It’s Saturday morning and the prison yard is bustling. There’s no school or classes and some work assignments are on break.
I smell toasty tamales and grilled burritos. I bet the fragrances waft as high as the guard towers. A radio plays charming music. Sparkling and colorful drawings created by prisoners are on display in the yard.
People play chess, sports, walk the prison track and even attend religious services. But I’m eagerly anticipating the men who waddle out of the prison building carrying stuffed mesh bags on their shoulders to a picnic table. This is the table where the hustlers sit.
Each Saturday, they bring items to the yard that we can buy.
On this day, I spot boxes of various snacks: Pop-Tarts, birthday cake Oreos, Hostess Zingers, honey buns and Mrs. Freshley’s fruit pies. They give me the munchies. Amazingly outdated cassette tapes are also for sale.
I look over clothing. I can visualize myself in brand-new sneakers, clothes, a hat and shower shoes that are not state-issued garb. A lustrous watch could give me status.
Some items are risky. New and old TVs don’t include a guarantee that they work. Shabby altered hot pots can burn or melt things.
I’m contemplating purchasing eggs smuggled from the kitchen, so I can crack them open and guzzle them down like Rocky Balboa did in the movie “Rocky.”
Cloaked under pillowcases are the costly, smuggled items.
Long, sterling silver crucifix chains.
Makeshift grills.
Impressive boom boxes.
Classic manual typewriters.
“Do they still manufacture [typewriter] ribbons?” I ask myself.
With these valuable products in their possession, it’s understandable why the hustlers are always on high alert. They have to be worried about thefts from incarcerated people. The guards could also technically confiscate their products, but it seems as though that is not a priority for them.
I ask about the aviator sunglasses one man is wearing. These are contraband. He looks past me, but still answers me. He says the sunglasses would cost me 10 books of stamps — a value of about $90 in prison.
“Why, you interested in a pair?” he asks.
