Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.

[ The 1st Day … Of Anything ]

[ You Went To Work In A Juvenile Corrections Facility In 1998 ]

[ You Did (2) Full Practicum Terms On This Particular Unit, Previous To Getting Hired There ]

[ Your Very 1st Day There, All Dressed Up In The Uniform, Official Keys & Responsible For The Youth ]

[ So On Your 1st Time Officially On The Unit, You Had To Take The (28) Male Offenders From The Unit To The Gym ]

[ For This Kind Of Line Movement, You Had To Take The Line Movement Underground, Into The Tunnels ]

[ This Was Something New For You, That You Never Knew About. In Your City There Are Tunnels Underground Throughout The Whole Facility ]

[ You Also Found Out That In Your City There Are Tunnels Underground Going From The Maximum Security Prison To The Courthouse Bldg. & The Hospital. The State Mental Hospital Also Had Tunnels Underground All Over Their Property. The Tunnels Were Eventually Sealed Off Because Of Incidents Of Violence ]

[ @ Your Facility You Could Take Your Residents From Their Base Unit, To Any Other Unit Or Building On The Property. So You Are Moving The Residents In A Quiet Line ]

[ Whenever You Get To A Door, Everybody Stops ]

[ Sometimes There Were More Than One Door That Could Go In Different Directions ]

[ So On Your Very First Line Movement, You Reach To Unlock The Door. One Door Went Into The Tunnels, The Other Led To Outside. I Put My Key In The Door & I Heard A Voice In The Line Yell, “That Is The Wrong Door!” ]

[ You Were About To Let A Whole Unit Of Male Offender’s Outside, Instead Of Leading Them Into The Tunnels! ]

[ You Quickly Pulled The Key Out Of That Lock, & Put It Into The Correct Door! ]

[ You Had No Idea Who Politely Corrected You. It Was Nice That Whomever It Was That Did Say Something, Took The Chance Because They Are Supposed To Remain Quiet ]

[ So Here Is Another 1st For The One’s That Like Suspense … ]

[ You Were Pulling An Overtime Shift On The Unit That Housed The Male Violent Offenders ]

[ @ The Time They ALWAYS Traveled In The Underground Tunnels ]

[ So Here You Were Escorting (25) Of The Male Violent Offenders Into The Tunnels ]

[ You Hit A Straightaway Area. Only One Unit Traveled @ A Time ]

[ You Were Not Very Experienced On This Particular Unit ]

[ You Had Very Little Experience In The Tunnels, Like Knowing How Long Particular Ways In There Were To A Locked Door ]

[ So You Were Moving Along & Another 1st Happened … ]

[ The Lights In The Tunnel Turned Off! ]

[ Pitch Black In There. So Dark, You Could Not Even See Your Hand In Front Of Your Face, Even If It Was Touching Your Nose! So, It Was Kind Of Dark ]

[ You Directed The Whole Line To Stand Perfectly Still & On Silence ]

[ Anything Could Have Happened. Those Youth Were Not The Nicest Towards Each Other, Nor Respectful Towards Adults That They Did Not Care About ]

[ Their Crimes Ranged From Simple Assault, To Actual Murder. Those Types Of Youth Were Probably Just Waiting To Get Transferred To Adult Corrections ]

[ You Do Not Know How Long The Lights Were Out. But If Someone Were To Put Themself In Your Position, How Easy Would They Find The Situation? You Were Not Allowed To Carry A Flashlight, Even Though There Could Have Been The Smallest Sliver Of A Chance That A Blackout Could Occur! Well, You Guess That You Were The Lucky Staff To But Heads With That Sliver Of A Chance ]

[ An Assault On You, Or Anybody In The Line, Could Have Happened Without A Single Witness To It, Even Though There Was A Total Of (26) Bodies Standing There ]

[ If You Were To Say That You Had Nerves Of Steel, You Would Be Lying. So You Faked It ]

[ So The Lights Were Out For (5sec) Or (1min), What Would Be The Difference? Thankfully, No Heart Attack Occurred, & You Were Not Assaulted ]

[ Some Of These Youth Were Pretty Hardened & Came From Horrible Families. You Think Even They Were A Little Taken Aback By This Event ]

[ Once The Lights Came Back On You Found That No One Was Assaulted, Nor Was There Any Puddles Of Urine Were Found In Case Someone Wet Themself ]

[ That Was The Best, Most Rewarding, & Most Challenging Career You Ever Had ]

[ Hey … You Could Talk About The 1st, But Not Only Time, That You Had To Go Head-to-Head With A Convicted Murderer Who Had A Double Life Term Hanging Over His Head. He Picked You, Out Of Everyone Out There, To Repeatedly Threaten To Kill. He Had To Be Removed From His Unit Because Of Problematic Behavior, & You Were Radioed To Go To His Unit. Poor Kid. He Underestimated You, & He Was The One That Went To The Ground & Left Handcuffed Behind His Back ]

[ Fun Fun, The Fun Never Stopped During That Career! ]

[ There Were A Whole Handful Of 1st’s That Happened Out There That You Can Never Put Into Print! ]

Mahalo For Your Time,

~ Lopaka DeVoe ~