A cross section of a prison.

I want to make it clear that what is to follow is not the average day in a prison.

Macroscopically the schedule of a prison is: Wake up call for breakfast chow at 1:30 AM. Chow begins at 2:15 AM and runs for an hour. After chow is complete, there's 4 AM count, and at around 5:30 AM offenders are staged for vocation and work turn-out. Work turnout runs solidly past 6 AM, and occurs as First Shift officers are taking over. 7 AM count comes and goes, and medium custody showers before lunch chow occurs at 9:45 AM. Lunch chow ends an hour and a half later, and outside rec is called for, as well as church services on certain days. Things calm down for an hour or so, and then 12:30 PM count begins. 1:30 PM, should count clear, sees workers turning back in and the beginning of workers turning out for second shift. Second Shift officers take over at 2 PM, and turn out workers for the next hour. At 3:15 PM, education lets out, and at 3:30 PM count time again. 4:30 sees the beginning of evening chow, as well as the beginnings of building showers. By 6:30 chow should be done, as should showers, and recreation is called for. 7 PM is count time, with a recreation house-call at 8-8:30 PM, and another count at 9 PM. Workers turn in at 9:45, and third shift turns out at 10, while Third Shift officers are taking over. After that it's rack time, lights out at 10:30 PM and count at 11:30 PM, then the day begins anew.

From the outside, looking at that schedule, it would seem the prison would work like a Swiss watch, beautifully intricate and delicately precise. Truth be told, a prison runs more like a $2 timekeeper from walmart; it gets the job done accurately and with little fanfare, but how it does it is neither pretty, nor delicate.

-- 12:30 AM -- A block -- Suicide attempt.
"A wing" as it's called, is the lockup block. It is arranged differently than other blocks. It's two stories tall and has fewer cells per row. Aggressive offenders are housed here. Some cells have an inner and outer door used to isolate the offenders inside - Normally those doors stay open. Tonight, at 12:30 AM, an offender has decided to try to hang himself. He made an ordeal of it, and the wing lit up with calls for the wing officer. The offender was ordered to stop, and incident command system (ICS) was activated. Within a minute, three responding officers, the third shift lieutenant and a video camera operator arrive to intervene and document. The offender is successfully talked down, but initially refuses to submit to restraints so they can move him to a psych observation cell. It takes 30 minutes to convince him. Secured in the cell, ICS is deactivated.

-- 02:15 AM -- B&C corridor - Fire
While putting up offenders after breakfast chow, the C1 block officer notices an outlit sparking and flaming up in one of the empty wing cells. ICS is activated and maintainance is called. The fire geos out when the circuit breaker pops, and ICS is deactivated.

-- 06:00 AM -- D&E corridor - Confrontation
A worker from B1 wing cuts across the hallway to talk to an offender on E1 wing. Ordered to go around and get back in line, he refuses. The offender becomes belligerent and verbally abusive. The officer orders the offender to submit to a strip search, and the offender complies. No contraband is found during the search, and the offender is allowed to go. The issue is considered to be informally resolved.

-- 08:00 AM -- Infirmary Corridor - panic button pushed
The Psychological Services panic button is pushed, initiating a rapid response from the south searcher's desk officer and the pill-line officer. A tense situation with a mental health offender and a psychiatrist has arisen and defused itself in less than 30 seconds. The offender is restrained and moved to an observation cell in the infirmary. ICS is not activated.

-- 1 0:00 AM -- South Chow Hall - fight
During chow, an offender throws a plastic cup at another offender. A fight breaks out. Officers working the chow hall deploy chemical agents. ICS is activated. Additional staff, a supervisor and a video camera operator arrive as the two offenders are being restrained, and one after the other, they are escorted, on camera, to the infirmary for a post use of force/fight physical evaluation, and then to the lockup wing to await a hearing for the disciplinary infraction of fighting without a weapon. ICS is deactivated.

-- 11:30 AM -- Turnout Corridor - contraband found.
While pat searching offenders turning out for the kitchen, an officer finds on one offender: 2 pornographic pictures, 3 tobacco cigarettes and 3 marijuana cigarettes. ICS is activated, and the offender is restrained. A supervisor and video camera operator arrive, and on camera the offender is escorted to A wing. Office of the Inspector General is notified and takes possession of the evidence. ICS is deactivated.

-- 12:00 PM -- D1 Wing - forced move.
An offender refuses to respond to a bench warrant. ICS is activated and use of force is authorized to get the offender out of the cell and out to the waiting law enforcement transport. A five-man move team readies, putting on protective equipment. The offender is read a statement of intent to use force by the shift captain, and fifteen minutes later, after continuing to refuse to go, he is sprayed with OC pepper spray. He is left there for 15 minutes, then asked again if he will move. He refuses once more, and the five man team moves into position. He is sprayed again as the team opens the door, quickly moving in and restraining the offender. He is carried out of the cell and placed on a waiting gurney, and wheeled out of the unit to a waiting transport vehicle, and then forcibly placed in that transport vehicle. Once the door is closed, and the transport is on the way, ICS is deactivated.

-- 04:00 PM -- F&G Corridor - discrepancy in count.
F2 wing count and recount do not initially match. The initial number has been called in to central searcher's desk, and a second recount is done to verify one of the two numbers. The second number is verified, and the correction is called in, creating a panic as the new number indicates 1 offender is missing. Using turnout rosters, housing rosters, the wing count sheet, and the unit count sheet, the missing offender is identified, and the search begins. He is found shortly thereafter in the shower, having been overlooked when the north hall officer counted the work group he was part of that had been stuck in the shower through count. Count clears late.

-- 07:15 PM -- H&J corridor - Alcohol found.
While counting the H2 wing dayroom the wing officer finds a bloated bottle filled with an orange liquid. Removing the cap and smelling it, the officer determines it to be homemade alcohol. It is confiscated and destroyed. A search is done for more, but none is found. H2 wing is medium custody.

--08:00 PM -- H&J corridor - Shank found.
While pat searching an offender coming on to J2 wing from the rec yard, an officer feels a long, hard object along the offender's inner thigh. The offender pulls away and the officer draws his Carry On Person chemical agent and orders the offender to the ground. ICS is activated and additional staff, a supervisor and a video camera operator arrive. The offender is strip-searched and a metal shank is found taped to his inner thigh. The shank is made from a piece of fence-wire. The offender is restrained and taken to A wing. ICS is deactivated.

-- 09:45 PM -- K block - Alcohol poisoning.
During an ingress an offender is seen to be being assisted out of the dayroom and back to his cell. Later, the offender is found unresponsive and ICS is activated. The offender is brought to medical and woken with smelling salts. He becomes belligerent and is returned to the wing. Non-responsive, ICS is re-activated, and the offender is taken back to the infirmary. He is diagnosed with acute alcohol poisoning and is treated and kept in an observation cell. ICS is deactivated.