We had a pep rally this evening. It certainly wasn't worth waking me from my sleep for, but the warden and major tried to get us pumped up about the unit's upcoming review by ACA (American Correctional Association).

At first I had no idea what was going on. The whole dorm was wakened and everyone except four bunks were told to get dressed and get outside. At first I thought it was a shakedown because of someone else's boneheaded move. Then we were ushered into the dining hall where three quarters of the seats were filled by guys from other dorms. Now I was really confused.

The warden explained that we were privileged to be able to be at this unit that was being reviewed for ACA approval. I have no idea how ACA approval helps us, but the warden sure was excited. We have to make sure eveything is clean and organized to make a safe place for us to live and for the staff to work. Apparently we were supposed to get excited about cleaning just so the unit has some organization's stamp of approval. I could be wrong, but it looks like all the effort falls on the inmates to make the warden look good while we still don't get properly working sinks, TV's, AC, or the food or clothes that we're supposed to get. What is our reward? That's how you get people motivated.

Our dorm is already probaly the cleanest ion the unit, thanks to great dorm janitors. I probably woul dhave been better off doing what I was doing - sleeping.