Working near a prison meant that a lot of inmates came to see us! Not all of them typical, rough around the edges sort of people. Some wore normal clothes and spoke with nice accents. They were the scariest ones! Always accompanied by guards, they often got put into a sideroom. One of the guards stayed cuffed at all times to the patient, the other usually exhausted our supplies of coffee and then fell asleep despite it! (Not always though - just most of the time)
The Crimes
Finding out what they had done to deserve a prison sentence was like the beest gossip ever! Everyone wanted to know - even though learning it was something horrific still meant we couldnt pass judgement on them because regardless of their crimes, we were to treat them with kindess etc. i recall one man who had woken up next to his girlfriend - who was dead - and the arresting officers told me that this was not the first time it had happened! Another time, a lady, both clever and cunning, committed for fraud (she would have made a great character in a book) - but i was quite fond of her. She was a very pleasant fraudster!
The worst of all were those that nobody could disclose their crimes, though enough information was given that we might guess for ourselves and draw up some horrifying conlclusions! Like those they say, "Ca't tell you what he did, however, don't ever go into his room on your own - and make sure he isn't taking pictures of you!" Hmmmmmmmmm - wonder what he did?
Still, the joys of being an unjudging professional are clear when you are able to help those at the lowest times of their life. Still polite enough to say thank you and please and desperate enough to ask for attention - who knows, maybe they didnt get quite the same deal in life as the rest of us. And everyone deserves an advocate once in a while, right?
