Paperwork

Today I did paperwork. There was a lot of mail received in my office today. Monday usually brings lots of mail. Inmates have had the weekend to write, and so it arrives. Requests for information about driver licenses dominated, with requests for applications for Social Security Number cards coming in 2nd. Some inmates wanted to come to my office to discuss the reasons they do not want to or need to be enrolled in school. Others were making strong requests to be moved up the wait list and allowed to enroll earlier. Several inmate’s Social Security Number cards arrived, or their birth certificates or other identity paperwork. All documents had to be logged into databases and receipts issued prior to them being placed into the inmate’s secure Property. Regardless, paperwork is time consuming. But that is what goes on in prison-lots of paperwork, consuming time. I recall that back when I was in high school we spoke of people who had “records”. What we meant were police records. “Records” meant paper. Today we still speak of offenders being released from prison, but remaining “on paper”, meaning that they continue to serve their sentence, but now on extended supervision or parole. Even in today’s computer age, we do everything on paper and on the computer. It seems like doing double work sometimes. I do a lot of my work face to face. I have a window in my office through which I conduct business over a counter, much like at the DMV or Social Security Administration offices. Doing business in person allows a more direct question/answer scenario. It is the way normal, everyday business gets conducted outside of prison, but it is unusual for inmates to have that opportunity in prison. In most cases the questions get asked and answered in the same meeting. I had a steady stream of questions at the window today as I do every day. Most inmates filled out applications for Birth Certificates, SSN cards, driver licenses or ID cards. Others requested transcripts from the high schools they had previously attended. Practically all of the encounters resulted in paperwork. I enrolled 13 inmates in our GED level classes today. Six will start tomorrow and the remaining seven will start next Monday. Enrollments mean lots of paperwork. Practically all the staff in the prison gets notified, and of course the teachers get rosters and attendance lists. Paperwork. Today like so many other Mondays was just another day on the hill.