palm boys said they weren't going to pay those country boys from Leon County one yellow dollar. The bet was for a case of Tops tobacco which equaled out to be about 24 yellow dollars. The previous year there was also a riot which resulted in the institution being depleted in inmate numbers. By the end of 1994 it was full once more.
My job assignment was at P.R.I.D.E. Print Shop and I worked in the Stripping Department, I was highly recruited by Henry a.k.a. Napoleon because I looked smart due to me wearing eyeglasses. He was a joke all by himself but that will come later in my writings. I started out at P.R.I.D.E. as a basic laborer in the bindery department and was then recruited to the Stripping Department aka the Strip shop. The names of my co-workers were Rolle, Rawley, Geezer, Storm, TKL, Napoleon and White. These were an assorted bunch of strange and weird characters. I guess if I was not the writer of this work I might be included in the strange and weird part. Since, I'm the author I won't be included in the strange and weird part. None of the men in the Strip shop were Christians except Rolle.
I will give the strongest one word background on each of these characters. Rawley was the recluse. Storm was the entrepreneur. Geezer was the hot head. Rolle was the level headed one. TKL was the cocky one. White was the gay one. Napoleon was the perverted one. I was the quiet one. I learned a lot from all of these men in the Stripping Department about the printing industry and about life. At the time of putting these writing into a structured format several of these men were free and one was deceased.
These writings are from a journal that I kept meticulous notes of day to day activities in the Stripping Department, the Strip for short. This journal came out of a desire to learn how to write with my left hand and I thought that one day that I might be able to put it into some format for the masses. I was released several years ago and I recently came across these writings and my wife of four years encouraged me to write my story and even though this is not the whole story it is a vital part of my story to come. During the time of these writings I was not a Christian nor was I saved, meaning has dedicated my life to Christ to follow Him and keep his commandments. I was just a young and misguided and I even studied with the Muslims in an attempt to find myself. I attended Jumah every Friday with the Muslim brothers until later I realized that that religion or belief system wasn't for me. I still wasn't saved but I started attending church with the Christians. I also started studying with them and years later in 1999 at Tomoka Work Camp I finally got saved after all those years of questions, watching them, attending services, and study periods.
There are a lot of dynamics involved in prison life, that is to say it is just like the free world minus children and women. In the four corner world as we affectionately call it there is a structure of the work force, communities, loan offices, stores, and general living similar to being in the free world. Those structures are controlled by the law, the inmates, and the conditions of your location. The correctional officers are the ones who keep inmates in line; the sergeants keep the officers in line, and so on and so forth.
These writings start on or around the 23rd of July in the year of 1995. It was a hot day in Blountstown that day but it was a good because the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay had lost their games the day before. I got to the Strip about 6:10 in the morning and first thing I saw was that TKL got a haircut the day before and he looks funny, he should go get his money back from that barber, money meaning a box of Tops tobacco. Napoleon was ecstatic that Tampa lost because he bet a pressman that Tampa wouldn't win seven games this season. Well in the 1995-96 seasons they won just seven regular games. Today Napoleon and Geez said that Officer Knight looks kinky and Geez told Napoleon that she'll probably eat a p- quicker than he would! TKL looks like a skinhead with his new haircut and that's why he doesn't like it. The breakdown of race is as follows TKL, Rawley, and Geez are white men. The rest of us are black. We all had to walk a fine race line as not to offend one another because that's how riots jump off. The day went by fast and it was time for 10:00 chow which lasted until about 11:44.
The supervisors were Mr. Olsen a former marine, Mr. Stern a college graduate that was a little too feminine to be working inside the system. Mr. Stern didn't come to work today because he was sick according to Mr. Olsen. Napoleon and Mr. Olsen was engaged in an interesting conversation about which armed forces was the best. Napoleon was a former navy man. Mr. Olsen told Napoleon that a marine kick the a- of any other armed force any day of the week and Napoleon said that he was a lie. Mr. Olsen said the only other servicemen that train harder are the Navy Seals and Napoleon agreed with him of course. Mr. Olsen said that only three out of 100 men make Green Beret or Navy Seals. Geez told TKL that with that haircut he had that he could scare a hungry bulldog off of a meat truck. It was a slow day that day but interesting nonetheless. The time of departure for the day was 3:35. I will sum up each entry with a scripture to keep things in perspective.
Proverbs 3:35 The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
I took a couple of months offs from my writing and picked the journal back up in September of 1995. It's Tuesday the 12th of September and I clocked in at about 6:20 a.m. and the morning was already live because Napoleon was telling all of us how he purchased Playboy magazines in the free world. Storm told Napoleon that Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and Sidney Portier are the only three black men to win Oscars. Napoleon was telling Storm that Lavar Burton received one for his role in the mini-series "Roots". He was yelling at Storm trying to convince him that Burton got an Oscar for the "movie" "Roots". Storm and Rolle tried to tell Napoleon that it was only a mini-series. Napoleon said he was going to squash all that and get back with them later on the issue. In his mind he's never wrong but the whole Strip shop knows he's wrong because he's not perfect and he doesn't have the proof. Geez commented that he didn't like Sly Stallone's movies' because he can't act in his opinion. Napoleon begged to differ because he likes all of Stallone's movies.
Storm had a red hot deal going in the Strip today, which included one Playboy magazine for five yellow dollars and four lighthouse stamps for free. It was a deal you could not beat because you would get some postage stamps for free. This was the issue with the Snoop Doggy Dogg interview and that's what made it so valuable.
Napoleon said everyone still likes Disco and Geez told him that if you like disco you are an old pops. Geez told him that he was stuck in a time machine that caught a flat tire in the 70's. Napoleon made a comment about older women having some good loving; Geez agreed with Napoleon that older women might have some good loving because one of the Bee Gees killed himself because of one. I heard in the plant today that we lost two more to confinement today, Lowe and Big Keith that's how it goes when you get caught for contraband. During my lunch break I had navy beans, white rice, white bread, mixed vegetables and a choke sandwich. I was a vegetarian at the time of this writing and I always got the alternate unless the meat was a meat that I could sell or trade. Fried chicken or as we called it inside that barn yard gangster always fetched a nice payment. You could sell fried chicken for up to two yellow dollars but baked chicken you could only get half price. My chow break lasted from 9:56 to 11:30. When I reentered the Strip, Napoleon and Storm was in the middle of making a bet on some of the 0-2 NFL teams. The days sometimes flew by and others just crawled. I clocked at 3:17.
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Today is September the 13th and it is a Wednesday according to my writings and today is the day of the big plant inspection. Whenever there is a plant inspection we have to be in class "A" uniform and that simply means you have to have on your blues, brogan boots, and name tag on the front of your shirt. We didn't always have to be in class "A" uniform because the plant could get really hot and in the summer months it usually did. We had a relaxed dress code most of the time, meaning you could just have on your blues minus the shirt as long as you had a tee shirt on, you were alright. In my mind this is a vision of things to come because the officers consistently pushed for us to be class "A" all the time but the supervisors at P.R.I.D.E. had no problem with us being relaxed. TKL got a corrective consultation (C.C.) this morning for disrespect and he couldn't believe it. The reason he couldn't believe it was because he thought he was untouchable and for the most part white guys got away with a little more in the plant than did blacks. We were in the South and that's just how it goes down here. He got a C.C. today and I thought it was pretty funny.
The DOC conducted inspections from time to time to keep us in line and to confiscate contraband, not all contraband was worthy of confinement but they did like to throw the ones they didn't like into the hole. Geez was telling me about various things that can get you high from like nutmeg, mushrooms, and liquid from a toad's skin.
Pressman Grier came to the Strip today to talk with Geez about Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer. The bet and argument was who was more famous and Grier said it was Val Kilmer but Geez disagreed with him and said that Tom Cruise was more popular. The argument took a heated turn for the worse when they both started calling each other names. Whenever Geez got to the point before his breaking point he would always tell the person he was arguing with that they should not talk to him the rest of the day, to give him time to cool off. Geez told Grier that he would appreciate it if he wouldn't talk to him the rest of the day after their 20 minute argument. Grier replied that as far as he was concerned we don't have to talk as long as we are in the chain gang. It started off as a simple bet proposal that turned into an argument and Geez then told Grier that he wouldn't bet him because he needed his money for the fruitcakes that he hangs around on the compound. Grier said as far as he's concerned you're a fruitcake yourself. After a little more huffing and puffing, Grier blew on down the road. Fruitcakes were just one of many terms for gays.
Napoleon was in the Strip shop today talking about all the female officers that he would have sex with. He said that there is only one that he would not have sex with and that was the big fat officer with the bump on her nose. Napoleon could be disgusting when he wanted to be and this was one of those times.
The plant went to eat chow at 10:00 and we all got back at 11:35am. When I returned back to the Strip, Geez and Rawley was arguing about religions, Geez is a Buddhist and Rawley is not affiliated with any religion. Geez was telling Rawley that the Buddhists are in the billions world-wide. Rawley didn't want to argue with Geez because he knew about his temper and Rawley was too mild mannered to continue plus he knew That Geez wasn't going to change his mind. Geez was the oldest inmate in the shop and that was another he thought he knew it all. He also had done the most time in DOC and he thought made him an authority on many issues. Geez did know a lot but he didn't it all.
The rest of the day I relaxed in the shop and talked with TKL, Storm, White, Geez, and Rolle about the ups and downs of prison life. I left the building at 3:52 pm.
Proverbs 3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
I entered the plant at 6:22 this morning and clocked in to another electric day at the Strip. Today we had power surge in the plant and there was a slight delay in the schedule. Several months prior to this writing we had a female supervisor by the name of Ms. Hames and she was an intelligent young black woman. She was fair and she had a pretty nice figure, I remember when she first started how everyone in the plant would come by the Strip to check her out. Ms. Hames had some nice thighs and pretty brown skin. One day at the Strip shop Ms. Hames asked White where he was from and he told her he was from India. I could not help but to laugh but that would explain his weird exercises and him walking fast everywhere he went. White was from Jacksonville but Ms. Hames never found that out because she said would not be asking anymore personal question and she was eventually fired for fraternization with an inmate. White complained that she didn't let him finish the time he went to South America; he had a very vivid imagination. Napoleon, Storm and I really got a kick out of that conversation.
Yesterday, the American Correctional Association A.C.A. was at the institution and they came to inspect the compound. They will be back the next day to finish up their reports. In the chow hall we have a new food director by the name of Sergeant Jackson and since she's been in the chow hall the food went from bad to worse all in the name of profits for the state. She even changed the portion size to smaller sizes. She doesn't wear the traditional brown uniform that officers wear, she get to dress civilian clothes but she likes to wear flimsy material and stretch pants which highlighted her assets. At the plant we take two breaks a day one at eight and the other at two. Whenever we take our 8:00 am break on the back dock you can see the chow hall from the back dock and during this time Sgt. Jackson likes to take her smoke break as well and that's when a lot of the men determine if they are going to chow that day. The men were circling the back dock like vultures just to get a glimpse of Sgt. Jackson. She always wore the sweat pants tight to show off her print and the men weren't disappointed. I lost a lot of respect for Sgt. Jackson when she started dressing like that. I felt that her clothes were inappropriate. Napoleon asked me did I see the round peach on Sgt. Jackson today and I told him that I really didn't pay much attention to her. He always lusted when he saw her in her notorious sweat pants. He said that he thought Sgt. Jackson was really fine and attractive to him. I took a short chow break from 11:14 to 11:39. I have been busy since 7 am count time and was a little tired. Its 2:40 and I only took a quick five minute break because I couldn't all the cigarette smoke on the dock.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Strip Shopby D.B. Rainge Copyright © 2011 by D.B. Rainge. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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