Sometime during the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, 06 September 2023, I was informed by a “nurse” that Texas had enacted an institutional lockdown in Texas prisons. This means that the prisoners in every Texas prison –and there are 108 of them– are now locked in their cells. All movement and activity (work, school, church, recreation, etc.) suspended for an indeterminate amount of time — while prison employees pretend to clean up the drug and violence problems throughout the system.
From what information I’ve been able to gather, and according to the videos released on our e-tablets on 08 September, this lockdown in Texas prisons is the result of the increased proliferation in the number of inmate homicides –16 in 2023 according to Brian Collier, Texas Department of Corrections’ Executive Director– as well as a sharp influx of illicit drugs throughout the system. That includes drugs such as K-2, methamphetamine. (well, Ice. It’s not methamphetamine, but who’s splitting hairs?), and fentanyl. Mr. Collier mentions marijuana as well though I haven’t seen any actual Smoke since at least 2019 (one of the primary reasons for the switch from marijuana to K-2 is its lack of odor).
Superficially, at least, this sounds reasonable. Plausible, even. I mean, Ice, K-2, and fentanyl can be dangerous stuff. Lord knows I’ve seen enough death and heartache by people wading out too deep into treacherous waters. And I’m not so innocent myself. I can tell you about some truly scary experiences while in the clutches of an Ice-smothered psychosis.
And that’s the crux of the problem. The stuff is as fickle as any Stella Link ho I ever knew. I mean, when she’s being good to you, man, it’s really good. But when Mama’s unhappy, everybody’s unhappy. Once, however, we scratch below the surface of TDC’s cheap-ass, garage sale veneer, we see that, well, their reasoning is … maybe not so much.
As a schoolmaster, Texas Department of Corrections [TDC] has much to teach us. And one lesson we’ve learned is that excuses are like assholes, and TDC is full of ’em. First, a lockdown in Texas prisons such as this is unprecedented in TDC, at least in the 31 years I’ve been here. I mention this fact only because, as anyone who has ever spent a little time in the Slam can tell you, the ebb and flow of daily life, as well as people’s reactions to it, can become, well, pretty predictable. In other words, I think it would be fair to say, that after all this time, there probably isn’t very much down here that I haven’t seen or heard before, at least in one version or another.
The Texas Prison system is the all-time champion when it comes to locking the barn door after the horse done run off. I mean, they’ve got this down to an art form. It’s obvious that they’ve had this scheme in the works now for some time to coincide with TDC’s mailing system going completely digital. This can be read in the written texts accompanying the videos of Brian Collier and Chris Love, TDC Inspector General (formerly known as Internal Affairs), respectively. There is an old axiom down here that says that if you put one convict in a tree, after breakfast, with nothing but his britches and a package of yeast, and another convict in another tree a mile away with just a potato, they’d both be drunk by evening.
A little hyperbolic, maybe. But it serves to display a point: and that is, you can’t keep a good man down. Necessity is the mother of invention being the underlying philosophy to all supply and demand when it comes to prison’s illicit drug trade (I use the term “necessity” very loosely here). I state this not prescriptively, but descriptively.
To put it another way, there have been drugs, killings, and other, less savory affairs inside of prisons the world over since time immemorial. Or, at least since Potiphar’s old lady made her run at Joseph and had that good man locked up.
But why should this come as a surprise to us? Prison is an ongoing crime conference, complete with workshops, guest speakers, and a committee for ways and means. Are we amazed, then, that in a house full of thieves, somebody stole something? And will we be shocked to learn that Hell wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for all the pitch and brimstone? I am only saying that the people in prison are going to do what they’re going to do. Security cameras ain’t going to stop it. Lockdowns ain’t going to stop it. Shakedowns ain’t going to stop it. And digital mail sure as hell ain’t going to stop it. The only thing that digital mail might stop is the mail itself. In other words, if I have it in my mind that I am going to kill someone, but we’re on lockdown, then I guess I’ll just have to wait until we come up, won’t I?
There is simply no sure and effective way to sanitize these prisons. Clear radios, clear fans, clear hot pots, clear mattresses, and clear e-tabs are just that: clear stuff. Are the big bugs who actually do the thinking for TDC so out of touch with the system they work for that they believe we, as convicts, cannot get around these measures? There are some pretty clever dudes down here. I see them in action every day. I, personally, have enough experience with prison knives (i.e., bangers) that if I have one and want to make you a gift of it, you aren’t going to know about it until it’s hanging out of your neck. Not a boast. Just a fact.
Brian Collier states in his video that the “uptick in drugs and violence” in TDC had escalated to “a totally unacceptable level.” Huh. Okay, Mr. Collier. Just what would be an acceptable level of drugs and violence? I’m sure that if you put it in an I.O.C. (i.e., Inter-Office Communication) and tape it to the dayroom wall, we can arrange something and tone it down for you.
In light of what we know to be true about TDC, therefore, Mr. Collier’s statement just doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense, but is the absolute in credulus ad absurdum. His statement can be likened to someone saying that there is just no way they’d ever set foot inside of a church –there might be Christians there. Although the Collier and Love videos (sounds like an old-school ’70s soul band, eh) are being played on inmate e-tablets and to the inmate e-populace, they are evidently intended for those e-people in the free world (like The Echo, TDC’s prison newspaper).
And more likely than not, those people who’ve never set foot inside of a prison–not this side of the steel bars, anyway. It would, therefore, be simply too much to ask of those of us doing time here to believe (suspend our belief?) on Love and Collier’s (there’s that soul thing again. Man! I can already hear Chris Love serving up that porno flick bass lick!) fancies, except for those suckers who’re still hoping to make the “Christmas Kick-Out.”
If I didn’t know any better, I might just say that this is nothing more than a public relations stunt. TDC, like the country music industry, has for some time been attempting to revamp its image. TDC seems to no longer be content with being thought of as a bunch of tobacco spitting, crack digging, cornpone-ass good ‘ol boys, but want to be viewed as rehabilitators of the misguided, protectors of our communities, and servants of the public’s trust. (There was another guy awhile back…I wish I could remember his name…that had a similar mission. He commanded his Agency to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils.”) If TDC is attempting to model themselves after this guy, they might still have a ways to go.
“In This Together” had become their new motto. Chris Love, TDC’s Inspector General, has even gone so far as to say that the “safety of staff and inmates is our highest priority.” And if you believe that, I have a nice piece of swamp land you might be interested in. Such a mouthful of horseshit coming from a man like Chris Love bears all the markings of a Madison Avenue PR firm. Even he doesn’t believe such tripe. TDC has done more to harm the people caught in its web –both inmates and staff– than the whole German Army ever could have done to Warsaw.
In reality, this whole fuckaree is nothing more than the 21st century spin on an old argument for the digital generation, and TDC hopes no one will catch on. Hell, maybe it’ll even work. For what generation remembers or concerns itself with the troubling issues of the one that preceded it? Life, however, is cyclical. Only the names change. And excepting for a few alterations, it is still largely the same argument that I heard in the generation when I was coming up.
This is merely TDC’s way of acknowledging that a real problem exists inside the borders of their system without having to actually admit to or accept responsibility for the part they’ve been playing in contributing to that problem. Their response to the problem as well as their solution is the same one as it is to every other problem: lock ’em down, tear up their houses and personal property, feed ’em johnnies, and be sure to make ’em to cause more hunger. (For the last two breakfasts we’ve had a food loaf. It’s similar to a large piece of cornbread. In the vernacular, it’s known as “Sponge Bob Square Pants.”) And let’s be sure to digitalize the mail. In other words, just tighten the screws. Make life more restrictive. Make everything more frustrating.
From the State’s perspective, our families and friends are nothing more than crooks, just as we are, and every bit as deserving of punishment. You’d be hard pressed to get one of them to publicly admit that but it’s nevertheless true. There is a drug problem infecting the immunity of their precious system because it’s our families and our friends spraying K-2 on the incoming letters. The only answer to this obstinacy is stricter rules. What was it that St. James Major said to Jesus in The Chosen as they evangelized Sychar (Samaria): “We knew we couldn’t trust these people!” If you still think I’m exaggerating, just ask someone who’s ever gone to visit a relative in prison about how they were treated.
I can, if nothing else, assure you that TDC is not the guys wearing the white hats in this misbegotten Western epic. Maybe no one at this rodeo is. Unequivocally, however, I can say that neither the methamphetamine or the fentanyl is being sprayed on any letters from home, nor is it walking in here by itself. You can trust me on this. But it’s walking in some way, and the only people walking in or out of the front doors of the prison is TDC staff, TDC contractors, and TDC volunteers.
The law is enforced upon whom the law can be enforced. A mouthful, but this is to say that the first thing a man or woman loses upon entering prison is not their identity. It’s their credibility. As convicted felons, our word/testimony is worthless unless what we have to say is something that either benefits TDC or furthers its aims. This is to say that, as an inmate, our word is credible only if what we’re saying is something they’re wanting to hear.
On the other hand, the word of a TDC guard, like the word of a cop, is unimpeachable, whether in the prison or in the courts. If they say you did it, then you did it. If they say you had it, then you had it. If they say you’re the one bringing in all the methamphetamine and fentanyl, then you’re the one bringing it. If they say you’re a member of a prison gang, then you’re now on file as a member. They needn’t produce evidence nor have actual proof of their accusations. Their accusations are their proof.
When I was at the Coffield Unit, and especially in the early to mid-’90s, you don’t know how many times I saw guys wearing handcuffs get kicked down a flight of stairs by a cop. Then the guy in the handcuffs would be the one to get chalked up for “Assaulting an Officer.” Lockdowns and shakedowns are, for the most part, simply for show. They allow the TDC administration to report to their bosses that they are on top of things, controlling the situation, keeping the riff-raff in check, and making Order the word of the day. In other words, TDC does their random, periodic shakedowns, flipping mattresses, looking for “drugs and other dangerous contraband” to appease their bosses and make it look as if they do something more than just sit on their asses or sniff pussy all day. Nine out of ten of their bosses, however, were TDC guards themselves and know they’re being lied to. The lie doesn’t matter. Only that they’re being told that their subordinates are doing their jobs. Then they, in turn, can tell their bosses the same, and so on, ad nauseum.
These periodic shakedowns are not done because TDC is actually searching for anything in particular. They’re done, largely, to clear the trash and other crap out of some of these packrats’ houses, hoping they’ll get lucky and stumble over something. And they always do and, in turn, enabling them to report a successful shakedown. I mean, even knowing they’re coming, sometimes waiting for up to three weeks to show up, there is always at least one asshole who can’t smoke that last joint, who can’t snort that last line, or can’t move his cellphone to some place safe and, inevitably get caught.
Let’s face it: these clowns that work for TDC couldn’t find their ass with both hands. Everything they know, everything they learn, is because somebody told on somebody else. Along with the texts and videos I’ve mentioned regarding the lockdown in Texas prisons, there is a posted number that can be called (8522 or TALK) in order to give the cops information on someone. It is posted on our e-tablets in several places and Brian Collier is strongly encouraging us to use it. In order to keep “our” prisons safe, of course. Hell, and for your convenience it can be used from your e-tablet in the relative privacy of your own home (well, cell).
It even says that this number can be purged from your phone history so that none of your friends will know that you’re a fucking snitch. There are some real snitches in TDC. I mean the real deal. The kinds of guys you have words with and the next morning six cops show up at your house to kick your door. Everyone in TDC acknowledges the existence of these turds. But for the most part, and for most people, it is only to pay lip service to what they believe only to be a commonly held superstition. Like walking under a ladder, crossing paths with a black cat, or stepping on a crack in the sidewalk and breaking poor ole Mom’s back. In other words, you’d be pretty hard-pressed to convince these chumps that they are surrounded by some real, live, cutthroat-style dudes. Some they unknowingly think of as their friends and brothers. And, without much forethought, openly speak about things that are better off left unsaid, discretion be damned.
Now knowing this, in every case where TDC is actually looking for dope, for cellphones (known in the vernacular as “jags”), for knives, they know who has it and exactly where it’s at. They may let it go on for so long–just like Willie’s “Poncho and Lefty”–but one morning they’ll show up at the door around 2 AM for a shakedown, going right to it. You’re busted.
Next I want to point out the obvious, that Texas has a massive, sprawling system with 108 separate prisons and approximately 160,000 prisoners. It is by far the most expansive prison system in the U.S., larger even than California’s. Texas locks up more of its citizens than most countries.
Knowing, then, the implication as to what these numbers represent in relation to the number of souls sacrificed in the service of this vishnaic juggernaut, 16 homicides in 2023 is miniscule. It doesn’t even make up 0.001% of Texas’s gross prison population. Hell, TDC guards kill twice this number every year. (Disclaimer: this is not an actual figure. More like a guesstimate.)
The reality of Texas prisons in 2023 is that they’re not nearly as dangerous as some would like to believe. Or would have others believe. Many of those people have been conditioned on a regular diet of prison movies and television shows like Brubaker (Robert Redford), Escape From Alcatraz (Clint Eastwood), or Breaking Bad (that other guy). While prison life can be, at times, tricky, neither is it the place Hollywood would have us believe. Don’t get me wrong: you can certainly get yourself killed in here. The truth, however, is that you’re more likely to die in prison of heart disease (TDC’s #1 killer), cancer, or from complications of diabetes than you are of murder. This is certainly not the rodeo it was in the late-’80s and early-’90s, when they kept “spill kits” in the hallway to mop up the blood, or when you regularly witnessed gang hits being carried out, of people bring stabbed or beaten in the hallway, in the schoolhouse, day rooms, rec. yard, showers, or chow hall.
In April of this year (i.e., 2023), Prison Writers published my essay regarding my ten essential rules for doing time (The 10 Rules of Prison Life). It was meant only to be a breviary on ways to safely (well, relatively) and effectively serve your time, returning home with both eyes, all your teeth (or at least most of them), and no major scarring. In the essay, Rule Number 10 is: Mind Your Own Business. Below this heading I wrote: “If something doesn’t concern you or directly affect the way you’re doing your time, leave it alone. Don’t worry about what the next man is doing. I have seen more busted heads in the penitentiary over this reason than all the others combined…This is one of my two most important rules. It’s one, however, that a great many people never seem to be able to understand.”
I cannot stress this enough. If you want to stay relatively safe in prison, mind your own business. I cannot remember ever seeing or hearing about someone down here getting killed for no reason. Sure, it probably happens. I’m just saying that in thirty-one calendar years in prison, I’ve yet to see it, so I know it’s a rare occurrence. I’ve known guys to get killed for no good reason, but there was still a reason they were killed. In other words, in every instance that I’ve either seen or heard about someone getting killed, the cat was, nine out of ten times, up to his neck in some kind of bullshit that he should’ve knew better than to get involved with. Or, at least had better sense than to mishandle the situation the way he obviously did.
Yes, there are cats down here that will kill you for getting out of pocket with them. But for every one of these guys, there are fifteen more that aren’t going to do much more than talk about it. Most of these are just kids playing at gangster. For that one other guy, playtime is over. Prison is real. This is grown man shit. Conduct yourself accordingly. In my experience, however, most of these are not guys you need to trouble yourself worrying about. They are neither bullies nor do they feel they need to prove themselves to a bunch of clowns. They are sure of themselves as men and secure in the knowledge of what they will do and what they won’t. Most of them are fairly reasonable people. Treat them with the same courtesy and respect that your mama taught you to treat other people with and all will be gravy.
The Brian Colliers and Chris Loves of the world don’t understand this. They are mindless goons playing big-shot but are actually bit players in an overproduced play. They’ll tell you that they believe in personal choice and taking responsibility for those choices, but it is a belief that applies only so far as they get to define the terms. They are bullies at heart who suck up to their superiors and talk down to their inferiors. They’re concerned about inmate killings because prison is not a very safe place for men such as they. Therefore, they, like the rest of that bunch of hand-wringing old women that run TDC, instead of telling the truth as it actually is, would rather spin it, instead having us beheaded to appease the perverted pleasures of Herodias, laying the blame for the fires of Rome at our feet.
