anyone ever deliver to a prison ?

I delivered some (trash?) "recycling" to a prison works program. Closest I've been.

I guess the only way to make that stuff profitable is to use inmate (slave) labor.

Actually the stuff came from a military base, go figure. It was old rec-room TV's, some server cabinets, old copy machines, some treadmills and medical electronics that I have no idea what they were. Pretty thoroughly trashed. Nobody told me where the load was going. (some ABC corporate name.) So I was surprised to find myself pulling up to a prison. They had a set of docks outside the gates and a small warehouse where they just pulled stuff off and guys were there sorting stuff into bins.

My HS had tighter security.

Oh well it was educational I guess.

 

Did the prison thing while working in food service. First time I went to a Nuke plant was in a food service gig too. It'd take almost all day to get checked in...they wanted to open and search every case of food on the truck. So, you'd get there early morning, get checked in, and go into a waiting room. Some time in the afternoon, they would finish and come get up so Yu could deliver.

And yes, Two Rivers was a pain. One of the most dreadful nuke plants you could ever deliver to.

Haven't been there in a few years, but Sammy's truckstop in Bunkie, LA used to be operated by female inmates. I didn't know at first, but I knew something was off. There were these girls that worked in there...you could tell they were ghetto, from the streets, but they were all super respectful, polite speech and eager to work. None of that laziness and complaining and mouthy like you normally see. Shift change everyone was on time. Usually, there's always one waitress who has some sort of crisis at home who comes to work to get paid, but she's short with everyone. I didn't see that at Sammy's and it felt odd. It was like watching Pygmalion or something.

 

Been to Riker's Island and Bayside in Leesburg, NJ a few times. Don't like prisons no matter how easy they are to get into or how much free labor they give.

 

I've never delivered to one my self, but I was sitting in line at a traffic light once. When I watched a roll off driver try to exit Trenton state prison with the mast up and rip down the upper portion of the main gate. It was like a scene from a movie with gaurds waving their arms and running to stop him. But the ####### just kept going. he stretched the razor wire so tight it looked like a steel cable.

 

Delivered to FCI Prison in Hopewell Virginia many times back when I was pulling vans. I would take coat hangers from Stage Stores DC in Jacksonville Texas to Hopewell about once a month. They had a side warehouse where I would drop the trailer and a prisoner trustee in a yard horse would come and take it inside where it was unloaded. For a bunch of guys that have all the time in the world, they wasted no time unloading my trailer. The side warehouse where I unhooked was staffed by prisoners. Defiantly trustees and it was wide open with no gates at all and no guards in sight.

 

^^ yeah this place. I've been there too. I flipped on my dispatcher because I had my wife and family there on that particular trip. But it was in & out. Everyone was cool.

 

I've done two loads to prisons. 1st was a load of linens of prison clothes. Can't remember what. Was accidently shipped to a Canadian prison. I picked up the load from supply and services Canada, and took it back down to Essex County Jail in NJ ( that correct ? is it, or is there an Essex Co Jail in NJ ? ). I also took a load into Canada's only super super super max. I'm pretty sure it's in / called a place called Ste Annes Des Plains, just north of Montreal. Lot's of famous Canadian bad guys and gals in there !!!! All them actually ! Going into Essex Co Jail was pretty much as described by the others. I opened the doors, backed to the dock, then got into the truck and laid down. An hour later the guard said I was empty and good to go. The trustees even swept out the trailer ! The super max load was a teeny bit different. All the expected checks and balances in and out. No one else with the company wanted to do the load because of the delays so they asked me ( broker ) to do it and bill hourly. OK. The load pretty much killed a day. When I was in the Army, I had to deliver ( escort ) a prisoner across the country on a military aircraft to the Army's main jail. First and last time I did that !!! The Master WO I/C of prisoners and escorts dressed me down as hard as he did the prisoner !!!!!

 

Yea many time and about five different prisons, all had different operation to deal with. One in woodville tx. They would bring them from the field and strip them to the birthday suits right there. Man it takes a while to get that out of your head.

 

I was forced on a load of canned goods from Chicago Veterans Administration to a Federal Narcotics "Farm" in Kentucky. I had to assist fingerprinting the load off the pallets at the shipper, and onto conveyors at the prison. One prisoner assisted me in the trailer. During break, we were served hot coffee in glasses, and hot donuts. While waiting to enter the main gate, I observed male and female prisoners arm in arm with garden tools exiting to their garden plots.

 

OK, why was that ???????