But Pennsylvania has 25 prisons and SCI-Dallas is by nomeans the worst. Our story is about the gambling at an entirely differentdungeon and about the hypocrisy of Bobby the Gambling Cop and his one-sidedanti-gambling mania.

Because gambling is so routine among the prison staff,in most prisons, the guards are tolerant and understanding about the penny-antegambling done by prisoners. It's pretty common for prisoners (like meneverywhere) to gamble among themselves especially on sports events. Footballin the winter is the big gambling activity among most prisoners. In mostprisons, football pools and football "tickets" where a pack of cigarettesor a candy bar are wagered are very common.

Generally speaking, so long as the operation doesn't gointo debt or get out of hand, the guards will ignore such trivial distractions.

But not Bobby The Gambling Cop!

The security office in one Pennsylvania prison is runby Broad-Bobby, the Elliot Ness of jailhouse gambling. Under Bobby's crueladministration, prisoners caught gambling are very severely punished. Itmakes no difference how trivial the offense, how minor the stakes or howpassing the interest; Bobby relished the joy of crushing the filthy prisonergambler.

I know of one case where an older prisoner was slappedinto the hole simply because he possessed a football schedule and he mightgamble on a game. I know of another case where a young prisoner wasslapped into the hole because a football ticket was found on the groundclose to him and it might have belonged to him. In another instance,a man was punished because he'd walked on a discarded ticket and it stuckto the bottom of his shoe. By contrast, Bobby left another prisoner goScot-free because the kid snitched out other supposed gamblers, but itwas all lies to get himself out of the hole.

Ah, but my story isn't about gambling. It's about hypocrisy,about the double standard and the phony holier-than-thou self-righteousnessof some prison administrators.

A lady of my acquaintance went to visit a guy in prison.In the reception area what do you suppose is going on? A major gamblingoperation! Members of the staff are exchanging money, tickets are beingbought and sold. On the front door is taped the results of the "50/50,"whatever that may be. It paid over $450, nothing like a prisoner'scandy bar! In short, the prison staff is doing what a lot of folks do,openly gambling. 

Yeah, right, who cares? Certainly not me! Let them havetheir fun.

But who do you suppose works in the office right off thereception area? Right! Bobby the Gambling Cop! The whole open gamblingbusiness is prospering at his doorway! How could he not know it was goingon? What, he didn't come to work through the door with the "50/50" winnerposted on it?

Is this two-faced hypocrisy or what?

Bobby's attention was drawn to the staff gambling operationand to the glaring contrast between the crushing of prisoners over penniesand the complicity with staff over hundreds of dollars. Bobby's flunkysaid (Bobby wouldn't answer for himself) that the staff couldn't be investigatedbecause there wasn't a specific allegation with names!

I know, you wonder why this bothers me and why I'm takingthe trouble to write about it. There's a moral to my story: justice dependson who you are, not what you do. It's the American way!