The most satisfying part of working the night cop shift in the tiny, carpet-stained room at the Des Moines police station was receiving collect phone calls from prisoners. The best one resulted in the front page headline: “Murder suspect says ‘Steve’ did it.” You must remember, only 300 people live in Iowa. It’s a pretty first name kind of place.

This weekend, I heard a story from Adam who you might know from Chicago. He also used to receive phone calls from prisoners. For him it occurred while he worked as a deejay at a college radio station. Conversations usually went something like this.

Operator: Will you accept a collect phone call from…

Prisoner: STEELY DAN!