justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

My Time in Prison

After a competitive athletic event, what do you talk about with your opponent, who happens to be a prison inmate, especially after you’ve defeated him?

When I was a sophomore in college, I was a member of the school’s wrestling team. After our first match against military personnel stationed at a local naval base, we were given the rest of our schedule for the season. For the month of December, we saw two matches on the schedule against San Quentin Federal Penitentiary, just north of San Francisco.

I was taken aback. My teammates and I had a few questions about how that was going to work.  We learned that a former member of our wrestling team was the activity director at San Quentin and as part of his job, scheduled athletic events against local universities and athletic clubs.

While preparing for the visit to the prison for the wrestling match, we were instructed to not wear blue jeans, hats, or jewelry, but to wear a white dress shirt and tie.

When we arrived, we were checked in through the guard station, had our athletic bags inspected, and were then escorted to the athletic area. We changed into our uniforms and followed that with our usual warm-up routine. Our team entered the wrestling room, sat in chairs across from our competitors, and waited for the match to begin.

Being one of the lightweights, my match was the first. I admit I was a little more nervous than usual, but once the match began (and I got slapped on the side of the head and shoved around a little), it didn’t make much difference who my competitor was. The match proceeded like any other match until I won it with a pin in the third period. 

Following the match, we visited with a few of the inmates who came forward to chat. We engaged in some Q&A and then wished them luck prior to our departure. It was hard to know what to talk about. We would be leaving after the match but none of our competitors would. The inmate I wrestled, Marvin, volunteered what he was in for, and how much longer he would be incarcerated: he had committed two murders and said he’d probably spend the rest of his life in San Quentin. Hearing that news left me with an empty feeling in my stomach. I could say little except that I hoped to see him next year when we returned.

We had matches at San Quentin for the next two years as well and the memories have stayed with me. I did see and wrestle Marvin’s colleagues two more times. I’ve been blessed with a gift of gab I suppose, but I count these events in the handful of times in my life when words have escaped me. I believe that in spite of my loss for words Marvin appreciated having a connection with someone through our common interest in sports.  He also may have benefited from knowing someone spent some time remembering who he was.