Feelings Buried Alive
Today, I witnessed my first prison fight. It was absolute chaos on my floor; which is the 3rd floor by the way. Over the past few days, maybe even a week, two bunkies in the room down the hall from me have been getting into small arguments over very small things. The other night it was a disagreement over a pair of shoes. Today's disagreement, which ended in a physical fight, was over two cans of soda. One of the girls accused the other of taking two cans of her soda. In reality, the other bunkie had put it in the cooler so the sodas would be cooler for her when dinner arrived. The tension from the other arguments during the week mounted and a fight broke out. The girls’ room is positioned right at the top of the staircase. Just when the first licks were thrown, a guard walked up the steps and saw the whole incident. Typically, to avoid getting in trouble, when two people decided to fight they will go into a room, close a door, and duke it out. This fight just so happened to occur so quickly that no one was able to close the door in time. Therefore, the whole incident was witnessed by the guard.
Once the guard reprimanded the two young ladies, he then sent them downstairs to the Unit Team's office. Everyone pretty much knew what the fate of the two girls would be; they would be sent to the SHU (Special Housing Unit) aka county. With this in mind, other inmates who were around or near their room began to raid the room, or at least attempted to before being stopped by other ladies on my hall. This caused yet another verbal argument to ensue between the individuals trying to protect the room and those attempting to raid it. All types of profane words were exchanged. The tension was palpable. I think the funniest thing I heard during the argument was, "I don't steal anything unless it has at least two commas." I am sure you can guess what this individual is locked up for.
Now, you might be asking what I was doing during all of this...NOTHING. I peeped outside of my door to see what the commotion was all about, then I went back, laid on my bed and finished reading my book. I actually checked with myself to see how I was feeling. My answer...numb. So much foolishness occurs here that I honestly tune it out; it sincerely does not bother me. Once I found out that both girls were going to be sent to the county jail for thirty days, I really felt sorry for them. It also made me realize how important communication and conflict resolution are. As I stated, there has been tension between these two all week. This was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. They were both like pressure cookers ready to explode, and they did. The consequences here are huge. There are such big losses associated with getting a shot and going to county. This incident really made me think about how I handle conflict. It made me reflect on how I do not always speak up when there is an issue, which eventually leads to bigger issues. "Feelings buried alive never die." So, you might as well deal with it immediately because not dealing with it is not an option. At some point you will be forced to.
