Mandy's experience on Friday/ Saturday

As Angela and Emma have already detailed we arrived in Salida on Friday. On being greeted by out hosts we were all then off to our respective vocational activities. I was off to the Buena Vista Prison, which may seems like an unlikely place for me to go - but in fact was a very good experience. Whilst at the prison I spent time going through Intelligence within the Prison systems, focusing on gangs and the systems for sharing information. Unlike Australia prisons in Colorado have their own Department of Corrections Investigators who investigate any offence which impacts on the prison systems eg corruption of any public officers providing information to inmates, assaults, threats and criminal or internal matters they investigate and forward the file to respectively to either the District Attorneys or Management. The actual systems in the prison are similar to that of what I have experienced at home - it is simply the databases and sharing of information which is very different. Whilst at the prison I also got to have a tour - not what I had expected to do and so as I am walking past many convicted men in my slightly heeled shoes (clip clopping down the corridors) of whom I had just seen the list of paper which had their gang listings, thinking "hmmm is their enough guards here if something goes wrong? And - I wished I had wore flat shoes." Anyway nothing remotely scary happened and I was fine. I ended my tour by calling into the programs area of the prison and got to hear about schooling and educational activities that are offered to the prisoners. In the prison I visited there were about 1500 prisoners and it was a medium facility. Department of Corrections employees are State employed and so this was one of the first areas I have visited which means the employees can move around from city to city or town to town without leaving their agency and starting from scratch.
Friday night we were part of the Celebrity Fly-fishing charity event which the Rotary Clubs of Salida and Buena Vista were involved in organizing. It was a good night - where Angela ended up with many cigars - which were part of the packs we were given. We left the event just before it ended and were able to visit a local pub with my host Ernie and watch the Rockies were play San Fransisco
I also got to experience a roadside caution for a traffic matter on the way to the prison which was kind of funny to watch.
Saturday we went to quiet a few place today - including Independence Pass, Leadville, Turquoise lake. We were pretty tired at the end of the day from traveling around but we ended the day with attending a Double Haul Cookout. Tomorrow I have a early start as an additional vocation visit with the Department of Wildlife. I will be starting at 5.30 AM (eeccckkkkk - but it should be good.) I will catch up with everyone else later in the day for some hot spring relaxation.