I knew they'd be coming, but I didn't know it would be at midnight...
I was asleep when I heard voices and the sound of one of the prison's transport carts, its plastic wheels rumbling over concrete. When it stopped in front of my cell, I knew what they were here for. It was time for my deceased neighbor's belongings to be carted away.
I heard the loud clank of the security chain as it scraped against the cell bars. One of the facility's higher-ranking staff members, an official from New York State's Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and a correction officer came to gather his things.
It's standard procedure to have someone from the Bureau of Criminal Investigations oversee the collection of a deceased inmate's property. In my neighbor's case, it will only be an "open and shut" inquiry. He'd been in poor health and had a host of medical problems.
It took them about an hour to log every item he possessed onto the inventory form. Everything from his toothbrush, to his clothing, books, snacks, hygiene items had to be painstakingly recorded, then placed in the large transport cart. This would include his letters and any photos, too.
His next of kin will have thirty days to make arrangements with the facility to pick up his property, or have it shipped to them at their expense. As for the deceased's remains, they will have up to thirty days to make arrangements to claim the body. If not, my nice neighbor will be interred in the local Potter's field.
It's been sobering to realize the man next door, whom I'd often chat with on a daily basis, is gone. He was a quiet soul and a hard worker. That morning he went to work in the prison's industrial shop, and never returned.
D.B.
I heard the loud clank of the security chain as it scraped against the cell bars. One of the facility's higher-ranking staff members, an official from New York State's Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and a correction officer came to gather his things.
It's standard procedure to have someone from the Bureau of Criminal Investigations oversee the collection of a deceased inmate's property. In my neighbor's case, it will only be an "open and shut" inquiry. He'd been in poor health and had a host of medical problems.
It took them about an hour to log every item he possessed onto the inventory form. Everything from his toothbrush, to his clothing, books, snacks, hygiene items had to be painstakingly recorded, then placed in the large transport cart. This would include his letters and any photos, too.
His next of kin will have thirty days to make arrangements with the facility to pick up his property, or have it shipped to them at their expense. As for the deceased's remains, they will have up to thirty days to make arrangements to claim the body. If not, my nice neighbor will be interred in the local Potter's field.
It's been sobering to realize the man next door, whom I'd often chat with on a daily basis, is gone. He was a quiet soul and a hard worker. That morning he went to work in the prison's industrial shop, and never returned.
D.B.
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