There are lots of memories from when I first worked the third shift at the facility, but this one particular night is a story in and of itself.

I was assigned to the Tailor Block on this night. It was dark on the block with only night lights to guide me. It was raining cats and dogs with loud thunder and lightning. The loud booms were the kind that caused dogs to hide.

The inmates were locked down so all I had to do was make my punches every half hour.

About three in the morning I could swear I heard people walking around outside their cells, but this was impossible. I moved on my tip toes so as not to wake any of the inmates. I was a little jumpy at each sound.

I was making my 3:30 a.m. punch when an inmate broke the silence and asked me if I could open a window. I almost jumped out of my skin at the sound of his voice, but played it cool and agreed to his request.

I had to push up and pull down on this large 1930s type window to open it. You had to hold it up when you hooked the top down by latching a chain to hold it down. And remember that it’s still raining very hard at this point.

I walked away and he thanked me. About an hour later when I came back around he asked me to shut the window because he was cold.

I said sure, but little did I know the window had filled with water. So when I tipped the window down to close it, I got soaked. My shoes, my shirt and my pants were all drenched and about five inmates started laughing.

I took it in stride.

“You got me,” I said. “But if you don’t come out of your cell in the morning you’ll know why.”

That of course meant he would stay locked up, although it was just a joke he played on me. No harm done, so I didn’t report him. It was just another lesson learned for the rookie, but I never opened a window like that again over the next 30 years.