Re: What is your status?
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 10:59 pm
Time for a jail story from years agoEraser wrote:Don't fall for that trap. It's probably a prison transgender.

Her/his name was Cathy. Cathy was sentenced to 3 months for multiple shoplifting offences by the court and probably ended up doing 6 or 7 weeks. The excuse for the crimes was to acquire the funds to complete the transition to the female form. Cathy was halfway there; the top was OK

A male prison no place for such a beast in the 1980's or anytime I suppose anyway....
Cathy was what we called a single escort prisoner. Wherever she/he went an officer was to escort. You can imagine the cat calls and whistles that always surrounded Cathy while being escorted about the entirely male prison. To note the only other female in the place was a regular nursing Sister in the Prison Hospital. Some other females occasionally entered the prison, Welfare Officers, Medical Specialists and the like but it was rare.
Side note: I was Compound Officer one shift the day when a troop of Salvation Army people entered the prison and passed me by on the way to the Concert Hall and, yes some in costume* to put a stage show on for the crims when I spotted an old school friend in the parade, hello Margret. I never did catch up with her

*Costumes in jail are a great means of escape; staff had to be especially vigilant. You wouldn't want to see a clown escape and find that prisoner was a doing life imprisonment

Cathy was employed in the Prison Hospital (I've told you I was the Hospital Security Officer for 6 months). Employed ? Well she spent the days there out of sight most of the time of mainstream prisoners. You had to be ever mindful of the whereabouts of Cathy of course. I think Cathy was employed as an orderly or clerk and knew it was in the interests of all to be visible most of the time.
I don't recall any dramas during those days with that transgender prisoner. Cathy may have been released earlier than the 6 or 7 weeks I mentioned as the time went by so quickly........