Lockdown … Maybe

            Word is out that we’re going on “lockdown” Monday. The source is pretty good; still, we won’t know until the announcement comes through. Lockdown at this level – as I’ve written before – is a waste of time.

            Prisons lockdown for all sorts of reasons. You have a murder, an assault, or a host of other issues at a high security prison and you “lockdown.” At this level, lockdown is “going through the motions.” Everything stops – all programs, classes, and activities. And, we lie around and wait – wait to be called to chow; wait to be called to the gym to wait for your bunk to be called so you can go back to the building and strip down and then be searched.

            They never find anything – not here anyway. Any serious stuff a guy may have, like a real knife or cellphone, or drugs are dumped before the officers get in the building. It’s all form over substance. Oh, you’ll lose an extra blue shirt or set of sheets, but so what – you buy them on the yard after lock lets up.

            What is lost is routine. Guys in school who barely read or write and you work with them every day, and they begin to make progress and then “lockdown” and a week is lost and those students – those men who desperately need school – regress.

            Lockdown never turns up drugs. Lockdown never turns up cellphones. Lockdown just wears you down and increases everyone’s frustration level.

            Years ago at the receiving unit I went through a real lockdown. For four and a half days we were confined to our cells. Meals – Styrofoam boxes – were brought to us. Wednesday evening, my cell and the one to my right popped open. “You four are up for showers,” the C/O said. “You get ten minutes.” Shower and then back in the cell ‘til Thursday midday when our cell door popped again. My cellmate and I were placed in handcuffs and our cell was torn apart – that’s a real lockdown.

            The strange thing is, this vestige of higher security levels isn’t even needed at this facility. A former Warden here went five years between lockdowns. And, we now have random monthly officer shakedowns (two C/Os go through two or three guys stuff every other day).

            We’ll see what Monday brings. Hopefully, it’ll be business as usual with work and a college IT class. Or, we’ll be back on lock …