By: Downing Keyworthy
At the Frackville state prison in East-Central Pennsylvania there's
a Greek god of a guard, a statuesque charmer. More accurately,
he puts one in mind of a tick, grossly engorged with blubber,
bald and mentally challenged. Like many of his colleagues, he's
petty and vindictive. Persons with
weak personalities and troubled egos are
often vindictive. They feel the need to retaliate for any
perceived affront.
(There are dozens of them at Frackville.)
Now and then prisoners are allowed to clean their cells. There's a lot of disease in the Frackville prison and numerous deaths. Sometimes, colored water is made available to go through the pretense of disinfecting sinks, toilets and door handles. Some of the cowardly guards are too afraid to allow the prisoners to actually use the colored water. Blubber, the guard (he's not important enough for us to use his name) was on a cellblock on the day when cleaning and "disinfecting" was supposed to be permitted. Sad-to-say, Blubber was too petty and retaliatory. He wouldn't let a prisoner disinfect his contaminated sink and toilet. Blubber was retaliating against the man. He decided he didn't care for the prisoner - no particular reason, certainly no good reason. Blubber was just petty. The guard decided that it would be fun to let the prisoner run the risk of contracting serious disease or illness rather than allowing him to clean his cell. The prisoner was already in very poor health. Maybe Blubber figured that a few more pathogens might kill off the prisoner. More likely, the guard didn't really know what a pathogen was and was simply trying to punish the prisoner, to retaliate against him out of petty spite. It's a common and not very interesting phenomena, but it's instructive. Like other Frackville prison guards, Blubber feels the need for retaliation. He may be fat, but he's a little man in the ways that matter.
"'Tis better to suffer wrong You are welcome to use or re-publish
any of our material.
|