What do Florence Prison and garden squash have in common?

On August 10th, my boss and I took the opportunity to visit one of our clients at Florence AZ Federal Prison, a maximum security prison in southeast Arizona. Since you all want to know, he was convicted of a civilian crime involving sexual assault with a minor. He was convicted and will serve a 3-year term. Because it happened while he was in the Army, the Army had to find a way to separate him from the service so Americans don't have to waste their tax dollars on his paycheck while he sits in civilian prison. That is why we went to visit him--to provide him with an election of rights and try to explain how this conviction would affect him in the long run. CPT Mark (the sole and Senior Defense Attorney for Fort Huachuca Trial Defense Service--I am his paralegal) and parked the car at the main parking lot in the complex and moseyed our way over to a bench where crowd of people had gathered. A few moments later, a guard beckoned us in to the complex, and we walked through a chain link fence. We were led about a quarter mile up to the visitor's section check-in. What was funny was the first person, a women dressed rather scantily, went in and then shut the door behind her. Hard. Like she was trying to keep us out. Then another man was ahead of us, but he wouldn't go in. Being newbies at this, we waited about one minute and then CPT Mark gave me a look, and a few moments later, caved in and asked the man ahead of us if he was going to go in.

Turns out the man had obviously 'been there done that' before because you are only supposed to go in one at a time! After about 7 or 8 minutes, it was our turn and we started filling out paperwork at the front desk for our visit. A correctional officer asked us what our client's inmate number was. They don't have names...they have numbers! So we gave it to her and she said she didn't have him on the list, so I was concerned because it had been my job to make sure we could visit him. Expecting the worst--our entire 2 hour trip being for naught--I started getting discouraged. She finally turned to us and told us we were in the wrong complex. It turns out there are 8 or 9 complexes spread out over several miles in Florence. They are all various security levels, and different housing arrangements, too. As we headed back to the car, we complained to each other about everyone at the prison not giving out any more information than they were required. We were legal counsel, for heaven's sake, and no one had bothered to tell us or explain to us what complex the client was in, or ask if we needed anything since it was our first visit. Then again, prison isn't exactly customer service oriented. On our way to the right complex, you couldn't help but notice inmates painting buildings, doing yard work, and gardening. They all stick out like sore thumbs against the desert landscape. In fact, you are not allowed to wear orange, khaki or brown in Florence prison, nor would you want to, since all the prisoners wear that color. Tell me how to get the privilege of being outside and "free" if I am ever sent to a maximum security prison...

We finally got to the right prison complex front gate, and a guard did a quick car search and let us pass through. We walked in to the complex our client is held in and had to go through a metal detector. Let me tell you ladies--don't wear an underwire bra! Simple as that. When we passed muster and we were admitted in through one door, where it shut behind us before the next door opened. At this point, I was taking in everything I was seeing because I was curious and I was wondering what he would be like in person. We were led to a high school cafeteria looking room with muliple square tables that fit four. To be honest, although he looked a little rough in his prison photo, he was in fact, a very squared away person and was very respectful and intelligent. He had obviously done his research about the type of separation he was receiving before we even showed up--which is more than I can say about 98% of our clients. We did what we needed to do, and it only took about 20 minutes to square him away. I am, however, glad we went to visit him because of what happened next.
As CPT Mark and I were on our way back in to town to the Florence McDonalds to pick up his mom (she was in town from New York City and accompanied us on our road trip), we spied a store labeled "Prison Outlet" on the corner at a big intersection. Our curiousity piqued, we had to stop and check it out. As we pulled in to the parking lot, we were greeted by several prisoners, again in orange jump suits. They were sitting on top of large bales of hay, waiting to load them in to any future customer's vehicle and were polite and chatting amongst themselves.

When we went in to the store we discovered a treasure trove of trinkets, woodworks, artwork, and clothing. The deal is that the inmates set a price on their items and get to keep 75% of the profit. The other 25% goes back to the state of Arizona. There was everything from paintings to keychains to license plate purses, to jeans and pajamas and even vegetables. It turns out the prisoners tend gardens, too. There were nice big zucchini for 50 cents a pound, and I grabbed 4 of them. The older woman who runs the shop, Betty, was very friendly and explained the purpose of the store as rehabilitative and tried to peddle their wares upon us. It didn't take much effort though, because everything looked so interesting! She was very supportive of the inmates and loved her job working for the state. She was also obviously patriotic/pro-military because CPT Mark was in uniform and she gave me the zucchini for free (thanks CPT Mark)! It was the largest zucchini I have every seen and I have now made my favorite sweet bread, zucchini bread, three weeks in a row! I still have a squash sitting out on my counter for later. As a parting note, I wanted to share the slogan printed on a t-shirt I bought for Jared while I was at the Prison Outlet:

Arizona State Prison Bed and Breakfast
*Room Service *Work Opportunities *Cozy Cells
We'll tell you when you can check out

Today I am grateful for my civil liberties!