It's Saturday morning...
I have the day off to relax and catch up on some chores.
The prison has a laundry area with huge industrial washers and dryers and a team of inmates to operate them. But this laundry area is for washing one's bedding and a few hard to clean items like socks. However, all other clothing items must be washed by hand.
I launder most of my clothes one item at a time in a 3-gallon plastic pail. Depending on what I have to wash, I could use either powdered detergent or Woolite. Both products are sold at the prison's commissary.
After I let a particular item soak for a while, I dump the dirty water into my toilet. I then take my pail to the first floor of the building to a tiny closet with a deep sink (called a “slop sink”) for washing mops as well as one's clothes. I have to rinse out the clothing item in this sink. Then I wring it out by hand to get out as much of the water as possible. Once this is done, I return to my cell and hang up the wet piece of clothing on a small string line which runs near the ceiling on one side of my cell.
This clothing item, once it's hung on the line, will have to dry naturally by whatever air manages to circulate, and by the building's internal heat. For example, it may take me one full day to wash and dry a pair of pants. If I hang the wet pants on my clothesline at, let's say 3 o'clock in the afternoon today, I am hoping they will be completely dry by this time tomorrow.
I try to wash as many clothes as possible on Saturdays. But I also try to wash at least one piece of clothing every day in order to keep up.
D.B.
The prison has a laundry area with huge industrial washers and dryers and a team of inmates to operate them. But this laundry area is for washing one's bedding and a few hard to clean items like socks. However, all other clothing items must be washed by hand.
I launder most of my clothes one item at a time in a 3-gallon plastic pail. Depending on what I have to wash, I could use either powdered detergent or Woolite. Both products are sold at the prison's commissary.
After I let a particular item soak for a while, I dump the dirty water into my toilet. I then take my pail to the first floor of the building to a tiny closet with a deep sink (called a “slop sink”) for washing mops as well as one's clothes. I have to rinse out the clothing item in this sink. Then I wring it out by hand to get out as much of the water as possible. Once this is done, I return to my cell and hang up the wet piece of clothing on a small string line which runs near the ceiling on one side of my cell.
This clothing item, once it's hung on the line, will have to dry naturally by whatever air manages to circulate, and by the building's internal heat. For example, it may take me one full day to wash and dry a pair of pants. If I hang the wet pants on my clothesline at, let's say 3 o'clock in the afternoon today, I am hoping they will be completely dry by this time tomorrow.
I try to wash as many clothes as possible on Saturdays. But I also try to wash at least one piece of clothing every day in order to keep up.
D.B.
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