A Day In The Life

Breakfast... Most Important Meal Of The Day

In the Special Housing Unit, inmates are locked in for 23 hours a day. Therefore we have to deliver everything to them. One day, another officer and I are passing out breakfast. There is cereal, milk, bananas and scones. We push the cart down each section and give one breakfast to each inmate. We finish one section and move on to the next. We are moving along nicely.

We start down the next section. We just barely started when I run into a large problem. At about the second cell, I opened the little trap door to hand over the food and a very large arm comes out. The inmate is holding trap door and refusing to move. I asked him what his deal was. He claims he didn't get his medication and he won't move until he gets it. I know I had seen the guy handing out medication about an hour before. As it turned out, this particular inmate was asleep when the medication was being passed out. They tried to wake him, but he refused to get up. He wants what he wants when he wants it. That is not exactly how prison works, which is unfortunate for him.

Since he is refusing to move, we have no choice but to leave the area. It is for our own safety. That means no one else in that area is getting any breakfast just yet. Another officer tries to reason with him. No dice. We move on to the next area. After we finish there I walk back and ask him again to give it up. He said no. I tell him he is being selfish because he is preventing everyone else from getting to eat. He said he didn't care. "There is a time to be selfish", he says.

Whatever. Some people cannot be reasonable.

It's a while before a lieutenant comes down to speak with him. So long in fact, we have to put the milk away. The inmates in that section are getting mad. They are yelling and pounding. It is getting so loud. Even after the lieutenant goes to talk with him, he refuses to move. It gets louder and louder. Again the lieutenant talks to him.

I don't know what he said the second time, but this time, he let go. The door was closed. We could pass out the rest of the breakfast. Finally.

So we did. Then we turned right around and passed out lunch.