Our church participates in the St. Dysmas ministry at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. This is a ministry focused on prison inmates. Our church sends parishioners to the prison for services. St. Dysmas was the name given to the prisoner crucified on the right side of Jesus who repented of his crimes.
Husband is interested in participating in this ministry. In order to do so he has to submit a quarterly background check request. His record is blameless, but the authorities may have some issues with his wife’s last name.
In May, 1991, my father was asked to give a lecture on becoming a sports official and the intricacies of being a referree, to prisoners at the SD Penitentiary. He gave his lecture to about 30 male prisoners. It went well, he thought, and he gathered up his things and left. Within minutes after his departure there was a very serious prison-wide riot. He wasn’t blamed for the riot, but I imagine his name was mentioned in the report on the riot.
Dad’s friends thought the timing of his lecture and the riot was hilarious, and teased him about it with great relish. There wasn’t any connection between Dad and the riot, but was a pretty interesting coincidence. I worry that if Husband has to list my last name on his background check, he may get turned down for participation in the St. Dysmas program.
Ever been in a riot? Ever visited a prison? What might you like to give a lecture on, and to who?
I worked construction at the State Penitentiary in Bismarck for a few weeks. It was uneventful. The security matters were intense. Account for every tool going in and make it match the list going out.
I also interviewed at the Warren County Penitentiary to develop a flooring installation educational program. Funding was almost completed when Covid struck and nixxed the entire plan.
The Jamestown State Hospital and Grafton School weren’t jails but were horrible. I have great sympathy for those residents.
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I have not been in a riot, As a young soldier in Alabama, I was part of a group activated to surround a demonstration by African-American soldiers and see to their being boarded onto busses to incarceration. Things were done in a calm and orderly fashion, but I acted with chagrin, and now it is shame.
I have not visited a prison, which is another shameful thing, since visiting prisoners is a Gospel mandate. I guess I’m not all that good at obeying those.
Lecturing is something that I’ve done a lot of. In retirement, though, I’ve given that up. The world is a better place for having me retired from lecturing. “That guy is all about waving his hands and using words cleverly, but he says little or nothing.”
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My father served at Craig Air Force base ouside Selma, Alabama during the Korean War. I was born there. Named after Dad’s two best friends, African-American fellow airmen, Wes and Duane. Dad and Mom hated the racism of Alabama.
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Wow. Neither, I guess. I’ve been at a few protests, the most memorable at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, led by Dick Gregory, very active, but it was peaceful.
And the closest I’ve been to a prison is donating books to a group that would deliver them there. I guess that makes me lucky no one I’ve been close to has had to go to prison…
Thinking…
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I went to junior high and high school in Anamosa, IA, home of the state men’s reformatory. It looked like a huge fortress/castle on the East side of town and had been quarried and built of local limestone. Grant Wood’s Stone City was just down the road.
My brother’s paper route included a drop at the turnkey’s window, and when he went on a fishing trip with our dad, my mother and I drove the route (usually my brother took his bike) and I ran the paper in.
One morning, I had trouble getting the man’s attention. He sat behind the locked entrance, and would push a button to send out the tray that I would put the paper in (I think some banks had a similar set up for drive up deposits). This morning I had a hard time getting his attention, because an inmate had gone “over the wall”.
A few years before, a guy had escaped and murdered a woman and her husband when he went to their house in hopes they would help him. He was eventually caught in Arizona or New Mexico. The warden’s son was in my class and disappeared for a couple of weeks until the inmate was found. That’s another story for another time.
I went back to the car and of course we finished the route and didn’t think more of it. I assume they found the inmate. It was just how we lived. Seems crazy now that I’m telling it.
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Wow!
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It’s funny to put that all into words on a page. At the time it was just how things happened.
I feel like 9/11, 1/6, and COVID sort of the same way. Thomas Mann wrote about people living with TB in a similar way- when it’s happening to you, it’s really not extraordinary. I should try to find that. It’s in The Magic Mountain, but I read that so long ago.
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I hope the warden’s son was not taken hostage….
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
I have not been in a riot, thank goodness. I have also lectured many times on mental health intervention techniques and social services issues. I have done all that enough that I do not want to do that again.
I have visited county jails many times to carry out suicide assessments, usually with a guard or jail attendant nearby. Those facilities were very basic and without much of anything extra. I also visited the Shakopee Women’s Prison as part of a church volunteer program. That had elaborate security and safety measures. The guy that arranged that had done time in prison somewhere for some violation I have forgotten. What I do remember about him is that he seemed like a charming con artist who surely ended up in prison again. The women themselves were unremarkable and just wanted to talk.
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At my interviews with prison staffers, for the potential teaching job, I was instructed to avoid friendship with inmates. No communications outside classroom instruction was allowed. A sterile relationship with people would have been very challenging. I want to see the potential in everyone.
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January 6, 2021
Does witnessing that count as being in a riot?
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It certainly felt like it, especially as we were all trying to navigate the COVID life.
S&h did that first week of winter term at home, as they were hoping to have the kids not travelling through packed post-holiday airports. I was working in the basement, he was doing class in his room when he came down to see if I was watching it. It was unreal.
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Yes, absolutely.
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I’ve been in peaceful protests but no riots, thank you very much.
Back in the days when I was desperate to leave Waterville, I interviewed for a practical nursing job at the prison in Faribault. There were layers of background checks prior to the interview. I was coached on every step it took just to get to the interview. I could have done that job, but I knew I wouldn’t be happy. There was no nurturing involved. I wasn’t supposed to be friendly or offer any supportive comments. I was told to be professionally neutral, and not interact unless it was necessary. I did well in the interview, and was offered the job, but I turned it down. Still stuck in Waterville.
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I was in a food fight in Jr. High… closest I’ve got.And I don’t want to make light of riots either.
From what we’ve heard about the riots in Minneapolis back in 2020, those were worse than some officers saw in combat.
Crazy stories have come from them.
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Rochester has the Federal Medical Center jail. Mom and I toured it when it first opened… back in the ’80’s maybe.
I remember seeing the manhole covers chained shut and thinking, Huh! I never would have thought of that!
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I hate speaking to groups–or more accurately, I’m terrified of speaking to groups–so no lectures from me.
The closest I’ve been to a riot is food fights in high school. It was a large high school with a huge lunchroom, so food fights could really get out of control. Kids who weren’t participating would be quickly evacuated while the hall monitors and teachers tried to subdue the combatants.
This wasn’t a riot either, but a couple of family members were present at the march in 2020 in which a semi-truck drove into marchers on the I-35W bridge. They were far enough away that they weren’t in danger and didn’t get hurt.
Very early in our marriage, Husband worked for a dental supply company and the state of Minnesota was a client. He visited a couple of our state prisons (Stillwater and possibly another one) and described them as very bleak.
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No riots or prisons or even lecturing. Unless you count parental lecturing.
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RIP Walter Koenig
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