Dateline: March 18, 2003 
 

Last night I sat locked in my room in the Shasta County Jail attempting first to write some letters, then later to read a book. I tried to mind my own business, but I can't seem to be left alone to do that. There was so much drama wafting through the closed door that I unwillingly became part of it. This stress and tension becomes a problem for everyone, not just those immediately involved. And I think: What is the problem? 

I begin to listen more closely, I am forced to as it is loud, and what do I hear. "So-in-so is a jerk! So-in-so is being an idiot! And multitudinous other name calling and blame accessing. All of these insults are being laid on and between the various insulters and insultees. Again I ask: What is the problem? The more I listen, the more I realize: They don't know what the real problem is, as their emotions have overridden their thinking and logic. They have regressed to childish insults and name calling. They have achieved emotional anarchy. 

Now I regress in memory to a psychology class I took in college, and remember a teaching that later proved true in life many times. Simply stated: The incident that set off the argument is rarely if ever the root cause of the argument. For instance, your wife goes ballistic on you for leaving a pair of dirty socks on the bedroom floor. The socks are not really what she is mad about; they are either the final straw that broke the camel's back, or a convenient excuse to let you know some other problem has been building and she can't take it any longer. 

With this in mind, let us now go back to yesterday's drama. For now, forget the minor disrespect issues that are ongoing. While they are problems, they are not this problem per se. What was the event that triggered last night's drama? When I asked this question this morning of several people, they continued to blame each other and their various undesirable character traits. In other words, the name calling continued. The answer to the question is: The drama began when the police shut off the television set after evening "Med Rounds." 

From there, we must logically regress to discover the true problem cause. So, the next question becomes: Why did the police shut off the TV set? The answer given was: even though the police never announced for them to do so, the bottom tier did not "lock-down" fast enough to suit the police. The interesting thing is that in the past, even before the alternating tier lockdown was implemented, the police almost always shut off the TV during "Med Rounds," and then everyone knew exactly who did it and who to blame. Nothing has really changed, except that the police have managed to get the inmates to blame each other rather than the true culprits. 

Yet we still have not regressed far enough to reach the root of the problem. Since no one seems to be able to grasp this concept due to their earlier and continuing emotional anarchy, I will tell you the root cause of the problem as I see it: The upper tier--lower tier alternating lockdown itself. This alone is now causing extremely high stress and tension, such as never existed prior to the alternating lockdown. To this there are added numerous collateral effects, but for now back to the problem at hand: Shutting off the TV Set. Consider this: If there was no alternating tier lockdown, then last night the lower tier would not have been required to lock-down, and thus the TV Set would not have been turned off. Or would it? However, at least if it had been turned off, the inmates would have known whom to blame. They would have easily figured out who controls the master switch. And it is not other inmates. 

The bottom line is: The problems have caused a level of stress and tension never known before, and the police have orchestrated events, possible unknowingly, to where the inmates are taking out their lockdown frustrations on each other. 

What are some of these other collateral problems caused by the lockdown? Access to showers and grooming before court appearances, visits, classes, etc. Access to telephones at needed times, particularly attorney phone calls. Getting the POD cleaned. Toilet paper being passed out only to the tier that is out. Try to get a timely hair cut when the only barber lives on the other tier. Someone may have waited for a whole month for a particular TV program or sporting event, but can't watch it because it is the other tier's time out. There are numerous others, some minor and some not, but each individual has their own personal frustrations directly caused by the lockdown. To conclude the incomplete list I have left for the last the very important issue: A lack of socialization and human interaction of a positive nature between the upper and lower tiers. They no longer set down to card games or conversation together, they never get to know each other, instead they have been unwillingly placed in a type of competition with each other that has developed into a pseudo-caste system that has regressed to social anarchy that sometimes borders on violence. 

Yes, we will always have individuals who cause problems. Someone who wants to be in control, someone who wants to dictate what TV programs are watched. Selfishness. These people eventually self destruct, but always along comes another who tries the same thing. That is a problem, but it is different, it is not this problem. Those are individuals who are usually dealt with. However, the alternating lockdown has initiated an upper tier--lower tier group warfare. The precursor to a riot. 

We need to wake-up and recognize the true problem, and attack the problem itself as a combined group of POD inmates. We must attack the concept of the alternating lockdown as an abject failure, and stop attacking each other on a personal level. For instance when the lockdown violates a right--such as preventing a phone call to your attorney--file a grievance on the issue. Pick your own issues to grieve, but you must pursue these grievance's through all levels. They must ultimately get to the Captain to make sure the administration is aware of the problems. Work to change the root cause of the problem. Harming each other will only bring you more changes, and more jail/prison time, things you don't want or need. 
 

Inmate Tom Watson