|
|
| Playing basketball in San Quentin |
| By cnn.com |
| Published: 10/02/2009 |
|
A few months ago, I entered San Quentin State Prison with a group of guys to play basketball against a team of inmates. First, the important details: none of the dozen of us who went got knifed or were taken hostage. The guards didn't fire a single shot, and we never had to hit the deck. Likewise, no one had to D up Scott Peterson, a Menendez brother or any serial killers, at least as far as I know. Which is to say our worst fears, and those of our families, were not realized. That didn't stop us from being, shall we say, a bit cautious. For example, afterward I sat at a bar with a teammate who we'll call "Jake." We were crusted in sweat and feeling mildly euphoric, as tends to happen when one safely departs a prison with the largest death row population in America. "So," I asked Jake, "What did your wife say when you told her you were going to play at San Quentin?" He looked a bit startled. "Oh," he replied. "I haven't yet." No wonder. As the inaugural opponents for San Quentin's over-40 squad, an element of the prison's outreach program, we had received the following warnings before our first visit: stay bunched together at all times, give only first names and run only when on the court because, as hoops coordinator Stephen Irwin, told us, "Otherwise the guards will think you're a prisoner making a break for it, and trust me, you don't want that." We knew about the three gun towers and the ratio of one armed guard for every four inmates but most of all about the "no hostage" policy, which we were reminded of often and which was helpfully summarized by a prison employee as: "If one of them grabs one of you, ain't s--- we can do about it." In other words, no one made you come in here (and further, and more graphically, if a prisoner is holding both you and a weapon, the guards will shoot through you to get to the prisoner). Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think