HOW THINGS WORK

Before we jump into my journey for the last twenty-three years, let me give you an idea of what a maximum security prison in California looks like and how it kind of functions. There are five different prison levels that are based on a points system, Level 1 to 4. 1 being minimum security, 4 being maximum and 5th being the SHU (Segregated Housing Unit), which is the highest level of security you can get. 

When you first go to prison, depending on how much time you have to serve and what your crime is will determine how many points you start with and which level you'll be placed in. For instance, a burglary which could be a 16-month sentence would probably start you with around 16 points and a murder could start you with around 70 points. 60 points and up would land you at a Level 4, 59-36 points would put you in a Level 3, 35-19; Level 2, and anything below would put you in a minimum security prison. While in prison, you can gain and lose points. For instance, fighting can add another 12 points and a stabbing can add 20. You will only get points added if you get an official write-up; called a “115 discipline report.” These points can add time to your sentence or be punishments like the loss of privileges for a certain amount of time or being put in the SHU. If you don’t get any write ups during your sentence and you have a job or go to class, you can drop 12 points annually and be placed in a lower level prison. I currently have 244 points.

I am in a Level 4 maximum security prison and have been in a Level 4 or SHU for the entirety of my sentence. Where I'm currently staying at Kern Valley State Prison is a 180° design institution. There are four yards; two general population yards; A and B and two “SY” yards (Sensitive Needs Yard), C and D. We’ll get into the details of what that means at a later time. Each yard has eight buildings and each building contains a total of 64 cells. The buildings are sectioned off into three smaller pods; two pods have ten cells on each tier, one pod has twelve cells on each tier and each tier contains one shower. There is a Dayroom in each pod which contains two telephones, four tables and a television. The dayroom is for recreational use, like socializing, playing cards or talking to our loved ones on the phone. We are supposed to get an hour every evening in the Dayroom, but that often changes and can depend on staff shortages, incidents or if it's a down day.

Every building has an outdoor recreational yard with a basketball and handball court, a small half dirt / half grass field for soccer or football, and a concrete track that wraps around the field. At the edge of the field there are five designated work-out stations. The yard is enclosed by buildings and walls and there are a total of 10 gun towers that surround. All movement is done in a controlled environment and is monitored under camera and security. So that means any time I walk out of my cell to exit the building, we are hand searched and have to go through a metal detector. I only make it out to yard twice a week due to school or work, and during the summer even less because of the heat. It can reach 140 degrees out there and there have been cases of inmate deaths because of that. 

So now, let me give you a rough idea of what daily programming is like for a person in a Level 4 prison. Each morning begins with breakfast; all meals are served on a metal tray in our cells. At around 8am, if you have school or work, they will announce it over the intercom. Depending on what day it is, you may have yard in the morning or afternoon. Classes and work can run anywhere between 4am-8pm. There are three body counts daily and at these times we have to be in our cells so an officer can physically count us. I currently work 3 days a week and go to class 5 days a week. I am only allowed out of my cell for work, class, yard, dayroom or medical and again, always under supervision. If there is no programming I could be in my cell for 23 or 24 hours a day, which usually happens a couple days a week.  By 8pm, the prison is locked down for the night and everyone has to be back in their cells. 

Let me describe my cell. Level 4 prisons have the largest cells. When you look at my cell from the outside, there is a solid Dodger blue metal door with two vertical rectangular windows on the front. There is a horizontal tray slot with a lock on it that is only opened for meals. On the walls next to the door are windows on either side. The cell is approximately 6 paces long from the front door to the back wall, by 3 ½ paces from left to right, with approximately 8ft ceilings. The walls are a stark gray concrete. As soon as you step into my cell, on the right is my stainless steel toilet and sink; the sink is attached to the water tank of my toilet. Each cell has a limitation of two flushes every 15 minutes. If you flush your toilet three times, the toilet locks and you can't flush it for 1 hour. I recently discovered I have unlimited flushes and that is a luxury! Two steps past my toilet, to my left, are two lockers that have four cubby holes and they are connected to the wall. To my right is a metal bunk bed with a 3” thick mattress and a homemade pillow. Directly at the back of the cell is a table and a stool that is also attached to the wall. There is one vertical rectangular window in the back wall that looks out to a dirt landscape with four electrical fences and a vocational building. As of right now, I live alone, which I prefer and enjoy. It's not easy living in a small space with someone you don't really know. 

To give you a brief glance of the environment and what can take place at any given moment, yesterday as I was starting my morning and breakfast was being served, an incident alarm cuts through the silence. I get up and walk to my door and see the flashing lights and officers running into my section. I heard a commotion coming from upstairs. As I eat my bowl of oatmeal, I see medical staff arrive and within minutes officers are escorting an erratic prisoner. He is in handcuffs and leg chains, and as they place him on the medical gurney, he starts trying to break through the chains screaming and violently rocking back and forth against the strapped-down gurney. He had some sort of medical episode. Which could mean anything from an actual mental issue or a drug overdose; drug overdoses happen more often than a mental issue. Within an hour after removing the individual, he was brought back and programming resumed to normal. That afternoon as I was finishing cultural class, another incident took place. I can see directly through my classroom door and in the recreation yard are three inmates in a physical altercation; two inmates fighting with another. As the incident alarm goes off once again, all movement stops and we are directed to lay down and prone out onto the concrete floor until the incident is dealt with. After that, I am released back from school to my building. I walk across the yard and another incident occurs. An inmate is pacing out on the yard and he's yelling at the officers for taking his property. That slows the program down yet again and delays movement.