DannyBoyinExile

My wife read on the Wynne Unit group the other day, that this was the “best lockdown ever”. Well, it’s easier to say that from out there, for sure. But that’s kinda like saying, “That was the best root canal EVER!” haha
After thinking about it, though (which I have plenty of time to do, on lockdown!), I can see exactly what they meant. I’ve been in TDCJ for over 30 years – so I can remember when the experience was downright traumatic! The inmates who complain about the lockdowns of today really don’t know how good they’ve got it.
Back in the day, lockdown was LOCKDOWN. There were no visits, no hot meals, and no fancy “lockdown schedules” to go by. If the lockdown happened to encompass a holiday – oh well! “Merry Christmas to you,” was about all the sympathy you could expect. As far as special diets, if you were “meat-free” – it was because you found somebody to trade your meat sandwich for his PBJ sandwich!
“Meat” sandwiches themselves weren’t guaranteed: they had VitaPro back then, which was entirely synthetic. Once they figured out how to make sandwiches out of that (by mixing it with rice), we were lucky to see any meat at all! Nobody starved to death, but we certainly knew how it felt to be hungry – which is largely absent in today’s TDCJ. In that era, guys would run a “fishing line” from three row all the way to one row just to pick up a sack of PRUNES that somebody wasn’t gonna eat! NO food was being wasted, for sure.
Compare that to the lockdowns of today, where I just heard a guy complaining on the run because the CO hadn’t handed out any ice water! Come on, man. These days we go to the chow hall and eat a hot meal for lunch, every single day. This may only be because it is far cheaper to cook a meal instead of having to buy the paper sacks, peanut butter, jelly, and bread – but it’s a blessing, nonetheless.
We have visits to look forward to, as well as regular showers, where we still get clean clothes. We can talk on the phone as much as we like, and even have a tablet, to keep ourselves occupied with! Who can complain about lockdown, when we’re laying in our beds watching movies all day? They even have the commissary open, handing out eComms to the guys who were waiting on them. I’m starting to wish we went on lockdown a little more often! (just kidding)
Of course, some inmates are determined to find something to complain about. One guy recently complained about ME not complaining enough! I’d shared my latest essay with the guys in the dayroom, like I generally do. Apparently I wasn’t being anti-TDCJ enough for him, so he said, “You might as well ask the Warden out on a date!” haha (That was a good one, I’ll admit. But no thanks!)
The thing is, everything that I say happens to be the truth. Am I wrong for giving someone credit, who is making things better for us? We can always find something to complain about, but we should never fail to appreciate how good we’ve got it – or how much worse things could be.
Because things can always get worse! The other day, for example, I was sitting here on lockdown – which is bad enough. Then the WiFi went down, so the tablets didn’t work. Then they cancelled the shakedown for the day (although we were already packed!), because they didn’t have enough COs. Then my ROOF started leaking! It wasn’t raining anywhere in Huntsville, Texas – except for my cell! Apparently they were fixing something on the roof, which was leaking directly onto my head.
I was irritated, but I was patient – and that made all the difference. The leak was fixed, the WiFi was fixed, and in a matter of days the lockdown itself will be fixed. I won’t allow myself to get negative, because I know how much better things in TDCJ have become. Things could probably STILL be better – but they could be much worse. Even in prison, we still have things to be grateful for, and I think we’d all be better off if we focused on those. So says DannyBoy.