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#41 June 18, 2000 SHOWER YOUR SINS AWAY
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Sun, 18 Jun 2000 14:54:43 EDT
Newsletter #41 June 18, 2000
©copyright 2000 by Richard Keech
SHOWERS WASH YOUR SINS AWAY
Here’s another report from your traveler. As you
all know I’m no
longer in America. I’m traveling thru that distant alien land,
the California
Prison Empire.
I’m stranded here in one of its great cities,
CMC—EAST. As are
all cities in the empire, this is a prison. Showers are the
subject of todays
report. Let me tell you about them.
These people have pretty well adjusted to their
fate. They are
prisoners you know. They take life as it comes, one day at a
time. They don't
expect a lot, and manage to make a good life with what they do
get.
There is one exception to this though. These folks
are obsessed
with importance of “cleanliness”.
It’s more than just having things clean, its the
ritual of
cleaning that counts. —— That floor was clean yesterday. We
cleaned it last
night. It is as clean as it will ever get, but that's not the
point. One of
the morning rituals requires it be cleaned again today.. It will
be. ——
Men who have lived any length of time in prison are
the neatest
cleanest men you will ever meet. With them, cleanliness is a
compulsion. An
innocent enough one, in a way, and quite beneficial in some
ways, but,
nevertheless a strong one, a driving one.
Now, lets get on with the story and the subject of
this report,
showers. How does a citizen in this land satisfy that need for
cleanliness?
Showers are the answer. He has to have a shower. How is this
done?
Well, at CMC, each hundred man tier, and there are
six to a
building, has its own shower room. This shower room is 10 feet
wide by 20
feet long. It has five shower heads. There is a low bench
running along
one side where you can lay your towel and clothes while you
shower. On the
side facing the tier aisle the wall is solid for the first five
feet up, then
it’s enclosed with bars for the rest of the distance to the
ceiling.
From the aisle you can just see the heads of the men
in the
shower, no more. We have female guards and this is in deference
to their
modesty. The water is hot and the showers throw out a lusty
spray.
The showers are busy all day. Often there is a short
waiting line in
the aisle. It is a pleasant happy time. I enjoy my showers as do
the others.
Our showers by the way are fully racially integrated
Nelson
Mandella or Ghandi would be pleased. Our building has black,
Hispanic and
white in about equal proportions. We all shower together, in
peace.
So, you want a shower? Perhaps you have laundry to
do? How do you
go about it?
Here’s how that works at CMC. The shower room is
open for use
from 7:00 in the morning to 7:00 at night. It is closed during
the two count
times each day, and for one hour in the morning so the Hall
Porters can clean
it.
In prison, being available for use doesn’t always
get you too
much. You still have to get out of your cell. CMC is a great
place to be on
that score. At CMC you have a key to your cell. Except for count
times CMC
prisoners are generally free to leave their cells as they wish.
At CMC, the
count is over, you want a shower, open your cell door, and go
take it.
Another nice thing about CMC , once in the shower,
you can spend
as much time there as you want. Therein lies a problem, by the
way. The thing
is, most men stay in the shower long enough to do their personal
laundry too. This gives you a good excuse to enjoy the flow of
hot water over
your back for a good half hour at least.
Although the prison provides a weekly laundry
service, most men
prefer to wash out their own clothing. Every cell has a three
gallon plastic
bucket (purchased at the canteen by the men with their own
money.) When a man
goes to the shower he takes his bucket with him and washes out
his underwear
and socks.
Some men also wash their shirts and trousers every third
day or so.
Underwear washed by hand comes out much whiter. Shirts and
trousers washed by
hand come out unwrinkled. Many men see these two unique
characteristics as
symbolic in some way. Evidence of their pride in themselves.
Of interest, the hand washed clothing has to be
taken back to the
cell to hang up to dry, and, curiously enough, clothes lines in
the cells are
not permitted. This is a rule completely ignored by all.
As I have mentioned before, the importance of all
this
cleanliness seems to escape me. I take a shower once a day,
whether I need it
or not, mainly because I like the feel of the hot water flowing
over me.
I wash nothing. The prison has a laundry to do that.
I let them
earn their money.
I think the prison, for some reason I’m not aware
of, likes to
have the men do their own wash though. I notice that the prison
does not use
good detergent in its own washing. The whites come out clean but
dingy
looking, a tattle tale gray. My friends on the other hand
purchase good
Rinso detergent from the canteen. Their wash comes out
sparkling.
Now you may ask, what’s my point?. Showers, you
say, are nice,
free laundry is nice. The men apparently have the facilities
available to
insure clean bodies and clean clothes. Isn’t that just normal
America?
Didn’t they take showers out in the real world? Didn't they
wash their
clothes?
No, not really. Did they wash their own clothes at
home? No way!
You know the answer to that. These are working class men from
tough
neighborhoods. In their culture the home is the responsibility
of the woman.
Women do the cooking, cleaning and laundry. The men go out and
face the world. The men bring home the food. Theirs is a culture
still based
on the hunter gatherer society. The men hunt. The women work.
Men doing
laundry is not a natural thing for them.
You are a working man, you come home from a hard
day's work to a w
ife and kids. How does such a man relax? He certainly doesn’t
dash into the
shower and start washing out his underwear. What he does is
walk into the
kitchen, pull a can or two of beer out of the refrigerator, go
into
the living room, turn the TV on and sprawl out on a sofa with
his beer and
relax. A considerate husband would make sure he has a shower
before going to
bed. It is not a high priority item for him.
So what is the explanation for the almost total
about face here.
How is it these men, who spend their lives in clean cells and
clean exercise
yards feel so compelled to wash themselves and their clothes
every day?
Hey, I'm not sure I really know the answer to this..
There are
several explanations. They’re all good. Who knows which is
right?
The explanation most of the prisoners will give you
if asked is
“We live in close quarters. Keeping clean is a show of respect
for your
fellow prisoners, all a part of the prison code of respect”.
Another explanation would give a spiritual
significance to the
act of washing. The symbolism of washing away ones sins is built
into all
religions. You’ve come to prison with some feeling of guilt?
Wash it away!
Prayer is good, but it perhaps needs some reinforcement.
What is the right answer? I’m not sure.
Richard Keech
Semper fi
check out Richard's web page
http://table.jps.net/~chez/rc/
