Medium Security Men’s Prison
History: A medium security prison, which housed male inmates. It closed down sometime around March 2002. Under renovation to become a women’s correctional facility. As of yet, it has not been decided what security level it will be.
Team: Jester, Pixie, Jolt, and Nemos
Mission Brief: One of the targets that we had our eyes on for some time now, we finally got it together and made our move. this was also the maiden run for our two new members, Jolt and Nemos. New members on a challenging Red mission ? Well, I figured: Jolt is a black belt in Ninjitsu and has explored some before, Nemos has explored as well (including infiltrating the Riverview Psyche hospital and tunnels), so they should be able to handle this one
When scouting this target, it seemed that there is a live on guard watching the property. Cameras are everywhere (not monitored at the moment, it seems) and the sections of fence that would be most climbable, have the movement alarms. All corner sections are topped in razor wire… We couldn’t be sure if someone was here, though there was one pickup truck inside the secure area… So we proceeded with the belief that there was someone there, and took all precautions stealth-wise. Our trip inside began with getting past the first barrier, the perimeter fence (10′ topped with Barbed wire). Quickly we were past it and into the outer ring. We then got to hear some sort of animal that seemed to be stalking us for a bit in some bushes. Dismissing it as no consequence, we moved on, past some of the storage/workshop buildings. Inside the one with lights on was workers clothes and gear, and lots of porn on the wall…
We moved our way to the darkest area, and chose our spot. This is where the group had to split. This climb would not be easy, so only the best climbers on the mission attempted it. The fences on prisons are meant to be very difficult to climb, for obvious reasons. So they are tall, made with a tight metal grid, barely big enough spaces for your fingers to get into, and no hope for a foot hold. and thats just the bottom 15′. After that, is the overhang which curves inward for another 6′-8′ and is an even tighter grid, with no space for fingers to grip even. So Jolt and I, scaled the fence, and with the help of the handy-dandy-Jester-brand grapple and rope, went over the edge… We both offered up for the other to be first to take the plunge, and I agreed to go. the trip down was pretty quick, a controlled slide down the ropes and I was on the ground in the medium security prison… Jolt then came down, a bit slower but well done. I was curious, since Jolt was well studied in stealth and climbing techniques, how would we match up in skills?
Now Pixie and Nemos would be our look outs, and check around the perimeter some more. Off Jolt and I went, into the first building, the gymnasium. We moved swiftly and quietly through the building, though pictures are limited in some areas due to lighting since we could only use flash in certain places. The rest of the gymnasium was a bit eerie with parts torn apart for the renovations. I suggested we head upstairs, and Jolt said “cool, I wonder if thats where they keep the sandwiches”, and with that we headed up. Now a bit of a sidebar: Jolt’s girlfriend had a strange premonition, about a door with a scuff on it and a plate at the bottom, and that if he went through it, something horrible would happen. end sidebar. So, in the top floor of the gymnasium building, we come across a room with a door, as I approach, Jolt says “woah, that door… like what she described” and in the dim light, it did indeed loom like it. But under closer inspection with my light, it was not a scuff but a phoenix… and there was a power line hanging down just inside the doorway… weird coincidence… I carefully stepped through, and Jolt didn’t, hehe.
We could not check out the entire place, because of the possibility of the guard being around. Jolt was good, but did have a couple of oops when he kicked some wood or a piece of metal. I was faring better, though I had the small light and I was wearing Tabi (funny, the ninja wasn’t, hehe). We did check out two of the men’s lockdown areas, which were being gutted and were down to frames inside. Thats when we heard metal move somewhere. We froze. We moved into good viewing spots, but could see no movement anywhere. Still, we decided to head out. As we left the building, we heard more metal move, and then a weird low thumping that seemed to be coming from the bush on the outside of the perimeter… So I radioed Pixie… no answer… again… nothing…
So we head off quickly for the access point, and there’s Pixie and Nemos. She had been trying to check with us too, but her radio had accidentally switched channels and she hadn’t noticed… We now found out that the sound we heard, was Nemos, checking out a manhole, which as it turned out probably went somewhere, but had a lock bigger than his fist holding a grate in place…
Now, it was time for the tough part, the climb out. I went first again, with Jolt steadying the rope from the bottom. My tabi helping tremendously as I could catch my knotted rope between the toes as I climbed. pretty quickly I was at the top, and pulled myself up and over the overhang. managed to cut my arm slightly on the serrated edge of the grid up there though… Now it was Jolt’s turn, and he had a harder time, as the rope is thin and he couldn’t use his feet as I had. With a lot of effort, he got most of the way up. Then we strangely worked out a plan to help pull him up a bit at a time, with all of us working the back up rope to keep giving him a better way to move up. It worked perfectly, and soon Jolt swung his leg up and pulled himself up the overhang.
Off we went, making our way back out of the perimeter, and away from the prison. A successful infiltration, with some great teamwork. It’s a shame we couldn’t have explored the whole place or got more pictures, but we are still happy with what we accomplished… And the new members performed very well in a high security Red mission too.