This past week and a half, beginning with Memorial Day weekend is certainly one that will be memorialized, at least in my mind.
It all started Friday of Memorial Day weekend, when the fight in our unit caused us to be locked down most of the holiday weekend, and I worried that I might be prohibited from having visitors. We did come off lockdown that Sunday evening so Monday’s (Memorial Day) festivities could be enjoyed Tuesday and Wednesday evening. I didn’t work as the Education Building closed at 3pm, reportedly due to staff shortages. Also during this time, someone on the opposite side of my unit was caught with contraband. Not only was he punished, but the 2 inmates who beat him up for having the contraband and making our unit look bad, also got punished by being sent to the “SHU” or Special Housing Unit (solitary confinement).
Again due to staff shortages, the Education Building was closed the entire day on Thursday and Friday, and I could not work. The weekend promised to be a normal one, and in fact was not until Sunday night: Early in the evening, someone from another part of my unit came screaming down the hallway “who’s telling everyone I’m trading sex to get drugs?” Really? Are we in junior high school?
I went to bed at 9:30pm right after evening count. I was awakened at 11:30pm by all lights being t urned on and the commanding officers asking to see everyone’s hands and elbows. What? Very bizarre. I went back to sleep. 45 minutes later, again the lights went on, and we had to again stand for count. What the heck? I again went back to sleep and awakened at my usual 5:15am. It was unusually quiet. No one was up and about. Something was amiss. I got washed up and dressed as usual. Still, very few people were up and about. I asked my cellmate, who had just awakened, what was going on. Then I got the whole story ….
It seems that the person who came screaming through our unit earlier in the afternoon falsely accused someone half his size for spreading that rumor. He brought that person (who doesn’t even live in our part of the unit) over to our bathroom and beat him up. People got wind of that and then threatened to beat this bully up in return.
After the 9pm count (and after I went to bed), people came over and beat up the bully. This probably would have gone unnoticed by the officers were it not for another inmate who got stoned, and was reportedly trying to hump a trashcan (you can’t make this stuff up). When the officers came to investigate this inmate, they saw the bloodied face of the little guy who was beaten up by the bully and searched and found the now also bloodied bully and hauled both of them to the “SHU”. That’s when we all had to show our hands and elbows – the officers were trying to find out who in turn beat up the bully. Still don’t know why we had to have a formal count and get awakened at midnight.
So the fallout from all these misbehaving knuckleheads is that our unit (and only our unit) is locked down “indefinitely” pending full investigation. No work, recreation, phones or computers for those of us locked down. Ironically, almost everyone who works with the Education Center is in my unit – the only inmate who doesn’t reside in my unit works in the Law Library. But the Resource Center, main Library and Media Lab wont have any workers.
I have been here 3 1/2 months and have not seen so much drama as I’ve seen in the last week. And it’s the second time in a little over a week that a whole group of people need to suffer the consequences for the misdeeds of a couple of knuckleheads. It is a valuable lesson though: our actions and the consequences of those actions, can and do affect other people.
Despite all those shenanigans, I still do not feel unsafe. While I’m respectful and friendly to everyone, I do not associate with those inmates who deal with drugs or contraband or who otherwise seem “shady”. I lay low and do my best to keep out of trouble and mind my own business. Unbeknownst to me, I was actually vetted for my position in the Resource Center before it was offered to me. Staff asked around about my activities and interactions with others. The staff found that I spent almost all my time in the Media Lab taking courses, that I was “clean” – I didn’t do drugs or smoke, and that I was quiet, respectful and courteous to others. I’m actually quite proud of that, and it’s a reputation I intend to keep.
