I awakened yesterday, as usual at 5:15am. I got cleaned up, dressed and went to breakfast just
past 6am when it was called. I returned to my unit after breakfast, read for a bit and then waited
for the 7am “move” call to go to work. I waited, and waited. No call. I looked outside to see if
other units were moving. No one was outside. I and the other people dressed for work seemed to
take the delayed move in stride; the people headed to the Recreation Center for their morning
workout were not so happy. At 7:30am, a lockdown was announced. We remained locked down
until lunch, when we were allowed to go to the “chow hall” and pick up a “to go” lunch and
immediately return to our unit. What was silly was that we had to be properly dressed to walk
over to pick up our “to go” lunch. No sweats, no sneakers. Khakis and boots required.
We remained locked down the entire afternoon. Of course, it was a beautiful day outside, yet we
could not enjoy it. We were again permitted to go to the “chow hall” to pick up a ‘to go” dinner
and we remained locked down for the remainder of the night. No TV, no phones, no computers.
The commanding officers did not know (nor did not tell) the reason for the lockdown.
This morning I awakened and wondered if we would still be locked down. I asked around and no
one knew – not even the officers. When breakfast wasn’t called by 6:15am, we all figured that we
would be locked down again. I didn’t bother getting dressed for work. I picked up my breakfast
in my sweats. We had the first inkling that lockdown would soon be over when “Unicor” (the
factory workers) was called to work. At 10:00am lockdown was over; lunch and the rest of the
day returned to normal.
Since the lockdown, everyone seems pre-occupied as to why we were locked down. Rumors
abound: one rumor was that new security cameras were being installed. Another was that one of
the commanding officers was caught with meth and so there was a staffing issue. To me, neither
of these rumors sounds very plausible. But honestly, I really don’t care, for whatever reason we
were locked down. I have no control over that, nor am I entitled to an explanation. I have much
more important things I can think of to occupy my time. Bottom line is, in all likelihood, I’ll
never find out why we were locked down. I’m going to let it go. I can’t control the uncontrollable.
