If the item was concealed on purpose, it was done skillfully. On the other hand, if the item was accidentally hidden, there was an amazing display of luck involved. Either way, it was frustrating. A critical tool was missing and those who sought, it puzzled over its whereabouts.
In this instance, I do not describe a missing cuff key. Nor do I refer to an exempt policy directive that was misplaced or purloined inside a maximum security prison. Rather, my daughter lost her calculator and needed it for a homework assignment.
Missing calculators in a prison setting are not new to me. I have witnessed teachers in the facility conduct searches when their count comes up short. By comparison, the task of finding a large, blue calculator in a seven room house seemed easy. After all, the house is far smaller than a prison, and I could employ search techniques that I learned on the job. So, I approached this task optimistically, in much the same way that I would in a search for forbidden items in the institution in which I work.
But success was not to be.
The first search strategy occurred prior to my assignment to the case. A single person looked for the calculator in the most likely places — and turned up nothing. Then the search moved to less likely places. It was like a staff person who misplaced a stapler and explored the area of control, expanded to the immediate area beyond that, and continued looking through the entire building.
Afterwards, I was asked to help as part of a two-person team. The original searcher described the missing item to me in detail and outlined the places that she already investigated. The objective was clear and previous searches were reviewed. It was very much like a team that is sent to the facility kitchen to look for missing can lids. The hunt was on.
As the quest unfolded, I noted that the search started from the obvious and progressed to the strange. It may seem ludicrous to look for a calculator in a freezer. However, if that was not investigated, the thought of it there might gnaw at one’s mind. Still, we looked everywhere with the intensity of a team looking for missing metal.
After an exhaustive hunt, I asked myself, “What happened to the calculator?” I concluded that there are five possibilities.
1. It was accidentally thrown away — inadvertently, someone knocked it into a trash receptacle
2. It was removed from the scene, just as any discarded contraband is spirited out of a facility
3. It is still missing and in the house — it remains well hidden and we did not yet look there
4. It is in transit, part of a game of passing beneath the nose of authority — a scenario that in this case is unlikely, but, it is a distant possibility...
5. It is dismantled and unrecognizable
All of this prompted me to remember a few rules of any search. Any contraband control process can benefit from a check list. Also, coordinated efforts require communication in order to deliver the biggest impact. And, rooms can be closed once they have been thoroughly searched. It may behoove the team to take a break from the search and start again fresh.
Far be it for me to over-dramatize this incident. To date, the calculator has not been recovered. It has been replaced by another at minimal expense. No one traded it for goods, favors, or services, and no one was hurt.
But, it put the search into perspective for me. That just goes to show that inside prison, as on the outside, the perfect plan coupled with determination will not always win the day. Perhaps there is solace in that we can go on to search another day.
