In the nearly seventeen years I've been in a Federal Prison I’ve recently seen an unprecedented level of violence, assaults, and unfortunate deaths. What is causing the surge of violence within the prisons? Overcrowding? Lack of access to resources? Boredom? I can't say. I can’t speak for the rest of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) but I can speak for the one I've been in since 2008. Let's take a look. This is My2CENTZ.
The smell of new inmates fresh from the quarantine block overpowered the scent of paint and floor finish the unit orderlies just applied. "On the new!" an inmate yelled. This directed all the inmate’s attention to the Unit’s glass doors. The new group stood at the front entrance with everything they owned in their arms, eyes glazed over by the hint at the reality of what life inside Beckley F.C.I. was going to be. I’m sure they’ve heard the rumors of the violence in this prison. One young inmate stood there stoically as he checked out his new surroundings. Yet, I noticed a little trembling in his legs; he was afraid.
The new inmates separated into their various groups as the residents from the block broke the ice with small talk. "Man," one of the seasoned inmates said to his new homie, "This yard is sweet, these are our phones right here." I shook my head as the inmate misled the newbie with his orientation. The new inmate didn't last a day. He got into an argument with one of the inmates over the said ‘phone’ and caught a real bad beating.
Due to Covid, congress passed The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act). The CARES Act gave inmates an additional 210 minutes of phone time for free. This is because the prison isn't conducting in-person visits from family or friends. Although this seems like a humane solution to the problem of inmate isolation, congress did not look at the potential hazard connected to free phone calls. How could they? They have no idea what goes on inside a prison. Since 2020, more knifings, assaults, and beatings have occurred due to The CARES Act phone minutes.
Let me break it down like this. Before Covid, phone calls were $3.15 per 15 minutes, and you only got 300 minutes to last you the whole month. You were allowed 30 minutes to read emails, and now emails are broken down to only 10 minutes per session. The CARES Act did not cover emails. Emails are still $2.00 per 40 minutes. Now that everybody has 510 FREE minutes, inmates run, fight, argue, stab for their chance to use the phone!! I am saved because I've been here for 14 years, I am respected.
On each unit, 120 inmates have access to only 5 phones. During the daytime business hours, the phones are easygoing except after a week-long lockdown which is a regular occurrence in this prison. After the 3:30 pm count, at around 5 pm, there is a structure based on who and how the phones are being used. There’s a very thin line between how we normally define respect concerning phones. For example, say that you are "in-line" with me, but X is before us, however, X is "selling" his "spot" to Y. And Y typically uses one of the phones positioned at the back of the unit. So, me and you know that X is tripping by holding us up because he’s selling a call to Y. So, we say, ‘hey, X, we’re not feeling this!’ X takes offense because Y has already paid him. We don’t let Y use our phone, we kick X out of our line, the next day, me and you have a big issue with the rest of X’s homies!
But there's more. Covid has ground down to a halt almost all activities and movement leaving the inmates on the unit for the majority of the day. Boredom sets in and this is when the fun begins! To pass time, inmates are smoking dangerous chemicals and synthetic opiates. Fires are being set on a constant basis so the inmates can have a fuel source to ingest their drugs.
Some inmates smoke "spitarettes." A spitarette is a cigarette made from the chewed tobacco an officer has spat out of his/her mouth onto the floor. A spitarette can run you close to $4.00 per roll-up. On commissary day, the inmates who sell spitarettes want their money or there will be more knifings, assaults, and beat-downs. The prison population is not overcrowded, however, when 120 inmates are all trying to do all the same thing at the same time, there will continue to be assaults, knifings, beat-downs, and unfortunately deaths.
My2CENTZ