Families of Prisoners Support Group
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I know this isn't high school any more & we don't get mass texts when there are problems but what causes so many of these places to be on 'lockdown' & how long do they last usually?
If there is a serious fight or a stabbing at a medium, everyone gets locked down until they find the weapon or begin the investigation. They will shake down all the cells to try to find the weapon and they will also inspect each inmate's knuckles, as scuffed knuckles means he has been in a fight. Once the find the weapon and inspect everyone, they let everyone out.
Every once in a while they will conduct an "institutional shakedown." They lock the entire prison down and everyone gets shaken down. They don't do this often, but it is done on a regular basis.
There is ALWAYS a lockdown if there is an escape or an attempted escape until they do a complete head count and get things under control.
Sometimes lockdowns are done for administrative purposes. We were locked down a week once when the heat went out and the people from the outside who came in to work on the heater did not want to be exposed to any inmates so we all were locked down.
Then sometimes they lock inmates down when they are just short of help. The medium I was in sometimes had two COs to watch over 180 inmates and if one was gone, they would lock us down.
If there is a massive drug bust, they lock all the inmates down until they can determine the source of the drugs.
If there is any racial or gang tension on the yard, they will lock everyone down, do an investigation, and place the trouble makers in SHU until they can get them shipped.
Lockdowns are not all bad. You can sleep and watch TV, read, work crossword puzzles, etc. If they lock the inmates down for over a week, they will bring a canteen list and you can order some food items and they still deliver the mail.
Of course, on a lockdown there will be no phone calls and no visits.
Hope this helps everyone understand better.
rewdiazepam
You are correct. They always lock everyone down when there is fog and nobody gets out until the fog is lifted.
There are two reasons for that------1) they don't want the fog to mask any escape attempts, and 2) they cannot watch the inmates if there is a fog.
If you wanted to stab someone, during a fog would be the best time to do it as the COs or the Tower could never see it.
rewdiazepam
Sometimes they lock down because the guards have shooting practice at a nearby range.