That’s a good question on October 17th, 2019, as High Desert State Prison(HDSP) has been on full institutional lockdown for over a week now, with no end in sight. This current lockdown follows on the heels of an institutional lockdown at HDSP last month, which lasted almost nine days (that was 9/15 to 9/24). This has to be a short post because it’s Thursday night and I want to get this mailed before this weekend, in case I`m still locked down next week. So, same as during last month’s lockdown, here’s what’s going on: No visits, no phone calls, no yard, no gym, no canteen, no law library, no chapel. The regular menu of food replaced with less calories, constantly cold food. Locked in a cell 24 hours a day, getting out for a shower every three days.
The lockdown last month and this month are for GP doing work stoppages and hunger strikes. Tonight the guard said we would have been off of lockdown a few days ago except for the fact that Unit 12(a PC unit) acted up, and the guards had to do a major shakedown of all the PC units. The second major shakedown in six weeks, with guards bragging to eachother about getting 60 hours of overtime in the past week. Are there not enough guards to run HDSP? The “acting up” by Unit 12 was inmates not uncovering their lights or back windows, so the whole prison gets punished. What is going on here?
In my unit and pod, the guards are not properly trained for running a unit on lockdown. They have not cleaned the showers or tier one time this past week. When serving food, they slide trays across a dirty tray slot that hasn’t been cleaned all week, then stack the trays on top of eachother so the bottoms of trays are resting directly on the food of the trays below them. The air in my pod has been off for seven of the past eight days. Today I got called out to go to work in the morning, worked all day, then got a shower before being locked in my cell again. And tomorrow I will work all day again and return to my cell again. If I’m lucky, I get to take a shower in a shower that hasn’t been cleaned in about nine days.
I hate this shit, being cut off from my family and friends, being subjected to these unsanitary conditions, being forced to work while being locked in my cell the rest of the time. This is no way to run a prison. Hopefully I`ll be able to post again soon. In the meantime, I hope that everyone out there breathes deep the next time they go outside. Enjoy that freedom, that fresh air and sunlight. They are precious things. Even moreso, enjoy your time and contact with your loved ones.
a life without parole 