Battle Zone

Today there was a huge brawl out on the compound, which resulted in nineteen people being sent to the hole at once. The entire compound got locked down, so I’m guessing that every inmate here spent almost the entire day in their cells. They didn’t even serve a proper dinner today; instead of the hot meal that we should have had, all we got was a soggy turkey sandwich, a bag of Fritos, and an orange in a brown paper bag. As I’m writing this post, my stomach is growling . . .

I don’t know what groups were involved in the fight, or who started it. My only intel is from the guards giving us bits and pieces of information as they see fit.

To have nineteen inmates sent to the hole at once is a big deal here. At most we usually get 1 – 3 new residents a day, and there are plenty of days where we get no newcomers at all. There is only room to accommodate 40 or so people here, so the cops had to start kicking out people with minor offenses to make more space. The cops running the hole had a VERY busy day today.

The thing that gets me is that this prison is supposed to be one of the “good” ones. “Nothing ever happens here,” the cops often say. Oh, yeah? Well, then, what is THIS?!

To make matters worse, I heard that the last time something like this happened, the entire compound got closed FOR A WEEK. This means that I could be looking at 7 days’ worth of awful brown bag meals while the police reassert their control over the prison.

People on the compound with $100.00 worth of commissary in their lockers have nothing to fear. They can throw that bag of crap right back at the guard who tosses it through the chuckhole and eat out of their lockers for a week. As for ME, I’m totally screwed. I have no commissary, and I can’t buy any, either. And the guards wonder why we hoard food in the hole. IN CASE SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENS. Idiots.