Locked Down – AGAIN

Recently, thanks to some idiot who decided to beat another inmate nearly to death, the cops locked down the entire prison for 72 hours. None of us saw this coming. We were all locked into our cells at 9:30 one night, and then the next morning, nothing. They just never reopened the doors.

So why did this happen? Who knows. Maybe it was over drugs or a gambling debt. All I know for certain is that the cops found an inmate bloody and unconscious in front of the cafeteria around 8:20 one night. His injuries were to the point that he had to be rushed to a hospital on the outside.

Even though there are security cameras on the compound, the police don’t know who or how many people are responsible for the attack. Since they have no video footage, the cops are now forced to rely on a witness to come forward with information.

If there are any witnesses, they haven’t spilled the beans, so the warden is punishing the whole inmate population for being uncooperative. No TV, no shower, and our three squares a day are nothing but bologna sandwiches and water. If this isn’t suffering, I don’t know what is.

Even though this is primarily an s.o. prison, there are still some thugs roaming the compound. It’s important to keep your eyes open, even in an “easy” place like this. Prison has the tendency to be rainbows and sunshine one day, blood and gore the next. Don’t EVER forget where you are.

As I’m writing this, I’m making a mental note of keeping some peanut butter and crackers around in case this should happen again. I was fortunate that I had a few ramen soups and some of my Christmas bag candy in my locker when this started. I know of a lot of people less fortunate than I am, so I can imagine them laying in their bunks and starving right now. In a lot of ways, this feels like being back at the ADC.

I’ve only been on this compound for four months, and this happens. Hopefully, this is not the start of a trend. This whole situation stinks of gang violence, and I can imagine a retaliatory strike in the near future should my notion be correct. Maybe I should add a second jar of peanut butter to my mental list. If this happens again, we may be locked down for three WEEKS instead of three days. A couple of days of the bologna diet is barely tolerable at best, but after two weeks, I’ll find myself envying whoever got shanked. I’d volunteer to beta test the feds’ new electric chair before they subject me to that cruel fate of BOP turkey bologna. Yuck.

UPDATE:  The inmate who was attacked died in the hospital. Rumors are the method of injury was via the classic “padlock in a sock” technique. At any rate, I feel sorry for the inmate who was attacked. I’m not going to go out on a limb and say that he was probably a good guy and didn’t deserve it, but coming to prison just to die at the hands of another inmate is beyond atrocious. This is one of the few times I’ll say that I hope the police catch whoever is responsible and punish them to the fullest extent of the law.