UNICOR- TECNOCAP-
ANCHOR HOCKING- MIKE DAVIS

There are jobs available to us; not everyone, but most men here choose to work. I am one of those. In all my 28 years of incarceration I have always worked when I could. It is my nature to do so. Here at FCI Hazelton, I have taken a job working for UNICOR.

The UNICOR facility here is only a couple years old, they started out doing metal work; building radio brackets for the military, then morphed into doing a contract for a  company called ANCHOR HOCKING or Tecnocap. This contract is simple in nature, we assemble Canning Jars and such as that.

When I started at UNICOR, I, of course, started in the metal shop, one of three or four people. However, because of my superior intellect I was quickly moved to a Clerks position ... ok, that's a lie. They moved me because I'm an old bastard and could no longer see good enough to weld. Point is: in the UNICOR inmate chain of command, a Clerk job is considered a coveted position, in essence it was a promotion of sorts. The flaw in all this is that, I was completely computer illiterate - never been on one outside of the email system on our prison computers. BUT - they trained me and I became a computer master ... ok, that's a lie too ... I became, well, not good, but proficient; good enough to do my job. The rub was this, there just isn't enough work in the office for one guy, much less three and as I've already stated, I like to keep busy. So, when I was caught up on my work I would leave the office and go out on the floor and work assembling jars, for Tecnocap.

At this time our Tecnocap responsibility was small and required, maybe 12 men total to fulfill our contractual agreements - 1 Leadman and the rest workers. I just filled in where I could - even swept the floors.

Time passed - the Tecnocap jobs increased and so too did the number of employees working this department; over 20 and on its way to 30. But, shit happens, right. What I mean by that is that as our contractual obligations increased so too did the pressure on the Tecnocap Leadman. How so, my much inquisitive reader would ask? Well, for starters, a lot of the men employed here have never held a job before, so they had no ingrained work ethic, second, and most importantly, all of these guys, to include the inmate Leadmen are one in the same, we all wear stripes per se. Then along with this comes the prison politics, the race bullshit, the gang shit, the clique shit, it's a mess, really it is. And as the numbers grew so too did the political BS that any Leadman would be required to deal with.

Now, during all this growth and disharmony I was right there in the thick of it ... in truth, as the whole thing was falling apart, it became apparent that the Leadman for this department just didn't have the prison experience, nor the respect from the men to keep it together and in light of this I stepped in and was serving as his "unassigned" assistant. The one day out of the blue, he just walked off the job. Ass all this was happening it had not escaped the capable eyes of the Unicor cops, it became clear that the Factory Manager and the other cops at Unicor had already seen that I was deeply involved and with this happened turned the line over to me. Yeah, these cops ain't stupid, they see more than we think and Wheeler, (the Factory Manager) had already made the decision to leave me in Tecnocap, this just moved the timeline up. My Clerk job was over. I was in charge of Tecnocap (more on this in another post) a job I still hold six months later. I now have one Leadman, four Lineleaders and seventy men working for me. My title, well, I don't have an official title, but the guys all refer to me as the Mayor (see next posting for a very funny story about this).
 

TECNOCAP/ANCHOR HOCKING

I want to tell you a little about this company, LOL, a little is all I actually know - but what I do know needs to be said.

In my opinion, this is a great company. Why, you my most astute reader would ask. Well, I'll tell you why ... I heard that they have a program on one of their factories in the outside that offers jobs to young folks with legal problems. I don't know the details to it, but what I have heard is that they take young people who are on the verge of being locked up and provides jobs for 'em instead of jail cells. And, in this day and time where the trend is to lock everybody up for as long as humanly possible, I find this refreshing. I will ad here that when I was a kid and someone got into trouble and was facing prison, Judges would routinely offer them an alternative, "go to prison, or go into the Army". That type of thinking saved the lives of a lot of young people. So God Bless you, Tecnocap.

I've also heard the story about how they have a program to hire the handicapped. I heard about how they have a guy working for them in this program who cannot move any part of his body, except one finger. SoTecnocap gave him a job on an assembly line using that ONE finger to push a button sealing packages, or something like that. Anyway, they have given this man a job and a purpose in life. Wow! Those are some of the wonderful things I've heard about this company. Couple these things with what I know for a fact, that they have provided work for a bunch of prisoners who would otherwise have no work, and it speaks volumes to me. Now you might not think it very important to assemble canning jars, after all, how can those skills translate to the free world. Well, let me say here that what these men are learning is work ethics and confidence, confidence that they can actually hold down a full time job oftentimes a skill they've yet to be taught. With this said, I will point out that Tecnocap is a great company. Please support them by using their products!
 

MIKE DAVIS

Mike Davis is some kind of big shot for Tecnocap. Anyway, he's in charge of the contracts, work etcetera for out Unicor factory; he' a civilian, not a prison guard. Now Mr. Davis makes periodical visits to FCI Hazelton, to our Unicor factory. When he comes to visit he is cordial to the inmates and some of the office workers go out of their way to smooze him. Which is good for business, he is after all, the person who gives us work. I had seen him in the factory, but had never met him ... until. About three months ago he was walking around doing evaluations and he was quizzing the inmate who handles the materials, Shipping and Receiving. I was on the floor doing what I do. All of a sudden I look up and Mr. Davis and T-Rex (he has short arms ... I know, that's mean as hell, but you have to admit it's pretty funny. Plus Dave, his real name prefers it now, long story. Everybody in here has a nick-name of some sort) anyway, Mr. Davis and T-Rex are there and T-Rex says, "To answer your question, this is the guy who makes this shop work"
he then introduced me to the man. He asked me a few questions and moved on.

About a month ago Mr. Davis was back in our factory; I could see him moving around at about ninety miles an hour. As he's headed for the office he sees me and makes an abrupt stop, turns and walks straight over to me, smiled and asked me how things were going. Not a big issue, right. Well, your wrong about that. When you have spent the last 28 years having people talk down to you it is a real blessing, one really appreciated to meet someone who doesn't look down on you as a low-life criminal. I submit to you that this is another example of the inner-core of this company. A company obviously comprised of decent folks.

Peace be with you, mark

 

Bruceton Mills, 11-2-24