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A Charredtorso story.

MORE FROM THE CUCKOO'S NEST.

During my tenure working a Psyche unit I've dealt with people ranging from catatonic to 'bad shit get the Elephant tranquilizer NOW!' The following is just one of the adventures I'd experienced...

I showed up one afternoon to work a 2-10 shift in the psyche unit with a new admit prisoner. I was greeted by three other officers and the inmate. Normally, we have two officers on a prisoner. This guy must be something special...., and he was! He could not quit talking. If you stuck your handgun in his mouth and told him you would blow the back of his neck out if he didn't shut up he would just keep talking, mostly random stuff but non stop jabbering! He was transferred from a Federal Prison for evaluation from out of state. They brought him into the unit four pointed to a wheelchair, like Hannibal Lecter, and we were told by the feds to ALWAYS have 4 people on him! He stopped talking just long enough to ask to use the toilet. We always had hospital staff present in case they said they were assaulted by us of they fell or began hurting themselves. He was shackled, belly chained and cuffed to the chain by one hand so he could use the toilet. We closed the bathroom door, leaving it open enough to see what he was doing. Moments later he was up and swung the door open. He had smeared himself from the top of his head to his knees with shit!

Nursing staff wasn't happy at all, they had to clean him up but we got stuck cleaning his restraints, that wasn't much fun either. Over the next THREE MONTHS he developed a pattern. He would eat three meals at one sitting, jabber for a few hours, then go to the bathroom and smear shit all over himself! During his entire time in the hospital he never slept for more than 30-45 minutes at a time.

Then it was right back to sitting and shitting. Showers were always a water soaked event, resulting in some slip and fall on both sides of the law. Once in a while he'd pause to jack off by rubbing his penis on his leg or use a free hand we gave him to eat. He would beg us to brush his teeth, then shove the bristle end of his tooth brush up his ass! It was constant for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a few 45 minute naps thrown in.

We had a protocol for transitioning from bed restraints to walking or using the toilet. One day he broke free from the grip one of my partners had on his wrist and lunged for my sidearm. (This is the only place I have ever been armed in a psyche facility, as directed by the feds.) On pure reflex I threw an elbow that caught him square on the forehead. My arm from the elbow down and his head went numb! For the first time in days, between naps, he was quiet. The male nurse standing and observing, started screaming like a 12 year old on fire! The unit manager from the hospital showed up and my supervisor arrived and started a 3 way argument over my weapon retention skills. All of my co-workers were interviewed separately and my supervisor took me down to the hospital cafeteria to grill me a little bit and he even bought me a coffee.

I had to write a use of force report, knowing how chicken shit employers can be! I wrote the report like it was going to the supreme court. The best part was that they took me off working this poor waked out fool until the feds reviewed my report and all the paperwork that was generated. I wound up working some poor bastard that was in a coma. It was like getting paid to read and watch cable TV for eight hours a shift. About three weeks after the event they told me that I was cleared of any wrongful use of force but not to hit him again.

"Oh, okay, next time I will just let him grab my gun and see how many people he can shoot before he empties the gun."

The unit Psychologist, after 3 months of doing nothing, decided the inmate was crazy and they shipped him back to a Psychiatric Prison back East. I am certain he is still in custody as we speak...

CT.