You can’t take flowers to the inmates!  During my first month as a volunteer, I took a bundle of sage to the Jameson prison for ceremonies for the inmates.  I wrapped it florist style in newspaper so it wouldn’t shed as I brought it in.  Everything was fine until I reached the Unit to deliver the sage.  An officer there was training two new officers.  He approached me and told me I could not bring flowers to the inmates.  I told him I was delivering sage, not flowers.  He blustered around and called the Control Room to ask them if I was allowed to give flowers to the inmates.  They asked him what I said it was.  He told them sage and they said that was allowed.  He continued to put on quite a show muttering about me bringing flowers to the inmates and then walked off.

I told my supervisor about it and hatched a plan.  I picked a rose in my garden and tied some sage around it with a ribbon.  She managed to get it to his locker so it was waiting the next time he came to work.  He blustered even louder and said he couldn’t accept a gift from the inmates.

A week later I was walking through the control gate again with more sage.  The warden happened to be coming in at the same time.  He glanced at my sage and asked, “More flowers for the inmates?”  The other staff with him broke out in laughter.  I knew the story had made the rounds.  No one ever bothered me again about bringing in sage.

Mary Montoya