ISCC ADMINISTRATORS MAKE BAD SITUATIONS WORSE - PUT PRISONERS LIVES AND SECURITY AT RISK WITH UNNECESSARY LOCKDOWNS

When an inmate seeks protective custody because of pressures originating or culminating in his housing tier (a misnomer) at the ISCC, not only is that inmate removed from the tier, but the remaining population of the tier - from 80 to 100 men - are locked down as punishment, preventing those left behind from enjoying video visits, going to work, school or programs required by the parole board, heating meals, showering, or even using the toilet in private. These total lock downs can last anywhere from a few days to over a week.

Although staff refuse to provide any outright official justification as to why these lock downs occur, there are mutterings that is is for investigatory purposes, to allow staff to figure out exactly who was involved, and what role they played the activities, be it a fight, or an inmate seeking protective custody. While that may well be a valid justification (not that justifications are necessary I suppose), it is rarely the case, as most lock downs occur when the reasons are known by staff even before the fight or protective custody request even happen. Rather than preventing obvious problems, staff will often create the scenario doomed to fail, wait until the matter comes to a head, then deal with the aftermath - a reactive rather than proactive approach to management.

Indeed, the real reason (as has been made clear from some tell-all staff) for the lock downs is for prison administrators to show the prisoners "who's the boss" - to cement in the minds of those not even involved that it is the administration who runs the show, not the inmates. The consequences of these penis-flexing exhibitions, intentional or not, puts additional targets on the backs of those prisoners seeking protective custody, and forces many to turn to other prisoners rather than to staff for that protection. This protection cost can range anywhere from a couple soups per week, to hundreds of dollars per month, to the cleaning of other prisoner's cells and laundry, to sexual favors. In other cases, these inmates may simply choose to join a gang for protection instead, exacerbating problems already faced at the ISCC. Gangs will often test their new members by sending them to assault or intimidate others (torpedoes), and the cycle starts anew.

Administrators hold even those prisoners not involved in fights, intimidation, and other such activities responsible and subject to punishment for the acts of others who live on the same tier, but do not allow prisoners the choice of where to be housed. They expect other prisoners on the tier to cause the bad actors to conform to rules through peer pressure or other means but grant no authority (or immunities) to the others to maintain the order administrators outwardly state they desire. Were one to divine their thinking only from their actions, it is clear that 2 words fully sum up why ISCC administrators continue to order these unnecessary (and ill-advised) lock downs... job security.