Restlessness

"Hey man, you need to leave the dorm. Now."

These were the words I heard shortly after waking up today. For some reason this guy thought I had snitched on the guys involved in the heart check. (See entry Thursday, August 6, 2009.) The Hispanic gang involved had told one of the white gangs to take care of it. I had three options.

"You can either leave now, go ahead and fight me, or wait for about fifteen of these other guys to get over here and smash you."

"But I wasn't involved in the any of that. There's no reason I would be." I protested. "I'm not gaining anything with those guys gone."

"Sorry. I'm giving you a chance. I don't think you want to get beat up. No arguments. Leave or that's your only option."

I was able to get the guy calmed down to the point where we worked out that I would go to music practice, he would go to rec, and if nothing was found out, I would leave after dinner. At music practice I shared the situation with the other guys and we had a time of prayer. One guy offered to come back to the dorm with me but I told him I would be okay. In my head, I was half expecting to get jumped as soon as I got back, all for some dumb rumor.

Instead, I was greeted by suspicious stares. I talked with the only members of the Hispanic gang in our dorm (who was also involved in the heart check) and tried to tell him that I didn't rat anyone out and would have no reason to do so. He said he didn't know for sure either way, but he was being pressured by his gang to take care of me. We worked out that I would stay until tomorrow after we went out to commissary. Again, if nothing was figured out, I would leave.

Tonight, when I was in cell block working, I talked to some guys in both gangs and all of them thought the situation was out of control. They wrote notes for me to take back to the dorm to hopefully calm the guys down so I didn't get evicted. So far they haven't listened to anything I've said. Maybe they'll listen to their own guys. I'm pretty on edge until tomorrow.

Things change, things stay the same.

Last week Opie left the dorm to go to cell block. For some reason he decided he didn't want to work anymore, so he just stayed in the dorm, racked up a few disciplinary cases, and went to cell block.I really don't know what's going on with that guy. I tried to bring him around and make him realize what he was doing but he didn't care. He always has to be talking to someone so I don't know know why he went to cell block where he'll probably be in a cell on his own. I hope he comes aorund eventually because that kind of attitude gets nobody anywhere.

Since Opie left, the light used for tattooing blew out and a couple of other guys got moved out. Now the dorm is much quieter. I'm really enjoying the peace (relative peace; the TV is always on and guys are always talking) and have finished quite a few things. I've been reading and writing more. I plan to finish Gulag Archipelago by this weekend so I can move on to lighter fare, and the parole packet has been coming together, too. I hope this quiet lasts for a long time to come.

WSD - Weapons of Soap Destruction

My assigned dorm for the shower crew is cell block, which is where the administrative segregation inmates are housed. It's a quick, easy job with only two showers and a little bit of floor to clean. Cell block is usually quiet but there is sometimes a good bit of noise because guys have to yell to talk between their individual cells.

Lately, every time I go back to clean, the guys wait for me to go into the back, opening the door between two halves of barred cells. As I clean the back shower I hear whizzing and cracking as the guys shoot bits of soap at each other. Because they are in their cells all day, with nothing to do, they have started soap wars between the two sides. Their weapons are elastic bands from boxers as slingshots and plastic spoons as catapults. It's funny to hear their banter as the insults and taunts fly with each shot. They duck and doge to avoid hits. Even sleeping guys can't stay out of the game for long. They just get hit and wake up to join in the fray.

Rabbit out, Opie in

Rabbit has moved into cell block now. I came back from Trig and some new guy was situating himself in Rabbit's bunk. Rabbit was kind of expecting to be moved because he had the same restrictions as Opie, just longer time. It was still disappointing to see him gone. He said he was going to talk to one of the lieutenants about getting moved back to shower crew and this dorm when he gets out of cell block, which would be great.

About ten minutes after I got back from school, Opie brought himself and all his stuff to one of the empty bunks. Apparently, they traded a body for a body and let Opie out early. The way they run this place is so contradictory that the only thing to expect is the unexpected.

Opie gone

Well, my time with Opie in the dorm has come to an end, at least temporarily. His move to cell block (segregation) today was pretty unexpected. He had a disciplinary case about a week ago for having a dry erase marker (we used it to draw maps for role playing games) and he received a fifteen days commissary and recreation restriction. Under the old warden, all rec restrictions were housed in cell block, but I haven't seen any get moved back there since the new warden arrived in January. Supposedly, the rule changed to only cell or property restrictions being moved. With only rec and commissary, Opie shouldn't have been moved.

The strange thing is that we have two other people in the dorm who have restrictions who weren't moved. One of them even has cell restriction. The way things are run here makes little sense at all. Sometimes I think they try different ways of doing things just to assert power, even if it makes things confusing for them and especially if it makes things harder on us.

Now Opie will be in cell block for two weeks before he gets moved again. Maybe he'll be back in here, but probably not.