Corruption Officer (23 page)

I am heated.
 
I am
nervous.
 
I am scared.
 

Those were my thoughts as I got off work and retrieved my
weapon from the arsenal.
 
I had to do
something about this.
 
I put my gun in my
pocket, went outside and got on the route bus but before the bus could take off,
the 3 - 11 pm tour Captain comes on the bus, and out of everybody on the bus,
tells me that she needs someone to stay for overtime and that my name is next
on the list.
 

I reluctantly got off the bus, but before I went to assume
the post she put me on, I detoured back to my locker and started sipping and
thinking about the shit that just happened.
 
My thoughts were that I can’t let this
motherfucker extort me!
 
How did he get
caught and not me?
 
Are they going to
eventually catch me even if he doesn’t tell them?
 
Damn, I am messed up right now.
 
The more I think about Trent, the angrier I
get.
 
That fool knew the risk just like I
did!
 
I took a chance with him and now he
is trying to make me pay.
 
Hell no, I am
going to deal with this dude tonight!
 

I go upstairs and take the corridor post.
 
I am a little intoxicated when my meal relief
comes.
 
He tells me to take my time
because he’s bored and just waiting to go home.
 
So I head down to the Officer’s kitchen.
 
When I get inside, there is a small group of Officers
sitting at a table watching television.
 
Officer
K. Johnson, the third part of the three amigos, is one of them.
 
I say to her, “
It’s
weird being here without both of your partners right?”
 
Meaning ironically Bryant and Z. Jones are
both out due to two separate inmate killings.
 
She is leaning back in her chair in a real
relaxed position and just nods after I say that while walking by.
 

Then I hear her ask one of the Officers sitting nearby to
wake her when they get ready to go back to post so she can go back to hers.
 
I sit down a few tables away from them and try
to shake this feeling of nervousness due to the fact of not knowing what or
when this fool is going to start running his mouth if I don’t pay him.
 
I’m about to doze off when I hear the Officer
tapping Johnson on her shoulder to wake her up.
 
They were going back to post.
 
Then
the Officer shook her gently calling out her name, trying to wake her but there
was no response.
 
Now a sense of urgency
comes over the Officer as now she frantically tries to wake Johnson up!
 
Other Officers come over to assist.
 

They determine that she is not breathing!
 
One gets on the phone and calls the clinic
while the others lay her down on the floor and begin the rescue breathing
process.
 
I get up and come over as the Officer
does the procedure and under my breath I am counting with him, “One one
thousand,
two
one thousand!”
 
Now the clinic staff comes and takes over while
the rest of us Officers standby watching and praying.
 

I back up away from what is going on and watch from a
distance as I know all too well from my military training, from my experience
in here, and most of all from my experience with death in the streets that it
was already too late and that Office K. Johnson was gone.
 
Officers started crying.
 
Then everyone was asked to leave out until
the ambulance or medical examiner arrived.
 
I didn’t stick around to find out.
 
I was distraught.
 
I couldn’t believe what had just happened.
 
I go to my locker and sit and think about
Johnson.
 
She along with Bryant and Jones
broke me in on this job, taught me a lot of the do’s and don’ts.
 
She was a very good Officer and most of all, a
good person.
 
She did her job by the book
at all times and you never heard of her getting involved with any of the B.S.
that goes on around here.
 
I sat there and
thought about the three amigos and how life is.
 
It’s crazy how now neither of them were here on this job anymore. I knew
that when her partners found out, they were going to be devastated.
 

I am sitting in the locker room in my own thoughts openly
sipping.
 
Some Officers came in and
without a word being said pulled out cups and joined me.
 
After awhile it’s time for me to go home.
 
My tour is over and I am real tipsy.
 
I am about to leave my post when I remember
Trent and all sorts of feelings come over me.
 
I was hurt because I just lost a friend, and I
was angry because of what he was trying to do to me.
 
As I stood up to leave my post I checked
myself to make sure that I was not leaving anything and that’s when I felt it.
 
My thoughts were, ‘Oh shit.
 
I must have rushed and forgot all this time!’

Then an idea came over me so I put it in motion.
 
I felt that I was desperate and needed to get
to Trent and let him know that he’s in my world now and that I am not just
going to lay down for his shit!
 
I make
my way to my housing area and the Officer, who is my steady relief, let me in.
 
She was crying because the news had already
traveled through the jail.
 
I told her
that I’d stay and hold her down until her relief came and she agreed because
she eagerly wanted to go and find out more about what just happened.
 
The inmates were already locked in for the
night and all the lights were cut off.
 

I waited for her to be gone for a minute but I knew that I
did not have much time.
 
I went to
Trent’s cell.
 
I flashed my light in
there and saw that he was asleep and that he did not awake from the light
shinning in his cell.
 
So I took the bar
that we use to open the cells manually when the electric motor in them is
broken, and opened his cell as quietly as I possibly could.
 
Now I was in his cell standing over him as he
snored.
 
I then took out my gun that I
had forgotten to put back in the arsenal from earlier when the Captain pulled
me off the bus for overtime.
 
I tapped
him on his forehead with my weapon.
 
He
opened his eyes wide when he saw me and was about to yell.
 
So I quickly put my gun in his mouth so that
he would stop and see that I wasn’t fucking playing!
 
Sheer terror and disbelief was in his eyes now
as he looked at me and searched my eyes for mercy.
 
I was stone faced.
 
I put my finger up to my mouth indicating for
him to be quiet.
 
He nodded.
 
I pulled my gun out of his mouth and he took a
deep breath.
 
I looked at him in his face
and with a cold, calm, nonchalant attitude said, “Do you still want to play
this game with me?
 
I commit felonies
everyday in here and in the streets.
 
So
do you think I am going to allow you to come in here and fuck up what I worked
so hard to build and just extort me like I am some lil’ nigga?
 
Huh!?”
 

I raise my gun and put it to his forehead.
 
He’s tearing up and has the not-knowing-what
to-expect-next look on his face.
 
I say
to him, “Don’t fuck with me, Trent, because if I pull this trigger, your family
might get some money but you won’t know it.”
 
He looks at me terrified and tears are rolling
down the side of his face and he stutters when he says, “Gee, it don’t have to
be like this.
 
I am sorry for what I was
trying to do.
 
I only did it because I am
fucked up right now.
 
As for this bid, I
am finished.
 
They got me red-handed for
murdering this kid over a year ago.
 
Me
being here ain’t got
nothing
to do with you.”
 
He looks at my face to see if I believe him
or not.
 
He continues to talk, “I am
serious,
Gee
.
 
Check
my file.
 
It will tell you what I am here
for and it will show you that it has nothing to do with what we did.”
 
I put my gun away realizing the time and say
to him, “I’m ah let you rock this time, but you better ask around here about me
because anytime I feel like it, you can be
touched
.
 
And just so I can sleep at night, as long as
you’re here, one of my peeps is always going to be watching you.
 
And I have your name and numbers, so I will
always be able to track where you’re at and touch you if I have to - remember
that.”
 

I walk out his cell and slam it shut.
 
The Officer shows up and I leave.
 
As I am leaving the jail, I see all of the Officers
coming in for the change of tour and are just now finding out about Johnson’s death.
 
I don’t stop to talk to anyone because I
don’t feel like answering a thousand questions.
 
I get to my van and just sit there for a
minute and reflect on my life.
 
I feel as
though I am too caught up in that jail and I am losing it.
 
I question myself, ‘What the fuck did you
think you were doing…?’

A week later…

“
Yo
’, Hey one of your boys got into
it last night in my area,” an Officer says to me as we line up for roll call in
the morning. I give him a puzzled look like why is he saying “My boy.”
 
I ask him, “What are you he talking about?”
 
He says, “One of your homeboys, your mate’
you know one the inmates that your real friendly with.”
 
Now I look at him seriously because he’s
trying to play me in front of all the other Officers that are lining up for
roll call.
 
He continues to act a fool by
saying, “Don’t have shame in your game now, we all see how chummy, chummy you
are with some of these losers in here.
 
Other
Officers nod in agreement and he continues, “I myself have seen you slapping
five and shaking these nasty jerking off 24/7 inmates hands.
 
These mother fuckers are the scum of the earth
and you be talking to them like they're your boys from the street!
 
Another Officer chimes in and says, “They
probably are!”
 
Some of the other Officers,
who aren’t saying much but are listening, chuckle.
 
He then says, “These ‘mates ain’t your
friends they’re just a bunch of lowlifes especially the ones that keep coming
back in and out of here like a revolving door. Yeah, those are the ones that I
like; the ones that are too stupid to make it on the outside; the ones that
will sit there and tell you that this is a good jail to be in, or that jail is
better; the ones that know how to bid; that know all the rules as if this place
is their home.
 
Yeah, those are my nigga’s
and I mean that literally.
 
My nigga’s!
 
I step on their necks every chance I get to
let them know that when they come through those gates I own them and that they
are my property now!”
 
He’s getting
animated seeing that he has an audience.
 

“Those ignorant fools keep my mortgage paid and my kids’
tuition paid.
 
Hell, I wouldn’t know what
to do if they wised up and decided that their life was worth something and did
something for
themselves
.”
 

He looks around for approval and he gets the nods from the
people around him.
 
As I stand there with
absolutely nothing to say, he clowns me some more and says, “They’re not your friends
and the minute one of them can bring you down they will. You’re my boy but the
shit that you do with them is stupid and we see it so stop being so dumb with
ya’ inmate loving ass!”

After roll call I am about to head to my post when I am
stopped by Officer Patterson.
 
She asks
if she can talk to me for a minute in private.
 
I was wondering why she was here because
normally she worked the three to eleven tour.
 
When we got to a place that was secluded, she
told me that she purposely got her tour switched with another Officer so that
she could catch up with me.
 
I gave her a
look of concern like what’s so important that would make you do that?
 
She told me that she didn’t know how to tell
me this but ever since that night that we made love in the bathroom she and her
husband have been inseparable.
 
As a
matter of fact when she got off of work that night he was home apologizing with
a dozen roses.
 
They made love all night until
the morning.
 
My thoughts were, ‘Okay.
 
I happy for you but what does that have to do
with me?
 
I never said that I wanted to
be your man or anything like that.’
 
She
then says that this brings her to her point.
 
I look at her like, ‘Yeeess?’
 
She continues, “I really don’t know how to
say this so I am just going to say it….I am pregnant.”
 

I look at her but don’t say a word.
 
Her eyes are now tearing up and she is now looking
at me searching my eyes for a sign, a response, or something.
 
I give none for a moment because I am in my
own thoughts of, ‘Oh shit, here I go again!’
 
I look at her knowing what I have to ask her and knowing what I think
she’d better say, “So what are you going to do?”

She has her head down and begins to sob. I was about to hold
her but caught myself remembering where we were.
 
She then says, “I am going to keep it!”
 
My jaw drops.
 
I responded with, “What!?”

She says, “I don’t know what to do!
 
Things happened so fast that night and then
with him the same night so I don’t know who’s the father!”
 
I just look at her shaking my head because now
I don’t know what to do or what to say.
 
She
starts talking again and says, “I can’t get rid of it my husband has been
trying to get me pregnant for years and he came with me when I got my check up
so he knows already.”
 
I am puzzled now
wondering how this is going to play out.
 
I really don’t need some jealous or upset
husband beefing with me over this.
 
Then
she sees the worry in my eyes and she says, “The baby might be yours or it
might not be.
 
So I am asking you not to
ruin my life by putting this out there.
 
My
husband would never understand and would probably kill me.”
 
I stood there rationalizing what she was saying.
 
I thought to myself, ‘
What
if at a later date she decides to come after me for child support!?
 
Can I live with knowing that I might have a
child walking around in this world and don’t know it?’
 
Then I thought that in the position that I am
in just now, scraping and clawing my life back together, what choice do I have?
 
I can’t afford this kind of drama in my
life right now.
 
I looked at her and she
had the look that said that she was sorry but she also looked at me like I had
her life in my hands.
 
I then said to her,
“I can deal with it if you can.”
 
She
then broke out in happy tears and at that point it didn’t matter where we were,
we hugged.
 
Then she dried her eyes and
went to her post and so did I.
 

I got to my post and did my daily routine and then Moe comes
up and wants to talk to me.
 
I say, “Cool,”
and we do the usual.
 
He goes into the utility
closet I stand outside like I am giving him orders on how to clean it up.
 
He then tells me, “Yo’, Hey, I was in the
pens yesterday coming from court and I overheard your name ringing bells in the
jail.
 
Some dudes from the dorm side are talking
about you.
 
They were saying how you’re
the
connect
inside
the jail and how they got you on smash.
 
I questioned him, “Out loud right there in the pens!?”
 
He said, “Yep, and they had a crowd around
them.
 
So you know if I heard some C.O.
done heard it too!”
 
I begin to sweat and
slight feelings of panic come over me.
 
A
million thoughts went through my head. “I knew that this would happen sooner or
later.
 
Inmates can’t keep shit to
themselves.
 
I’m surprised that I lasted
this long.
 
I had a long run probably
because Flocko was here fighting his case but now dealing with these other
inmates has put me on blast.
 
Damn!” I
thought some more that it was either an inmate bragging about my hustle with
him in order to make himself look important, or it was an inmate that I decided
not to rock with and is mad about it.
 
Either
way, the word is being spread, and it ain’t no telling who knows or how long
they have known.
 

He leaves out and goes back to his cell while I go back into
the Officer’s station.
 
My cell phone
rings.
 
It’s Officer Rains.
 
I answer, “What’s up?”
 
She says, “I got some money for you.
 
I’m not at work today so I gave it to Zepa to
give to you.
 
Oh yeah, I have to tell you
something.
 
I was in the hotel with Captain
Rogers and when we finished this fool gets to pillow talking about the jail and
guess whose name came up, yours!
 
He
starts saying all kinds of shit that he heard about you and other Officers in
the jail.
 
He said that he heard that if
you want to get rid of all the drugs in the jail, get rid of Heyward!
 
You know I backed him down saying that he was
wrong and that you don’t get down like that and guess what his smart ass said?
 
If he can be in here tricking on me then that
negro
can be in there getting money!
 
I was quiet and she said, “Hello, hello!”
 
I said, “I…I’m here and I hear you I’ll get in
contact with Zepa.
 
Thanks.”
 
And I hung up.
 

My heart beat was real loud in my ears as I was trying to take
in the fact that the jail was talking.
 
I
wondered, ‘Who else knows?’
 
My thoughts were
that I have to shut this shit down right now!
 
At this time I get the phone call to my
housing area to bring my house to the mess hall for chow.
 
I make the announcement.
 
They line up and I bring them down the
corridor towards the mess hall.
 
When we
get to the door the Captain tells me to hold them up and then he said that he
will watch my house and for me to go assist the Captain on the inside.
 

When I go inside, a new Captain who I didn’t know was having
a hard time controlling the inmates.
 
They were up talking and walking around when
they shouldn’t have been just doing whatever they wanted.
 
Then two of them squared off and were ready
to fight.
 
The Captain didn’t see me come
in.
 
I had walked up behind her and the
other Officer just as she was about to press her body alarm.
 
Then all off a sudden everything stopped!
 

The inmates stopped running around.
 
The two who were about to fight went and sat
down.
 
Then everything calmed down with
them just mumbling to one another.
 
Some
of them were looking in our direction pointing.
 
The Captain turned around to see what they
were pointing at and all she saw was me.
 
The inmates became orderly and manageable. Some
of them even said what’s up to me, even some I had never seen before.
 
Now that it seemed like things were under
control I turn to go back outside to my house when the Captain who kept staring
at me asks, “Who are you?”
 
I looked at
my badge with my name under it and said, “I am Officer Heyward.”
 
Then she asks me again more intensely this
time while she looked at me, then to the inmates, then back at me, “No!
 
Who-are-you…..”