Journal Entry 1: LOCKED IN WITH COVID
Date: July 18, 2020
Prison before the pandemic was like clockwork; a guard turns the lights in the day room on at 5:30 am, then walks around the unit unlocking cell doors at 6 am. Chow call— depending on the order of the units— is announced anywhere between 6:45-7 am, the first move of the day begins at 7:30 am. More or less, and absent a lock-down, this was a general aspect of the time frames in the mornings at Federal Correctional Institution Florence Colorado, a medium-high security prison, or at one point in time it was.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. As my eyes open to the beeping of my alarm clock, I reach over to silence it, and let out a sigh of distress as I awake to another morning in a cold concrete cell. My alarm clock shows 5:15 am, set 15 minutes before the guard turns on the lights in the day room. This leaves me, and my celly 20 minutes a piece to get ready for another day in Florence, with 5 minutes to spare before the guard begins to unlock cell doors. At these types of institutions sleeping in is not an option. The moment the guard yells “CLEAR” after unlocking all cell doors you are required to show face at your prisoner-designated area— your territory.
