Imprisoned Within Prison: Saga of a Deep Freeze Shutdown

Recently, a historic deep freeze blanketed a large portion of the United States, including Michigan. For several days the weather was breaking records with sustained "feels-like" temperatures around -40 degrees (F). Even the United States Postal Service, who is known to deliver mail "in rain, snow, sleet..." etc., shut down delivery service. Schools closed, much to the delight of children and chagrin of parents, and people were told to stay off the roads. Those who didn't heed this advice risked their lives navigating treacherous roads, and sometimes were involved in pile-ups on the highways involving dozens of cars. Millions of people found their normal schedules interrupted, and many people were just plain stressed out. 

Weather events like these don't affect prisoners quite as much as they do those in the free world. But they do affect us. Prison facilities enter into an "essential staff only" mode where all non-essential staff are told to stay home. Only prison guards, a couple of medical staff, kitchen staff, and sometimes a maintenance worker remain on prison grounds. All non-essential activities are cancelled, and prisoners are kept in their housing units except for meals. Recent problems with the housing unit heating at MTU (the facility where I am housed) made staff nervous, and large torpedo heaters were attached to some of the units with especially ineffective heat.  

Forced closures like these increase the level of stress among prisoners because they are cooped up all day without any outlet for their anxiety or energy. The gym and yard are closed because of staffing shortages and dangerous temperatures. This means that housing units are at full capacity twenty-four hours a day. Bathrooms are busier, day rooms are packed, microwaves have long lines behind them, and anxious and bored prisoners wander around the unit looking for things to busy themselves with. 

Officers, too, experience higher stress levels during these shutdown periods. Many of them have to fight the weather just to make it to work safely, some even leaving their families at home to figure out how to manage the weather themselves. Upon arriving at work, sometimes late due to road conditions, they are now tasked with supervising stressed out prisoners who don't know how to manage their stress. Since prisoners are not allowed to wander the unit hallways, officers yell at them to get out of the halls, but since the day rooms are full there is no place to go but back to their claustrophobic cells. Those who are in the day room are yelled at to find a seat--in a room where every seat is already taken. 

The fact is, when prisons are on restricted movements or completely shut down for any reason, weather or otherwise, naturally the prisoners' levels of stress rise. So too do the officers' stress levels. These can be some of the most dangerous times in prison. Fortunately, this recent historic freeze didn't result in any major problems at MTU. Yes, some prisoners and staff let the stress get the best of them, but nothing major. I'm not sure which was more notable though: the historically low temperatures or the fact that a five-day prison shutdown didn't result in a major crisis. Either way, I'm just happy to get back to normal operations.