Adventures of Devon Carlton - 1. ADC Chapter 1

For three years now, Devon has been working hard with his studies, having graduated from high school with honours in Science, Mathematics & Physics, and Distinctions in English, Chemistry and Business Studies; where he chose to do Engineering as his major subject and Physics as his minor subject for university.

Devon was very lucky, having a townhouse just three blocks from the university, available for him to use during his studies, thanks to his grandparents, who were travelling around the world for goodness knows how long, calling in for a visit once a year for Devon’s birthday.

Having completed three years of a five-year course, Devon was feeling that Engineering was not really the field of work he wanted to do all of his working life, and so while on Christmas holidays, back at home on the farm, he discussed with his parents his desire to change his major at university, even if it did cost him a further five years of studies.

At the age of twenty, Devon is the second oldest of four children, of Hugh & Grace Carlton, his older sister by three years – Margaret is married to a lawyer, and they have a two-year-old son – Chas, and the younger brothers – twins Amos and Flynn, aged 15 have just completed year 10 at boarding school, and they are both keen to go into farming after finishing school, as they spent all of their holidays helping with the workload on the farm.

Devon was able to speak to the Dean of the university just before the holidays began, and Devon expressed an interest in Architecture, the Dean gave approval for this, knowing that Devon was a brilliant student, and with the three years of engineering studies already completed and his high grades in high school, he felt that Devon would do very well and that there would be credits for some of his architecture studies so he would only have to do another four years.

Two weeks before the start of the new University year, Devon celebrated his 21^st birthday at home on the farm, with the whole family, including the grandparents, and he announced that he had enrolled in a new course as his major, that being Architecture, this was a big surprise for the grandparents and the siblings as Devon didn’t mention it before, till he knew he was accepted to change over, but his parent knew and were very pleased with their oldest son.

Devon had always been a very studious young man, with not many close friends; he liked playing B Grade Field Hockey and Cross Country Running in winter and Swimming & Tennis in the summer at high school, to keep himself active, and he kept that going at university, only if it didn’t interfere with his studies. Once a month he would meet up with his friends for a night out of dinner and theatre or a musical, depending on what was on, just to unwind a little.

Devon agreed to let two of his friends, Gary and Mitchell to share the three-bedroom townhouse, as they could not find any suitable accommodation, as their last apartment was currently under renovation for three months. Devon’s grandparents were pleased that he would not be living alone in the townhouse any more, and they hoped he would be a bit more sociable instead of staying at home or at the library studying all the time.

For the next two years, Devon studies hard, kept active with his sports, and had the monthly get together of his friends, it was great having two friends sharing the townhouse, mostly for just having other people around him, made Devon feel a bit more secure.

As the university was winding down for another year, the Architecture students were given a new assignment, to draw up a set of blueprints for a new innovative public building of any kind, they had 9 weeks to complete the assignment, which had to be handed in at the end of the first week of next year.

Five days before Christmas, Devon received an unexpected phone call from Toby Atkins, an old high school classmate, who he had lost contact with, they weren’t really close at all, which was why it was so unexpected.

Toby asked Devon to visit him in Prison, where he was serving a minimum of 16 months, for Drink driving causing serious injury. Toby was lonely; his family had abandoned him, as have most of his so-called friends, and would be inside for Christmas, away from family for the very first time.

The prison was old and run down, built in the ’60s, it was overcrowded and as Devon was led through into the visitor's centre, he could see that there are lots of gates to pass through with a big huge key for each gate, using a lot of un-necessary manpower.

This is when an idea started to develop for his assignment, and he made a mental note to start doing some research on prisons in Australia, once he got back home. Toby looked very tired and run down, he said he didn’t eat much because prisoners often put unwanted additives to the meal, Devon scrunched up his nose, not wanting to think about what that really meant.

Toby said that he had been inside for a period of four months now, and he was keeping his nose clean so he can hopefully get out early with good behaviour, they talked for almost an hour and Toby was happy to be able to see an old friend again, and asked Devon if he could visit again soon, which he agreed to do.

On Christmas Eve, Devon visited Toby again, and told him about the idea he had for his assignment, of designing a new prison, and together they talked it through with Toby giving information of how the prison is run, with a daily timetable for meals, outdoor leisure, work activities and what the building was like in general, all which was helping Devon to build a picture of what life is like inside.

Once a week from then on, Devon visited Toby and they would talk for the whole hour about life inside, Toby even drew some sketches, of his cell, of the outdoor recreation area, the outdoor garden, the chapel, the library and the workshop.

Toby was due to be released three weeks after Devon returned to his university studies, and Devon said he would be happy to keep in touch, with his last visit before Uni started, Devon brought in a draft copy of his assignment, for Toby to look at, and when the guards saw what Devon brought in, they nearly confiscated it, until Devon explained that he was an architecture student, and Toby has been assisting him with ideas of what was needed in the drawings.

The design was made to be located below ground, with the roofs of the complex being 5 metres below, skylights provided plenty of natural sunlight down into the cell areas, while the outdoor fields were open, but with the 5 metres to the top, it was impossible to get out, also there is an additional two metre high wall from ground level up, this wall was mostly to keep people out of the area, with only two big solid steel doors the only way in and out of the complex.

The design was made so that meals were served to each individual prisoner, and they remain in their pod zone from the moment their meal is delivered till the meal trays are returned, along with all cutlery and crockery. Devon had also set out a daily timetable plan, which matches with the layout of the prison design, to allow each prisoner individual and small group time out of their cells.

When Devon explained how it all worked with the way it was designed, Toby was amazed and thrilled that such a well-planned prison could work. Other blueprints had all the plumbing, fire sprinklers, smoke sensors, audio-visual security and electrical schematics. Toby only had three weeks to go when Devon showed him the plans, and he wished his friend the best of luck with the results of his assignment. Devon had also spent 6 hours building a scale model of the prison he had designed, to give a better idea of what it would look like.

The day before submitting the plans, he took photographs of the plans and the model, which where time and date stamped on each photo, plus he had an imprint stamp made, which was the family crest - a Crown with a deer with antlers, and this was hidden within the plan drawings and plans, and finally with an invisible ink pen, he wrote © the date, wrote his full name and signed each page, which is only visible with an ultraviolet light.

Once that was, done went down to a copy shop and had copies made of each page and he placed the same imprint and invisible mark on them too, before he placed the original blueprints into a tube ready to hand in to the lecturer first thing in the morning, and the copies were placed in another tube, which was marked copies, and placed in the wardrobe.

The lecturer – Dr Carter, was impressed that at least one of his students had completed and handed in the assignment ahead of time, and he said he would look at the design later in the day during his spare time, and Devon went off to his first lecture for the day.

In the mid-afternoon while studying in the Uni library, Dr Carter who Devon has just completed an assignment for, came up to Devon and informed him that from what he saw briefly he was very impressed with the chosen project, including the planned method of running of the prison to fit in with the design and layout of the facility.

The next day, Devon received a message to go and see Dr Carter, something to do with his assignment, when he walked into the office, he saw that the window was broken and books, papers and furniture were scattered everywhere.

Dr Carter explained that he had been broken into overnight, and he enquired if he had marked the plans for copyright, and did he have a spare copy, Devon said yes to having a spare but didn’t admit that he had secret markings on all his work, but said he would go home and get the copy set at lunchtime.

While looking at the big mess in the office, Devon offered to assist Dr Carter with tidying up, but the offer was declined with thanks. As Devon was about to leave, the lecturer remembered another bit of news, good news this time, as he had spent 5 years studying Physics as his minor course.

Dr Carter informed Devon unofficially that he had graduated with honours, and it was soon after that when he had requests flooding in for tutoring assistance in Physics, but he declined because of his workload.

A week later, Devon received his copy set of blueprints back, with an A+ marked on the tube, and a note attached to it, “Well done Mr Carlton, I think the extra study in the field of engineering will make you a top-class architect”. Devon was thrilled with the result and so was his parents when he called home to let them know, he also made a call to Toby but wasn’t able to speak to him.

For the next two years Devon was kept very busy with his final two years of studies, each assignment he did that required drawing up blueprint plans, he marked each one of them with his secret markings, he was happy with his life and he was nearly at the end of his studies, with final exams just a few months away, until one day, it all dramatically changed.

“The Australian Government has announced this morning that it has signed a contract with an Architectural firm from Boston in the USA, for their design of a Super Maximum Security Prison, able to hold about 240 prisoners, tenders are now out to build this prison in a semi-rural location in Western Australia, if all goes well, then more will be built to help overcome the huge amount of over-crowding happening in prisons throughout Australia.”

When Devon heard this on the radio news that morning, he didn’t take that much attention to it, but when he arrived at the university campus, all of his classmates suddenly swamped him, trying to ask him questions all at the same time.

Dr Carter appeared and told everyone to settle down, he then asked Devon to follow him to his office, once seated, Devon was handed a copy of the morning’s paper, on the front page was a sketch drawing of what the prison would look like, and it was his sketch drawing.

Devon was speechless, his mouth was open but nothing was coming out, “I see from your expression, that you had no idea about this?” Dr Carter asked Devon, shook his head as he still didn’t know what to say. Dr Carter picked up the phone and dialled a number, and after making three calls he hung up and told Devon to wait and be patient and we will see what can be done about this matter.

Within five minutes, the Dean of Law, the University Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor and a secretary walked in and sat around the desk, Devon knew who they were, but had never come face to face with any of the executive members of the university.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a very serious matter that has come to light this morning”, Dr Carter started, “this is Mr Devon Carlton, he has just completed his Physics degree with honours, did three years of engineering before switching to Architecture four years ago, and he has final exams in a few months’ time.

Mr Carlton produced a set of blueprint plans and a model for his assignment two years ago, and he was the first to submit them for marking. Unfortunately, that was the night that my office was broken into and ransacked, with some stuff stolen, amongst them was Devon’s blueprints.

Luckily, he had made a copy set and was able to present them on time, for which he received an A+ grading. The set of prints that he produced and I can verify they are his, as I photographed the originals before they were stolen, are the same prints that you see before you on the front page of today’s paper.

It appears that our federal government has received and paid for stolen property” Dr Carter said. There was total silence in the office, as the information was being processed by everyone.

The Dean of Law was the first to speak up, “Mr Carlton, in what way can you prove that those plans are the ones you submitted to your lecturer two years ago?” Devon was a bit surprised by this and he stood up and took off the necklace that he had around his neck and placed it on the desk for all to see, “Dr Carter do you have the copy prints with you or are they locked away” Devon asked, and Dr Carter smiled and went to his cupboard and pulled out the tube that contained the blueprints.

“When I saw the newspaper article, I made sure I brought them with me,” Dr Carter said, as he opened the tube and rolled out the plans onto the desk so everyone could see them. There was a whistle of amazement that came from the Vice Chancellor, and everyone looked at him, “I’m sorry, before I was in management, I graduated many years ago with a degree in Architecture, I am very impressed young man, this is quite a lot of detail you have here”, he said.

“Chancellor do you have your pipe with you at the moment?” Devon asked, which brought shocked expressions from everyone else in the room, “Sir, with respect, there is a very good reason why I asked this” Devon added and the Chancellor pulled out his pipe. “Sir, would you mind lighting the pipe and placing the lit pipe under the top left corner of the plans, approximately 5 cm from the corner,” Devon asked, and the Chancellor did as he was asked, once he had done this, very quickly the evidence appeared. “© Devon H Carlton January 2002 All Rights Reserved”. Along with a signature next to it, Devon H Carlton.

Devon then placed his Driver’s License showing his signature and the necklace on the plans, next to what had just appeared. “Mr Chancellor, it is of my view as a Barrister, Officer of the Court and Dean of this fine institution, this young man has just proved without a doubt that this is his property.

I’m sure that what we see in the papers is the same, Mr Carlton, is the same method of identification on the originals?” the Dean asked looking directly at Devon, “Yes Sir they are, also if you run a pencil along the bottom right corner, about 5 cm’s in, you will find another form of identification, that matches my family crest, as shown on the necklace” he said clearly.