Back in 1998, I was assigned to a Closed Custody Unit (CCU).  The CCU is almost like a lock-up unit, there are fences inside the dorms on each tier. Also the inmates had more liberties than the lock-up guys did. They could go to the library on certain days and were escorted to the mess hall to eat, while lock up inmates were fed in their cells. They just couldn’t associate with the other inmates in the general population. Most of the CCU inmates came there from lock-up, CCU was designed as a stepping stone back to the general population.
  There was also only one entrance/exit from behind the cage. In the CCU the cages was built on each floor or tier to keep the inmates contained if a fight or riot broke out. The problem with this system was that the officer was locked in the cage with them, and I was one of these officers. Another problem was that the prison used manual key prison which means every inmates except the lock-up inmates had a key to their cell and the only way an I could deadlock the cell is if I walked the entire tier and personally deadlocked each door. The only time the inmates were completely locked down was in a case of emergency or lock-down time at night. They finally changed it and the cells were constantly on dead lock which meant more work.
  On this particular day I was escorting two cell mates at a time to the showers. I had previously checked all doors to make sure they were locked, but I knew these guys could come out anytime they wanted. They had all the time in the world to rig the locks not to deadlock. I was in the middle of escorting the two inmates back to their cell when eight cell doors busted open right in front of me. All sixteen of these inmates jumped these two inmates with me caught in the middle.

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  Part of my job was to protect the inmates, but I also have to protect myself. To give you a better picture of the room I had to work with, I could put one hand on the wall and the other on the fence. I also had to make it through the inmates to get to the exit door. I called for assistance several times from my radio as I was shoved into the fence.
  I was hoping someone would be coming up the other end of the tier but I was alone, at least for now. I knew there had been a problem with the radio signal reaching out beyond all this fencing and wire, not to mention the walls inside the dorm could also block the signal. I didn’t expect help to arrive soon.
  One by one I started throwing inmates into cells. I didn’t care if it was the right cell as long as they were lock down. I would straighten them out later. My shoulder was bruised real bad from being thrown against the wall and fence, it took all I had to get these guys split up.
  Help did finally arrive, a first responder heard squelching on this radio and  decided to check all the dorms starting with the hardest one first. I was so glad to see him and other officers come through that gate.
The other officers assigned to other areas of the dorm felt terrible. I knew it wasn’t their fault. It was just a bad day in CCU. We always checked on each other about every thirty minutes. We didn’t set it to an exact time because the inmates would catch on and could possible plan something around our time line. If a young officer is reading this, the lessen is that the entire fight didn’t last but about four minutes. So stay alert and stay alive, that’s what I always say.  I did make it home that day, but I had more respect for the job I do and the family I have at home and at work.