DannyBoyinExile

The single most important aspect of TDCJ is count time. (For the administration, I mean. For the inmates, it is undoubtedly commissary!) There are many duties and responsibilities that the administration is expected to perform, but none of them is more important than KEEPING us here, and making sure that we’re accounted for.
There are times when count time can be altered, to accommodate meals, visits, or special events – but count time is the wild card that trumps everything in TDCJ. In fact, it’s SO important that I’ll start capitalizing it, from here on out!
At least once per shift, Count will be called, and all inmate movement will effectively cease. No matter WHERE you happen to find yourself, you may as well get comfortable, because you’ll be there for quite some time. The nearest CO will count you, make note of your name and housing assignment, then another CO will do it again – just to make sure the first one didn’t mess it up somehow. On occasion, they’ll BOTH mess it up, but generally they’ll find a way to blame it on whichever inmate wasn’t accounted for. Not that I blame them, of course – if somebody is gonna get chewed out by the rank, I’d much rather it be some random inmate than me!
At that point, you’re stuck wherever you happen to be standing, until every inmate on the unit has been located. Every area where inmates may be will call in their Count to a central location (such as a particular office or desk), and a master list is compiled, which accounts for the location of every inmate on the unit. In that way, they can quickly see if anyone is missing – and narrow it down to an individual inmate by seeing who HASN’T been accounted for.
Did I say “quickly”? What I mean is, it can THEORETICALLY be done quickly! To be fair, Count HAS been cleared so quickly that it actually astounded me. But most of the time, a re-Count has to be performed on at least one section before it can be cleared. If you happen to be in the commissary line, and just bought a pint of Blue Bell ice cream? You better have your spoon with you! Students in education will get some extra study time, and workers will get a little overtime – because you’re NOT going anywhere, until Count clears. Count is The Law in TDCJ, which supersedes anything else.
The other day, I was at work in the laundry when they called Count at 9:30 am – and they couldn’t clear it until nearly 3 in the afternoon! It’s not that I had anywhere more important to be – but they were seriously cutting into my nap time! 🙂
The worst part of Count clearing so late is that it disrupts the schedule for the rest of the day. The meal that they normally start feeding at 10am couldn’t even be STARTED until after 3pm! Then they still had to perform the next scheduled Count (remember, Count waits for no man). And of course they still had another meal to feed – which wasn’t completed until after 8pm! (Just in time for the next Count, in other words!) Some days in TDCJ seem longer than others, for sure – but I’ve managed to survive them all. (They did everything they could – but I STILL survived!)
Counts, Recounts, and Special Counts can be exasperating, but I totally understand their importance. It’s up to me to be patient, and make the most of my time. There will always be interruptions and distractions (no matter WHERE I find myself), but it’s up to me to be as productive as I can be. TDCJ has taught me to be patient, but I’ll be honest: sometimes I have to be so patient that it just pisses me off… =-) So says DannyBoy.