GO FOR IT, BART... the ball is in your court. Make the call.  The game goes on.



Giddings Admin has practically given you the keys to the gate -- but why would you want to leave?  Everything you could possibly want is on campus.

You've been told it's OK to fill out grievances when you don't like being held responsible for your actions.  Your ConNextions score not what you'd like it to be?  Bitch and whine and it'll get changed... illegally, if necessary... but heaven forbid anyone would see you ...

SEE THESE SMILING FACES ANYWHERE?  LOOK LIKE ANYONE FAMILIAR?






No?  They could be anyone... maybe the kid next door, even...





Maybe you know those kids?  Think they might have spent some time locked up as juveniles?  They say you can't tell just by looking at someone what they are capable of doing... and that it's unfair to make assumptions.  Everyone knows you "don't judge a book by its cover", right?





But I don't know if that's really true:  I think some people are just plain CRAZY and you can ki...

NOW you see it...



...and then you DON'T.

Expect to hear some gnashing of teeth and lots of blaming to happen when the Good Ship TJJD goes down.  It's not a matter of IF but WHEN it happens.

All the Admin weenies, Austin pukes, and legislative blowhards will be scurrying around, trying to fix things while the tired old hag is heading straight to the bottom, asking anyone who will listen "HOW could this have happened?"  Truth is, you get what you deserve, folks.  That means YOU.  You were told, yo...

So I'm standing there at Cole's Flea Market in Houston, and a couple young Hispanic dudes and their girls walk up to the table to see what we're selling... and one of the guys says "Say, didn't you used to work at the Giddings State School?"



Well!  If it wasn't old whatshisname and whatshisface!  How nice it was to see them, both out "in the free".  One had grown his hair pretty long in the 3 years they had been out; one had a little goatee action going on.  We had heartfelt embraces, actually...

Why is it the folks still working at GSS seem like zombies to me?  They damn well KNOW the Agency stands a chance of being dissolved and their lives as JCO's may take a headshot at any time.  They shuffle around after doing 12 hour shifts, half aware of their surroundings, totally dead on their feet.  It's so sad to think that only a few years ago, GSS was still a pit, but a more MANAGEABLE pit... and now, everyone knows the score --

The kids won.  They run the show.  Without 225's and logical...

Don't care too much to work TOO hard for a living, you know?  And really would rather work for myself and my wife than for the State of Texas, eh??  So that's why I left GSS and started doing what I love -- selling tattoo equipment!!  My wife (in photo below) loves it too, and really likes not having me working at the school, pulling all those 12's+ and putting myself in danger for a paycheck and nothing more.  Working for ourselves isn't THE MOST secure way to make a living, but it sure beat...

It's been a while since I updated the blog here, and part of it is due to plain old being BUSY making a living.  It's been 8 months now since leaving TYC/TDDJ and working a new business of my own selling tattoo equipment... and while there's been some up's and down's, we're still making our bills, and, overall, having a pretty good time.

This past weekend my wife and I went to Sommerville, about 35 miles away, to sell at a motorcycle rally.  It was pretty cool... and oh yeah, really beats sitt...

USED to be, the kids on the dorm would beg and plead that I make them copies of sheets of paper with gang-style fonts (lettering) on them... and I NEVER ONCE DID.  I thought it was inappropriate, against TYC policy, a waste of taxpayers money, and just plain WRONG -- and told them so, in those words.





NOWDAYS, though... I SELL these (public domain) font sets to young fellows at flea markets and online on our websites ... mostly to kids about the same age, for $1 a sheet, and I got LOADS of 'em....

One has to wonder... what is best for the individual, the victim (if alive, and/or victim's family), and Society in general when a youth decides to break the law in a BIG WAY.  I'll define that as a kid who without remorse will shoot/stab/rape/kill a person/people as many times as they can get away with it, along with multiple previous accounts of robbery, theft, major gang racketeering of various sorts, etc.



Well... the law has come down on the side of the perp.  If you're under 18, you're no...

Now that the newspaper headlines are over... now that there's been a couple BigWig visits to campus... now that a few kids have been transferred to Mart, a few meetings called, and numerous other staff have up and quit -- NOW WHAT?  What does the future hold?



Too early to tell, most likely.  From what I've been led to understand, not much has really changed on campus... nothing that really COUNTS, anyhow.  Sure, there's been a push to get polo shirt uniforms for staff, but I'll betcha if they ...

Gotta admit it, things have been tough for TJJD lately -- what with making headlines in the Austin American Statesman newspaper THREE days in a row, and now, the kids escaping from Turman House... what's next?



If anything, it seems likely there will be MORE dirty laundry hanging out to dry -- the politicians are about ready to blow a gasket and will do whatever necessary to divert attention from their own culpability in what's been happening at GSS... of course.  But they've known what the sco...

It's looking like it MIGHT be the Beginning of the End for TJJD as we know it.  MAYBE.  Time will tell.



There's some rumblings going on... people are speaking up... the truth is coming out, and the reality of the situation is NOT looking good.  What IS good is that whatever the end result may be, it almost HAS to be better for the kids AND those who currently work at GSS.  HOW could things be WORSE?



Well... I know... they COULD be worse, but think about it -- is a half a loaf better than none, ...

Now that I'm self-employed, making do with what we have around the house is even more important than ever.  When the back wheels of my lawmower gave out, I had to come up with some replacements... so took the front wheels off Grandma's old wheelchair and slapped them on the mower.  Even though the rear wheels are no longer adjustable for height, the lawmower is back in operation and all is well. 



R.I.P. GRANDMA -- WE MISS YA.  It wasn't until she had passed on that we were able to go fulltime...

May be what you ASKED FOR, but all you got was




Put that data through a GSS computer (or, an employee's mind) and you could end up with



Which leads to



AND



YOU-KNOW-WHAT.

I SAY it's time to get GSS geared up to the Real World...not only in regards to their computers but also with the way information is dealt with between staff/staff, facilty to the media, line workers to supervisors and everyone to the youth.

Left unchecked, the antique computer system on campus will eventually go



and when it does, t...

Say a kid is scheduled to get released at noon in the middle of the month.  That morning, in the med line, chances are he may be given a number of psychoactively mind-and-mood altering medications... Ritalin, Seroquel, etc etc.  He'll be watched closely by a staff, made to show the pill(s) on the tongue, swallow them, get another drink of water, gargle, do a finger wave, and cough before he can proceed to breakfast... right?



He goes back to the dorm, maybe zonks out for a few hours, then leave...

I have to admit: being labeled a TYC "troublemaker" by an ex-co-worker on another website gave me a real WARM feeling.  Sure, I understand -- well, I THINK I understand -- what the person meant, but let's take a closer look at what that (perhaps) disdainful moniker may imply.



First off -- let's define what a "troublemaker" actually is, namely,  "A person who habitually causes difficulty or problems, esp. by inciting others to defy those in authority."

OK, I'll accept that... pretty much.  For t...

Life is good. 

Instead of making a living spending my time 5 days a week (or more) sitting in a dark doorway from 10PM-6AM (or longer) and listening to kids fart and snore, I now sit next to a tattoo-equipment-covered picnic table from 10AM-5PM on weekends and watch people walk by at flea markets in Austin, San Antonio, and Houston.  Some stop and look at what's offered for sale, others just want to talk and show off their ink.  Some buy full kits, needles, ink, or some other type of esoteric...

I'm hearing of some new winds a'blowin' on the GSS campus.  A good many of The Old Guard has finally been given their pocketwatches and golden parachutes, let go, fired, or retired.  All I can say about that is "It's about time."  WAY too many are not still employed due to injuries, both physical and psychological... and to that I say "What a shame; what a pity."  But to everything there is a season, and the time has come for changes on campus.  FINALLY.

What instigated all these changes?  Did...

Almost halfway through the 90 day "plan"... and what has changed?  From what I'm hearing, the answer seems to be "little to nothing".  This is not good for the future of the kids, staff, Admin, or Austin.  Business as usual, is it?  Truth of the matter is... that's not gonna work anymore.  Change is necessary, NOW, more than ever.



Who will be the first to step forward and grab the bull by the horns?  If the 90 Day Plan "A" doesn't work -- is there an alternative Plan "B" waiting in the wings? ...

Think it was that recent article on GSS in the TRIBUNE that I read the "plan" is to help agitated (!!) youth calm down by providing them a room containing, of all things...



BEAN BAG CHAIRS and...



...NERF BALLS??!

Great idea, uh-huh... oh, yeah.  That'll calm 'em down, sure thing.  Just what they need.  More comfort.  More toys.  More coddling.  Then, when they get out of the security cell they can go back to abusing/maiming thier peers and staff.  One should not lose sight of the fact that these...

...or WHAT?  Basicly, if no one's in charge, things just sort of flop around, headless, without purpose or reason.  Remind you of any State School you work at?



Leadership isn't something that can be faked real well, unless your bark is seen as worse than your bite.  Empty threats and promises soon fail to impress anyone, but some will try to get away with fuss and bluster as long as they can.  Overall, it's a losing proposition, and makes a "leader" look like a toothless tiger.  Who would foll...

Here's some examples of what happens in the Real World Of Adult Incarceration -- not the bubblegum lockup that GSS has become.  If the kids only knew...







Consequences?  Control?  You bet.  Is it appropriate... or right?  Perhaps not.  Sometimes a person's "rights" end at the beginning of another person's knuckles, and if so, well... too late, too bad!  That's real life for ya and the kids locked up at Giddings NEED to understand there may be worse consequences for their actions than what they r...

After having read it all over, I've come to the simple conclusion that it ain't gonna fly, y'all.  Sorry to burst yer bubbles.


Reason? The Plan doesn't actually address what the CORE PROBLEM is on campus -- the need for accountability at all levels.  As the picture below illustrates, the problem starts AT THE TOP.



Call it what you will, but I see this "plan" mainly as a re-hash of previous promises and failed intentions.  Oh sure, it comes with the BEST of INTENTIONS and LOOKS GOOD on paper... ...

OK, I'll bite -- it's looking like there's some kind of "plan" in the works, a 90 day plan, no less, that will be put in place to get GSS back on the track of doing right by the kids and staff... so I'm hoping.  Details will be coming in soon, and I'll eagerly be examining them for viability.  All I can say is, I hope whatever it is -- it works.

I do know of some approaches that work better than bribery, coddling, and excusing from responsibility.  Just about ANYTHING OTHER than the way things...

Time sure does fly.  Seems like a long, long time ago that I last stepped through the gatehouse.  I left when I did because it seemed like things had bottomed out and weren't likely to get any better... and I wasn't ready to take the chance that they MIGHT any time soon.  Guess I was just at the end of my rope and decided to let go.



It was a matter of deciding to gut it out and just put up with things as they were, or, to strike out and forge a new life.  It wasn't easy to give up on all the t...

An amazing occurance happened this past weekend.  Wife Irene and I were at the San Antonio Flea Mart, selling tattooing equipment, and who should walk up and ask "Do you remember me, Mr. Moss?"  Well, I just about crapped my britches!!  There was "R.M.", an ex-inmate who I had the pleasure of working with on Dorm 6.

RM had changed somewhat... his hair was longer and he'd put on a few pounds -- but sure enough, it was the same kid I used to know.  He, like many other of his Hispanic brothers, a...

Seems like a LONG TIME since I left State employment... but in reality it's been less than a month.  Irene and I are getting used to our new schedule(s) pretty well, and been working hard together to make ends meet.

The tattoo equipment selling business has just gotten better with time -- it's more common than not to make $1000 - $1800 a weekend selling kits and supplies over a weekend in Austin or San Antonio.  Sure beats sitting in a dark doorway listening to leetle felons snore and fart all...

BEFORE...




AND AFTER...

Tomorrow will mark ONE WEEK since I left the Giddings State School and embarked on what may be a frighteningly uncertain (unstable?) future as a self-employed middle aged dude.  Been feeling pretty good about my choice, so far, and have a video here that kind of sums up my feelings on the subject.





AND THE FUTURE...

Who knows?  I suppose/hope it will be better, but making it happen will take a lot of effort and energy -- it won't happen on it's own.  For anyone who is at the...

The State Schools are supposed to be "secure facilities" and indeed, for the most part, they are.  Very few kids seem to get over the fence and/or back out into The Free without our letting them -- and that's a GOOD thing.  In that aspect, we're all doing the jobs we're getting paid for, keeping the kids securely locked up behind the fence to serve their sentences.



Sure, it comes at a high price.  A VERY high price.  The cost of maintaining secure youth lockups is millions and millions of doll...

What is it we're supposed to be trying to DO every day when we come to work... besides make a paycheck?  I'd like to suggest it's a combination of things -- not least of which is to HELP THE KIDS learn enough to finish up their incarceration with the knowledge and skills to stay out of the justice system, right?  Not an easy job, for sure -- but as most of us would have to admit (if only privately), a job we're NOT succeeding at very well.



And what are the KIDS supposed to be doing while they'...

Good news!  The year is almost over, and what a year it's been.  Christmas is tomorrow, and the New Year will soon be upon us as well... and to my fellow JCO's I  wish y'all a better year coming up than what THIS one was.



My wish list?  Well... I haven't been TOTALLY nice this year so I probably won't get (nor deserve) EVERYTHING I'd want.  But that's OK.  What might Santa dock me for, you ask?  Let's see...... I've called in 6 times these past 12 months, been put "under investigation" at leas...

1.  "Conflict with co-workers":  That's a great one to start with, but is it the MAIN reason most folks quit?  Dunno.  MAYBE.  Over the years, there's been more than a few I simply couldn't stand to be around, let alone work with, for one reason or another.  These reason...

 
All images courtesy of fooling around on THIS SITE.  







Here's another one...







Yet one more...

Thanks for stopping by!  If you've never been here before, let me give you a general idea of what's going on at this site.

 It started out a number of months ago under another name; the URL containied the words "Giddings" and "TYC" -- and this (along with a link put on another site I used to manage) pissed off the Powers That Be so they put me on 3 months probation for being ... I dunno ... honest, I guess... even though they claimed the content of the site itself was (and I quote) "of no conc...

I'll be honest.  I'm not exactly "playing hooky" today... I just don't feel up to getting geared up and going to work tonite -- so I called in.  What did I say?  "I think I'm starting to get a cold, and won't be coming in tonight".  That was about it.

Truth is, my throat is kinda scratchy.  Been sneezing.  Got somewhat of of a post-nasal drip snot stream going on... and I'm tired.  SICK AND TIRED.  Sick and tired of "not getting mine" when many of my co-workers (not to mention most of the 5's ...

Hang on and hang in there for a while yet, folks... there'll be more to come.

Problem is, things probably WON'T be getting any better on campus until:
1.  Some staff or youth "goes postal".
2.  Someone gets killed.
3.  Someone listens.

Not a cheery outlook today, but hey... it seems like the Austin American Statesman isn't gonna publish the letter to the editor I wrote to them, at least not yet.  Maybe after the shit hits the fan they will.  Who knows.  Who cares.

In the meantime, we'll continue to...

I don't wanna burst anyone's balloon, but the article printed in the GIDDINGS TIMES & NEWS was NOT all that accurate.  Allow me to point out a few discrepancies and make a few comments on today's headlining  article, "State School teens damage dorm, run around on campus."

1."About 50 students (they're anything BUT "students", as most of them go to class only to sleep and socialize) left a classroom... and ran around the facility for 45 minutes to an hour before they could be brought back ins...

For better or worse, it seems like I've "tossed my hat into the ring" (an old boxing term indicating one's willingness to be a challanger) and will need to deal with whatever happens from here on with as much fortitude as necessary to make things better for myself and fellow JCO's.  Why is this?

Got an email from the Austin American Newspaper this morning, asking me to provide voice verification of a recent letter I emailed them, as they are considering publishing it.  Never before has the new...

It's taken some time, but I think -- I HOPE -- there's a new dawn approaching.  Seems to me the cat is wiggling out of the bag a teensy bit, so to speak, so maybe we'll start seeing some light shed on what we've been having to deal with.  One can only hope.

I've been active in posting my views (and rants) hither and yon online so maybe, just MAYBE someone will pick up and run with it.  We'll see, eh? 



This morning's Austin American Statesman had a front page story about shady dealings in anoth...

"What most people probably do NOT know is that it's "business as usual" now that TYC has morphed
into TJJD... and business is NOT good.

Just within the past few days at the Giddings campus, there have been a few major riots, resulting in many injuries and thousands of dollars worth of destruction by the youth felons who are committed there. Earlier in the week there was a riot involving lots of pepper spray and scores of youth in the cafeteria... throwing trays, fighting, breaking windows. Yes...

Have we reached the bottom of the pit, yet?  I don't think so... but it's close at hand.

Just heard this morning that another major RIOT has taken place on the TYC Giddings campus; details are sketchy, but I heard it all started with 100+ (?) kids fighting at the school and then spilled out on to the softball field.  Who knows what really happened??  I don't, not yet, but will be going to work later today and hope to find out some details.

So.  Does it give me any pleasure to post about this in...

Are ya with us?

We all know The Big Change-uh-oh-over occurs in a couple days... TYC will get replaced with TJJD -- but will anything actually CHANGE for the better in regards to our jobs and work environments?  Think not?  I don't think so, either!

I'm not alone, and know of at least a few other JCO's who are ready, willing, and (depending on schedules) able to carpool a road trip to Austin and request an audience with The Powers That Be -- who ever they will be -- to voice our concerns in reg...

Well... I went and did it.

Don't know if it'll get published.. but it MAKES ME FEEL BETTER, dammit, that I DID SOMETHING.  Told her I'd gone to practically everyone and their brother to get someone to listen to what I've been trying to get across -- that GSS is FALLING APART, that both us JCO's and the kids are increasingly in danger, and that they are getting sent out of here in WORSE SHAPE than when they came in.  I asked if she knew of any one, or any way, or any thing I could do to get the...

AGAIN I hear of a staff JCO getting injured and having to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance... it's getting to be a fairly frequent occurance, eh?  The problem is that there's no official sharing of what's happened -- everything starts out as a shred of information that may or may not simply be RUMOR then gets passed around from staff to staff, shift to shift, before the truth comes to light.  In the meantime, JCO's fan the flames of fear and frustration.

I SAY take down that damn "days...

Some people may look at this site and see me as simply a grouchy old JCO with a bone to pick when it comes to Admin, Austin, and TYC in general.  This is NOT TRUE ... for the most part.  I'll qualify that by saying this:

The culture of TYC is NOT healthy.  If you think racism, sexism, cronyism, nepotism, corruption and outright fraud are GOOD things, then guess I'm wrong about the above assumption.  But most people feel they deserve to be served by and/or work for a State Agency that values tr...

No matter how you cut it, things are NOT getting better on our fair campus.  Promised and/or implied changes have not taken hold, and the situation here continues to disintergrate by the day.  Why, just recently...



* 15 kids were referred off of dorm 7 alone one night; an untold number also were taken from dorm 5.  At least 20 staff were called to help with the... the... what do you call it -- RIOT??  That must have meant that the REST of the dorms were being held down by no more than one staf...

Soooo... what's new?  Nothing much at TYC lately.  HOW SAD!

Left at 6:00-ish after witnessing a bloody fight by kids in the med line... and returned 12 hours later (for yet another 12 hour shift) to witness another fight in the cafe' where kids were fighting and bloody.  So -- what's new?



More understaffing every day -- nothing new there, either.  How does a 19 to 1 ratio work for ya?  Apparently no problem to Admin, who must be keeping their fingers crossed that nothing critical happens while ...

Sometimes it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff around here, you know?  Just yesterday afternoon I heard there was an incident on campus (the day before?) where some kids took a bunch (unknown number and types) of pills and crushed them up and put them in a (unknown) staff's soda... and the staff got real sick, throwing up etc, and had to go to the hospital.

Trying to get actual details on this incident last night, though, proved fruitless.  So... did it happen or not?  Is there a cov...

Take a look here:

http://austin.tyc.state.tx.us/Cfinternet/prs/prs01/prs0109.html

This link details what the legally CORRECT relationships between youth and staff are SUPPOSED to be, and for anyone who has had to work in an unsafe environment, seen supervisors bribe the kids with food, etc (which is ALL OF US) it makes pretty interesting reading.  A good link to have on hand if and when real investigators start examining what the problems on campus are, and why, and who's responsible.  D'oh.

I p...

We've all heard a kid say "I go home regardless" -- and know that sometimes "regardless" is regardless of finishing out one's sentence in TDCJ, right?  But -I- get to go home ANY TIME I WANT and never have to step foot in a dorm again.  That's kind of a nice feeling, knowing there's an escape hatch should I need it.

And the nice things about home?  Ohhh, I've  been blessed because of what I've earned at TYC.  Things like:

• Double-ply toilet tissue.
• More video games, movies, high speed inte...

Pasted below is a letter I mailed to the Director Head Lady of TYC earlier this year... and got no email response -- apparently then, as now, no one in the Ivory Towers is really much interested in my ideas and opinions.  Well, OK.  What do -I- know?

Halloween has come and gone... and the youth proved themselves to be MONSTERS!!

Half of dorm 8 enjoyed a pizza party on dorm 1 for participating in the Red Ribbon program that most, but not all of the A-Side youth attented -- where EIGHT giant pizzas (from Reba's downtown) and gallons of Hawaiian Punch were provided.   Question:  WHO authorizes and pays for all that??  Musta cost close to $150 total.  Guess I shouldn't bitch; I DID get one piece.  Some of the kids got 3-4.  The case worker act...

ARRUGH!!

Trying to be TRICKY, I managed to screw up the previous blog, and will have to start it again... so look for a new bunch of entries and the re-posting of some old ones.  THANKS for your patience!

What I did is embed a SHOCKWAVE video... and for ?? reason, this blog progam seems to have puked on it... but ohhh, well -- live and learn.  The new blog page is almost fitting, in a way, since the original website that this one spun off from will be deactivated today or tomorrow, as per my co...