This morning I was sleeping nicely, with my covers over my head and a few sheets of thick paper in the window to keep out the light, when my door started clicking, meaning the picket officer wanted our attention for something. When I opened the door to see what he wanted, I saw the commissary lady standing below my row.
"You want to help with the commissary truck?" she asked.
I'd been in my cell for the last three days on lockdown so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out and move around.
My dorm was shaken down (searched) yesterday so now I'm free to work, as long as I am called out. The library isn't doing inventory this go 'round so they don't need my help. But most of the commissary workers are still waiting to be shaken down and there was a truck outside waiting to be unloaded.
I spent the whole day taking commissary off the truck and moving the inventory to different warehouse locations around the unit. It was the most physical labor I've done in a while - not hard work, but enough to get me tires by the end of the day. When I came back to the dorm, I took my first shower in two days and napped listening to All things Considered.
I liked the library much better. I still had enough energy for rec in the evenings I worked there. Escaping the cell during lockdown was great, though.
Happy Birthday to me! And what's my gift from TDC? Lockdown!
I really can't think of a worse way to spend a birthday than on lockdown in prison. This is definitely the worst I've had. And I get at least four more days in my cell all day long.
On the bright side, I had all day to read and write with the only interruptions coming from having to face away from my cellmate as he used the toilet five feet away and from forcing him to do the same when I took a restroom break. Ah, the joys of lockdown.
The day was much brighter when I received my mail for the day: seven birthday cards! Thank you to everyone who sent a card. That was an incredible show of love and I really appreciate it. And, like I said in my last posting, I will be out next year, which should save y'all some postage. That's worth looking forward to.
Have I mentioned that I share the label "inmate" with some real idiots? Yes? Well, here's one more anecdote to defend my statement.I was in one of our hallways playing guitar, practicing for a possible talent show for the staff, when a sergeant came rampaging down the hallway. He and two other officers entered a three-dorm pod and shortly thereafter we entered lockdown. The whole unit was locked in their cells all night and I thought we would stay that way for a couple of days, but this morning all was back to normal. Almost.
It turns out that the sergeant had found a hacksaw blade in someone's cell. Why the guy had it I have no clue. This unit is too sedate to need a weapon and I can't think of anything else to be made with a hacksaw. I thought we would be back on lockdown at lunchtime because the maintenance records showed fifteen blades missing. Goodness!
Of course, I'm surrounded by idiot inmates and the records had been messed up by one of the maintenance workers. Blades are some of the most sensitive items in the department, for good reason, and the care of them was like that of the stepmother toward Cinderella: just forget about it.
Seemingly small mistakes can have far-reaching impact around here. I am often lambasted by other inmates for taking my job seriously, but they don't realize that a few slip-ups can ruin the library for everyone. I know inmates aren't generally thought of as bright individuals, but I wish at least common sense was a little more... well, common.
*From "How Stuff Works.com"
Prison being what it is, there are many shenanigans going on nearly every day. Usually they don't have any consequences for me, because I'm never involved. However, there are instances when the craziness gets so out of hand that it affects a mass of inmates. One of those instances occurred tonight.
The guard for our dorm came in to do a cell search. The guys in the cell to be searched had a bunch of tobacco and started flushing what they could with the door closed. The guard rushed upstairs and called to get the cell door opened pronto.
When the door popped open, one of the guys tossed a bag over the rail to a guy on the ground floor, who ran to his cell, shut the door and started flushing. As the bag flew over the rail, the guard ran down the stairs to the newly closed door and called to get it opened. Behind the shouting, I heard the high-powered flushes of our toilets. When the door opened, the guy was just standing there with a smile on his face.
After this humiliation, the guard called rank. Everyone in the dorm was marched into the hallway and strip-searched. We all waited in the hall while a squad of officers tore apart our dorm, tossing stuff all over our cells. About thirty minutes passed before we were allowed to go back in. Even then, we went straight to our destroyed cells and were told that we would be locked down for the rest of the night.
The stupidest part is that because none of the tobacco was captured, the guys won't get in trouble and they will stay in the dorm to repeat their actions.
The day after my pod was shaken down, my coworker and I were called down to the library on our inventory. This task involves printing entire collection, then checking off each book as we go down the shelves. What already a slow process is complicated by the fact that the officers doing the shakedown don't cooperate with us. We asked them to take up all the library books they find, but that has not happened. I expect the inventory to take a big chunk of time after lockdown because guys are usually reluctant to turn in their books.
We are about halfway finished now and I'm really enjoying the quiet in the library. Better than the quiet, though, is our lunch. Because the unit is locked down, the dining hall is closed. That doesn't mean the kitchen is empty. There are plenty of workers that fill the johnnies and go pass them out.
When my boss leaves for lunch break she has been leaving us in the kitchen for what we call daycare, and what great daycare it is. This first day we were dropped off, the kitchen guys made Barbecue roast beef with onions and peppers. Using hoagie buns, we made awesome sandwiches. Yesterday the guys made pepperoni pan pizza. Those two meals were better than anything I've eaten in prison so far, and they came during a lockdown!
Today West and I were dropped off too early to get in on the food so while he went out with the johnny crew, I made lunch for the two of us. Using bananas, butter, cinnamon and brown sugar, I made fried bananas to put between toasted bread with peanut butter. I had not had fried bananas in years and had forgotten how awesome the caramelized surface is.
So now I'm wondering why we can't be on lockdown more often. I'm loving this.
Hooray! Lockdown is over! It could not have come soon enough.
My cellie was making enough noise to annoy not just me., but the surrounding five cells, too. I expected to get quite a lot of reading done, but only finished one book and got fifty pages into the next (Halting States by Charles Stross and Empire by Orson Scott Card, if you're curious.) The first hot meal on a full tray is always a welcome sight after disappointing johnnies thrice each day.
Yeah, my cellie was out of control all lockdown. One of his friends is in an adjacent cell, so he was constantly banging on the concrete walls, which gave a deep reverberation, and yelling through the vents. When the walls weren't shaking, he was singing to himself in his bunk with his new street-purchased radio, or just making weird noises. When asked to stop, he would take only a temporary break, maybe thirty minutes. When he moved in he said he was glad I as white. "Black guys are too loud," he said. Little did I know he was going to be louder than any cellie I've had yet.
My only respite was a visit from my parents on Sunday. I was surprised to see visitation run during lockdown, but sure wasn't complaining. I might have been a little loony after being in the cell for three days with a noisemaker, but if I was, they didn't say anything. I also got to eat some better fare than the johnnies. Just talking to someone would have been enough, but those two hours felt like a vacation. Today, it's back to normal, and considering the past few days, that's a good thing.
Well, this is unexpected. Lockdown. Only three months after the last one. What a bummer.
Honestly, I'm surprised that it hasn't come earlier. Over the past couple of months there have been some major busts on this unit. One guy had 12 packs of tobacco and just over $1000 in his cell. The tobacco was being cut and package in cigarettes to be distributed around the unit.
Another gut was caught in the hallway with 40 packs of tobacco. He worked outside and had the tobacco dropped off in a ditch in front of the unit, He carried it all the way into the unit in his jacket before being stopped on a whim.
But the one to top them all and send us on a lockdown was pure idiocy. A guy tried to mail $3700 home in a peanut better jar. First, that is a staggering sum of cash, several months work for some. Second, a peanut butter jar?! C'mon, isn't that more than a little suspicious? Even if it's sealed, who in their right mind sends peanut butter home?
So this guy's deficient mental faculties (probably part of the reason he's in prison) caused 1130 men to be locked down and searched. Thanks for the johnnies, semi-daily showers, and 24-hour confinement to my cell.
Lockdown has been going on for three days now, and it's actually been quite nice. We have to stay in our cells all day, which has given me a lot of time to read. I've already knocked out two books and am looking for the hat trick. The environment has been much more conducive to reading too, with the TV off and no one stopping by to interrupt. I sure do love the quiet. Alan has been gone to work making sack meals in the kitchen for two days so I even have the cell to myself sometimes.
The sack meals have been far better than the usual johnny sacks of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and prunes. These sacks have potato chips, pancakes, syrup, biscuits, meatloaf, and other cooked meats. I had heard that the sack meals would be better but I didn't expect such a changing menu like we've had.
Unfortunately, some of the food did Alan in. He came back from the kitchen Tuesday not feeling well. A few hours later he was hurling. Yesterday he was bunk-bound except for the times he hopped down to use the toilet. I'm glad I didn't catch whatever it was he got. Maybe it's my cast-iron immune system. I was the only one in my family that did not get sick while we lived in Africa. I hope it stays with me.
I'm not looking forward to packing up all my stuff and hoofing it to the gym, but this lockdown has been far better than previous ones in an open dorm setting. I don't think I'll come out on the flip side quite as batty as those previous episodes because I've been able to use my time instead of having to deal with the silliness of thirty other guys. There is something to be said for these two-man cells.
Well, rumors have been circulating for a few weeks and it happened today. All Texas prisons are required to have a lockdown and shakedown of the unit every six months. If the warden of this unit went the full six months between lockdowns, the date would disrupt the college classes so he bumped it up to our "spring break" instead.
Lockdown actually began last night, but there wasn't any way to tell until this morning when everyone received johnny sacks for breakfast. We were roused at about 8:00 and told to pack our stuff and be ready to take it down to the gym to be searched. I was one of the first ones to have their property searched and one of the last to return to the dorm. The guard wanted to check out every postcard and picture I had. The only things I had confiscated from me were cards drawn for Power Grid and a spinner that was used for die rolls in games.
This lockdown has been different than any other I've been through. For one, the guards really seem to be hurrying through it - except the one who searched my property. Also, the TV's have been allowed to stay on the whole time and the dayrooms have been open. Every other lockdown has had TV's off at least until the dorm has been shaken down, usually until the whole unit is finished. At least I got to catch The Office reruns I hadn't seen yet.
Rumor has it that this lockdown is only for three days, which means we will be back to normal on Friday night. The printed schedule we received says we will get visitation this weekend regardless. What a great end to a strange spring break.
Well, we got off lockdown today. I bet we're one of the first in the state because this unit is small. We found out yesterday evening the lockdown had been lifted . That also means we went to work last night and had real meals today. Still no rec, though. I think the unit is still short-staffed.It was so good to get out of the dorm last night for work. Going anywhere after being in the same room for a week is great. And the first few meals coming off lockdown are always the most yummy. The only downside is getting the TV back on, which means noise all day and evening. Tonight is wrestling. Yippee! (not!) I wish it would just stay off.
No telling how the lockdown will affect school. I don't know if our grades will just be averaged or we will lose those credits. I hope it's something with common sense.
After the adventure of registering for classes yesterday, I stayed up to study and take my philosophy test over ethics. I was dead tired when I started the test and very nervous that I wouldn't perform well or remember the material. I think that fear put me in gear, because I feel like I wrote a really good paper. At least, it would have been a good paper if I could have finished it.
I had one paragraph left to write when we were told to stop writing and return to our dorms. We had been put on lockdown. I didn't find out until today that some idiot on Death Row had acquired a cell phone and called a state senator to threaten him. As you can imagine, the senator was ticked off and got the governor ticked off. The governor then issued a statewide prison lockdown to search for more cell phones, and other "contraband",which ticked off the guards and inmates.
So, this morning we went through the property search and shakedown like before. This week will be filled with boredom as we can't go to work, school, or rec. Even meals will be brought to us in johnnies. All this gives me a chance to catch up on letter writing and reading. It's nice to have the TV off, too.
Shortly after the last entry one of the guards came in and asked if anyone wanted to do work in the hallway. It was about 1:00 AM and I was bored and wide awake so I said I'd go.
Rico and I went out into the hallway to gather all the trash. It was nice to get outside of the dorm late wheneverything was quiet. We were able to talk and joke
around with a few of the guards.
While I was outside one of the guys still on lockdown tried to pick a fight with one of the guards. Yeah, good idea. Pick a fight with the only guys who can get you off lockdown and in the meantime they can pepper spray and gas you to their heart's content. Obviously, that did not go well. He was handcuffed and taken to segregation lockup. I hope he is good friends with himself because that's the only person he'll see for a while.
So the only work I've done since I arrived at this unit is a quick hall clean up and a trip to the dumpsters with the remains of dinner from the dining hall. Not the most glamorous but a good break from the norm.
I found that I just might like the lockdown better than the normal goings on (except for the johnny sacks and lack of rec.) I woke up this morning and there was complete silence. No voices whispering, pages rustling, bodies shifting, dominoes being slammed. Just silence. It stayed quiet, the most quiet ever, for the whole afternoon until the evening johnny sacks were delivered. It was great.
Finally I was able to read without distractions and pray without my attention wandering. All too often my eyes are lifted by noise on the TV, loud conversations, or some random interruption. It is difficult to read anything when I have to go back and re-read lines, paragraphs, or entire pages. Today was it such a blessing to be able to escape into the world of C.S. Lewis and enjoy his writing fully.
This unit is on a downhill slide as far as inmates are concerned.
Over the past few days there have been multiple gang beatings, gassings, and man lockups. This morning, coming in from rec,a guy was battered to oblivion by a bunch of guys waiting behind the door. This is the kind of stuff you regret hearing about and hate even more to see.
I heard that there is a unit inspection today by the TDCJ officials. Apparently the recent events and ongoing unit problems were bad enough to issue a lockdown. At about eight o'clock tonight everyone was told to stay on their bunks. The dayroom was closed, the TV and lights were turned off and board games were turned in. This lockdown means that the whole unit has to stay on their bunks all day, every day, until the lockdown is lifted. As a result, no rec, no TV, no hot meals, no school, no moving around of any kind.
I really hope everything is dealt with quickly. This is supposed to be a "privilege" unit, in the warden's words. It's not much of a privilege when the actions of a few affect many more, but if it's what is necessary to bring peace back, so be it. I pray that safety and protection would be given to everyone here and that the right decisions would be made to correct the problems.
This morning I was sleeping nicely, with my covers over my head and a few sheets of thick paper in the window to keep out the light, when my door started clicking, meaning the picket officer wanted our attention for something. When I opened the door to see what he wanted, I saw the commissary lady standing below my row.
