The author has a interesting and informative insight in observing incarcerated men and the harsh and sometimes humorous lives that they live while being incarcerated. The book is a journal from the time Mr. Rainge spent working in the PRIDE Strip Shop. Mr. Rainge burned plates for the presses, filed jobs, and delivered finished product to the pressmen. The journal chronicled the in shop lives of the men that worked in the Strip Shop and the sometimes dangerous atmosphere of being incarcerated.
The Strip Shop
An Insightful Journal By D.B. RaingeAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 D.B. Rainge
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4567-1653-0Chapter One
The purposes of these writings are to entertain, inform, and make you wonder. The innocent has been protected because most of the people I'm writing about were guilty. I include myself in these writings to give my own outlook and perspective on matters of the heart, fair play, and down right nonsense. These writings were written over a seven or eight month period. The information is true and exact due to firsthand knowledge of the events, dates, time, and places. I will incorporate opinions, biblical text, and memories from past experiences to relay my message to the readers. I hope this will be enjoyable reading for all.
I'll start with a little background information about myself, the writer, my name is Darrell Rainge and at the time of writing this I was 25 years old and still had a lot to learn about how the "system" operated. I was in my second year of a lengthy prison sentence for a felony that I committed as a 23 year old man. I did the crime and I did the time and through that experience I learned several things about myself, things about others, things about the "system", and the things about the Lord. On the flip side I also learned some things about the devil and how he and his imps operate.
The writings take place at Calhoun Correctional Institution in Blountstown, Florida in the year of 1995. It was a very turbulent year since this was my first time being incarcerated and truthfully I was a little scared. That same year there was a riot between West Palm and Leon County with Big Kelly leading the Leon County boys. The riot was over a Black History Talent Show gone badly during the month of February. The two groups were rioting because one of the groups didn't want to pay after they lost the bet. The bet was on whom the best singing voice belonged too and the West Palm boys said they weren't going to pay those country boys from Leon County one yellow dollar. The bet was for a case of Tops tobacco which equaled out to be about 24 yellow dollars. The previous year there was also a riot which resulted in the institution being depleted in inmate numbers. By the end of 1994 it was full once more.
My job assignment was at P.R.I.D.E. Print Shop and I worked in the Stripping Department, I was highly recruited by Henry a.k.a. Napoleon because I looked smart due to me wearing eyeglasses. He was a joke all by himself but that will come later in my writings. I started out at P.R.I.D.E. as a basic laborer in the bindery department and was then recruited to the Stripping Department aka the Strip shop. The names of my co-workers were Rolle, Rawley, Geezer, Storm, TKL, Napoleon and White. These were an assorted bunch of strange and weird characters. I guess if I was not the writer of this work I might be included in the strange and weird part. Since, I'm the author I won't be included in the strange and weird part. None of the men in the Strip shop were Christians except Rolle.
I will give the strongest one word background on each of these characters. Rawley was the recluse. Storm was the entrepreneur. Geezer was the hot head. Rolle was the level headed one. TKL was the cocky one. White was the gay one. Napoleon was the perverted one. I was the quiet one. I learned a lot from all of these men in the Stripping Department about the printing industry and about life. At the time of putting these writing into a structured format several of these men were free and one was deceased.
These writings are from a journal that I kept meticulous notes of day to day activities in the Stripping Department, the Strip for short. This journal came out of a desire to learn how to write with my left hand and I thought that one day that I might be able to put it into some format for the masses. I was released several years ago and I recently came across these writings and my wife of four years encouraged me to write my story and even though this is not the whole story it is a vital part of my story to come. During the time of these writings I was not a Christian nor was I saved, meaning has dedicated my life to Christ to follow Him and keep his commandments. I was just a young and misguided and I even studied with the Muslims in an attempt to find myself. I attended Jumah every Friday with the Muslim brothers until later I realized that that religion or belief system wasn't for me. I still wasn't saved but I started attending church with the Christians. I also started studying with them and years later in 1999 at Tomoka Work Camp I finally got saved after all those years of questions, watching them, attending services, and study periods.
There are a lot of dynamics involved in prison life, that is to say it is just like the free world minus children and women. In the four corner world as we affectionately call it there is a structure of the work force, communities, loan offices, stores, and general living similar to being in the free world. Those structures are controlled by the law, the inmates, and the conditions of your location. The correctional officers are the ones who keep inmates in line; the sergeants keep the officers in line, and so on and so forth.
These writings start on or around the 23rd of July in the year of 1995. It was a hot day in Blountstown that day but it was a good because the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay had lost their games the day before. I got to the Strip about 6:10 in the morning and first thing I saw was that TKL got a haircut the day before and he looks funny, he should go get his money back from that barber, money meaning a box of Tops tobacco. Napoleon was ecstatic that Tampa lost because he bet a pressman that Tampa wouldn't win seven games this season. Well in the 1995-96 seasons they won just seven regular games. Today Napoleon and Geez said that Officer Knight looks kinky and Geez told Napoleon that she'll probably eat a p- quicker than he would! TKL looks like a skinhead with his new haircut and that's why he doesn't like it. The breakdown of race is as follows TKL, Rawley, and Geez are white men. The rest of us are black. We all had to walk a fine race line as not to offend one another because that's how riots jump off. The day went by fast and it was time for 10:00 chow which lasted until about 11:44.
The supervisors were Mr. Olsen a former marine, Mr. Stern a college graduate that was a little too feminine to be working inside the system. Mr. Stern didn't come to work today because he was sick according to Mr. Olsen. Napoleon and Mr. Olsen was engaged in an interesting conversation about which armed forces was the best. Napoleon was a former navy man. Mr. Olsen told Napoleon that a marine kick the a- of any other armed force any day of the week and Napoleon said that he was a lie. Mr. Olsen said the only other servicemen that train harder are the Navy Seals and Napoleon agreed with him of course. Mr. Olsen said that only three out of 100 men make Green Beret or Navy Seals. Geez told TKL that with that haircut he had that he could scare a hungry bulldog off of a meat truck. It was a slow day that day but interesting nonetheless. The time of departure for the day was 3:35. I will sum up each entry with a scripture to keep things in perspective.
Proverbs 3:35 The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
I took a couple of months offs from my writing and picked the journal back up in September of 1995. It's Tuesday the 12th of September and I clocked in at...
