First published – Aug 20 2007.
This guy named Tim got some drugs on credit during his stay at the remand centre.
This guy named Tim got a tennis racket to the head when he didnt pay.
Fairly simple equation.
Back again,
I have noticed the most popular blogs I write are one‟s that involve drugs, violence or gaol so here is a time I recall that involves all three of those things.
It was early on during my gaol time when I met a guy named Tim at the Symonston remand centre.
I had been in for two months still waiting to be sentenced and was just sitting in the yard with the lads having a game of cards in the afternoon when a new inmate came through the gate.
His name was Tim and he seemed like an ok dude, I called him a new inmate but what I meant was he had a new conviction it turned out he had been in and out of the remand centre many times but had a reputation as being lucky enough to avoid real gaol so far.
I shook his hand but didn‟t take much notice of him until he started hanging around me all the time.
At first Tim following me around was not that annoying as it had been the same faces in the yard for a while and having some new stories to hear and someone who had not heard my yarns was a novelty.
After a while the novelty wore off but by this time he had come in to some smoko and was shouting me all day so I didn‟t mind if he watched the ashes test match with me if he was bringing bud.
Before I go on with the story I just have to explain that the Symonston remand centre is split in to two yards and once a day for an hour you can swap yards to catch up with the guys next door.
Otherwise there was a gap under the wall at this gate between yards where you could speak under to the boys next door if you needed to talk.
It was also handy for passing things under.;-)
So this Tim is running low on weed then disappears next door for the daily hour in the other yard.
When he returns he tells me he is going to act as a mule for a trio of fairly heavy dudes in the other yard.
One of them was the main dude from my problems at the other remand centre earlier on so I knew what they were like..(read older blog on smuggling narcotics in to prison for that story)
The arrangement he had was that he would meet a friend of there‟s at a visit and return with three large balloons being paid the red(if I recall) balloon as payment which would be full of weed around 3 or 4 grams.
I knew Tim was going to be shifty from the start and from what I knew of his street smarts the other guys would find out in no time.
I also knew the guys would not be very happy if Tim pulled a stunt and they did find out.
The following day Tim goes for a visit and then goes back to his cell.
Later he arrives with three balloons one being red.
He notices the red balloon is smaller then the others and says the guys next door are ripping him off, a logic I didn‟t understand at all.
Then he opens all three balloons spilling a few very compressed lumps of weed and many other smaller balloons of other drugs on to his lap.
I just shook my head and laughed at him.
He takes half of the pot and opens two smaller balloons revealing small gaol size deals of various narcotics and then helps himself to some of that too!
Tim then hastily put all that was left in a ripped balloon and attempted to make it look un opened.
He asked me if it looked un touched and I just burst in to hysterical laughter as if they wouldn‟t at least have a rough idea what was coming especially considering they knew the colour of his balloon.
Despite my laughing Tim marched over to the gate and passed the guys the package which took him a while as they barraged him with questions.
When he returned we got stoned and put the cricket on, to me this situation was both some entertainment in the mundane gaol routine and a bunch of free smoko.
Tim told me when he had given the owners there package they had asked him what was there and he said just the two balloons and that he kept his.
The owners had told him what was supposed to be there and also told him he was a dead man if he had ripped them.
Tim acted offended and they said they would get back to him after they spoke to there people.
The second day the owners came around and questioned Tim but he again stuck to his story, lucky for him they had run out of credit on there gaol phone account so it would be at least a day until they could confirm what happened.
Tims luck though was already going bad as he talked some shit to my cell mate who laid a couple of hits on him sending him to the floor.
Shaken Tim shook hands with him and at least he hadn‟t made an enemy I guess.
The next day Tim was called to the gate along the wall separating the two yards by the owners of the package.
They were pissed off after learning Tim had indeed ripped them off, he was still denying it but they told him he was a dead man as soon as they could get in to our yard later that day.
Tim was fretting but still smoking up the stash which I suggested he give back but he decided against that so we both got blazed.
The boys all had a conference in the yard about the coming drama and some how Tim managed to get more then half to believe he had stayed honest, I was amazed.
Then later that morning by a twist of fate the screws told Tim he was to be moved to the other yard and he went pale as this would mean a certain beating or even stabbing!
He protested telling the screws he had mates in this yard and wanted to stay there but screws never listen to inmates and they said pack your things.
He would not and what he did next will brand him in the prison system as a dog, this tag may forever stick.
He turned to the screws and told them who was after him!
The screws still wanted him to go unless he signed a piece of paper stating he was in fear for his life from the owners of the package and to the whole yards amazement he signed it!!
This barred all contact between the yards for the whole time Tim was there and he immediately lost all the support he had including mine.
I did not speak to Tim for some time until I went to court one day and returned to see him passed out in his cell it turned out while I was gone he had been stung by a bee and being allergic had been rushed to hospital.
As I sat down in the yard going over what had gone down in court the screws opened a side gate to allow any inmates on medication time to walk through to the clinic and pick it up.
With the massive number of inmates on methadone and psych medication this can take a while.
Again with so many of the crims on meds I was one of only a few still in the yard just setting up a game of cards for when all returned.
As I looked up I saw the main guy from the group who owned the package getting meds through the gate and as the screw looked away he snuck in to my yard winking to me as he came in.
I knew what was up so I looked left and Tim was asleep on the top bunk in his cell.
The owner was carrying a tennis racket and just walked in to Tims cell and smashed him in the head and face with it four or five times as Tim tried to get his barings.
The guy explains the situation to Tim and then sneeks back past the screw in to his own yard job done.
I sort of felt sorry for Tim for a while but wasn‟t going to associate with a known dog.
The day he got out he headed to court cuffed on the truck and I also had a court appearance to attend.
We waited in the holding cells below the court and I chatted to some other lads I knew who were there.
Next thing this big lad walks in to the cell and just smashes Tim and then forces Tim to swap sneakers with him, obviously Tim‟s were a nicer pair.
I heard later Tim had pulled some shifty scam ripping this guy‟s drugs and sneakers off at the other remand centre before being transferred to Symonston.
What a low down dog aye.
Back soon.