Tough Love
Trip Start
Jan 28, 2011
1
2
Trip End
Mar 08, 2011
What I did
Work and Stay
Napier, North Island, New Zealand
Monday, February 28, 2011
The prison housed all the roughest brutes and criminals from murderers and rapists to drug lords and thieves, including New Zealand's most infamous crime boss, Terry "Mr. Big" Clark. Ironically, it was the easiest prison to escape from. There are several obvious places within the prison walls where an escape route was so clear, there may as well have been a sign that read "PLEASE ESCAPE HERE." All the prisoners needed was a fraction of physical ability to climb over the wall and free themselves. Most of the prisoners who escaped, however, were paranoid that they would get caught, so they simply crept into town for the night, grabbed a beer at the local pub and humbly returned to the prison on the same night without any evidence of their "breakout".
For my two week sentence, I lived in one of the smallest cells and the "Infirmary" and helped with the audio and guided tours of the grounds.This basically involved dressing up like a prison guard, black baton included, and leading a group of visitors around the creepy old prison. We wanted to give the guests the true prison experience, so upon entrance we took mugshots, then locked them in solitary confinement cells and through the black maze! If they didn't stay on the red line through the prison grounds, we would give them a little whack with the baton to keep them disciplined.
The backpackers working there were mostly European and I became friends with Patryk and Paul from Belgium and France, who were doing advertising for the tours. Part of the advertising project involved Paul (in an orange jumpsuit) and me (in my usual guard uniform) reenacting typical prison scenes with Patryk taking pictures. The black and white close up of my face ended up being used for official advertising for the company, so I apparently my face is being spread around Napier and the rest of the north island. Paul is still doing advertising for the company and he's going to send me the postcard. Whether my picture is working or scaring people away is another topic, but at least I wont be there to find out.
During my sentence, I was able to find time for some more surfing, went to a Sting concert at a winery and also realized that the North Island of New Zealand has much more to offer than Napier...
Next Stop: Mordor
Comments
Luke,
You could get paid well for this!! It is a wonderful blog. What experiences you have had!
Can't wait to see you.
Much love, Grammy