Prisoners are persons whom most of us would rather not think about. Banished from everyday sight, they exist in a shadow world that only dimly enters our awareness. They are members of a "total institution" that controls their daily existence in a way that few of us can imagine. "[P]rison is a complex of physical arrangements and of measures, all wholly governmental, all wholly performed by agents of government, which determine the total existence of certain human beings (except perhaps in the realm of the spirit, and inevitably there as well) from sundown to sundown, sleeping, walking, speaking, silent, working, playing, viewing, eating, voiding, reading, alone, with others. . . ." It is thus easy to think of prisoners as members of a separate netherworld, driven by its own demands, ordered by its own customs, ruled by those whose claim to power rests on raw necessity. -- Justice William Brennan, dissenting in O’Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 354-55 (1987).

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Pregnant Feet

The dorm floors are kept very clean; they are mopped and buffed every day. The bathrooms are similarly maintained.

However, one of my first nights I stepped into the hallway in bare feet and my roommates immediately stopped me and warned me never to walk barefooted in the dorm; I risked getting an infection and my foot would blow up to twice its size.

I found this hard to believe but I put on the "shower" shoes (basically rubber sandals) they give you when you check in, anyway.

One roommate then further warned me to absolutely never take off my shower shoes in the shower.

He saw me pause, puzzled, and before I could tell him I didn't want to know why, he simply said, "Pregnant feet."

I really didn't need to hear that.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

At the risk of sounding dumb, what is "pregnant feet"? I'm to report to FPC in Pensacola in 4 weeks. Your blog is must-read material for not only myself, but my wife and family.

Bill Bailey said...

Glad you like my blog. Do I REALLY have to spell it out for you :).. Yikes. Well, let's see if I can help. What possibly might end up on a shower stall floor that can get a girl pregnant, especially in a place without conjugal visits?