Thirsty for a Little Peace and Quiet in Prison

"What did they just say over the radio?" someone asked during a recent count time. We were locked down, as usual, for one of our several daily prisoner counts. All seemed as usual until we heard over a corrections officer's radio, "The water is contaminated and should not be consumed."  Over the next thirty minutes, we waited for the announcement over the loudspeaker warning us against drinking the water. We hoped for more information as to why we were not to drink it. And we kept waiting, but all we heard was silence from the officers.  As the time dragged on without any official announcement, prisoners shouted back and forth. "Don't drink the water! It's contaminated!!" Others added their unhelpful two cents, proving that their input was worth about that much. The anxiety in the unit grew palpable as the continued official silence led us to rather dark conclusions.  Finally the loudspeaker crackled to life, "Attention in the unit. Attention in the unit. Do NOT drink the water from your sinks. We have been informed that the water is contaminated due to a water processing plant issue. We will have more information for you soon. Meanwhile, do not drink the water!"  The officer had not even stopped speaking before the "animals" in the unit began hooting, hollering, and literally barking as they shook their barred doors vigorously. The unit erupted in screams and so much noise that anyone who missed the announcement was probably highly confused.  Eventually, we learned that the contamination problem was city wide and had begun the night before. We had been drinking and using the water all day. I don't know why we were not alerted sooner. Perhaps it was a city wide communication problem. It's hard not to believe, though, that as prisoners we were not valued enough to protect earlier.  Whatever the case, I will say that since the announcement the prison officials have fastidiously renewed their warnings and provided us prisoners plenty of bottled water. We have picked up fresh bottles at each mealtime, two or three at a time.  This water contamination problem is only supposed to last two or three days; however, I imagine that even after things are back to "normal," it'll be difficult to tell if I live in a daycare of kindergartners, a zoo of wild animals, or a prison of emotionally immature men.