This Is An Exercise In Fruitlessness

Today I learned the secret to getting someone from the inmate property office on the phone. You go to the inmate property window and explain that you are there to pick stuff up. You have to shout very loudly because the bulletproof window separating you from the guard doesn't have any holes or voice vent in it. Then you huddle with all of the other people around a pay phone in the corner and wait for it to ring. When it rings, it's inmate property on the other end! So intuitive.

It's up to the crowd to make sure that everyone has a chance to talk to the guy on the other end of the phone. Sadly, the first person to get the call didn't grasp this essential fact. He was old, shaky, and clearly upset when the inmate property people confessed to having no record of his son's possessions. He hung up the phone when he finished and shuffled off, grumbling to himself, leaving me and Former Inmate Looking for His Own Property high and dry. Fortunately, the guard asked the inmate property guy to call again so that we could speak to him.

I should have spotted the writing on the wall when Former Inmate struck out as well, but I guess I'm still a little slow on the uptake with this whole incompetence/corruption thing. Sure enough, when I had my turn with the inmate property guy, he told me that they had no record of Denis having left any possessions there. I detailed said possessions as best I could given that I've never actually seen them, and the guard told me that they must have been sent to CTF along with Denis. He said that it's customary for books and papers to go over with the inmate.

It was hard to ignore the rantings that Former Inmate was unleashing on his girlfriend just to my left: "Bullshit, they ain't got a record! More like they went through my shit and took what looked good to them!"

It's possible that Denis spoke to Ginger before he realized that his things would follow him over.