Antwand, a recently released inmate, discusses how collective punishment is weaponized in Cook County Jail
If there’s a fight on the deck and they apprehend the two people on the deck, they still punish th entire deck. They’ll put the entire deck on lockdown because of a fight. They will remove the two people fighting from the deck, but still punish everyone. I don’t think that’s fair. That causes tension on the deck. So now we on lockdown, some people was fighting, they messed up, they got them off the deck. But now you still want to lock us down? So now that creates more tension. So when they come back out, another fight happen or something else happen, because everybody mad. Then they come and they take away the games. If even one person does something, they punish everyone. I don’t think that’s right.
They put us on lockdown for a day, couple days, a week, couple weeks. Some times they will do half and half, where the top deck gets out for three hours, then the bottom. But we also got nothing to do. They give us tablets where we can go on and watch movies, make calls, play games, earn certificates too. But that’s only if we get them because sometimes they will put us on tablet restriction where we can’t use the tablets. Like if there’s a fight, they punish the whole deck for other people’s problems. They will take away the tablets or they will take away the microwave. And I think that’s real unfair because we go to commissary to buy food the requires a microwave. So if there’s a fight or somebody get caught smoking, you shouldn’t take away the microwave for 30 days, because how we eaten our commissary? You can’t cook it. I don’t think everyone should suffer like that.
And then they have gym rooms they never let us use. They never let us play basketball or go to the gym. they might take you outside, sometimes, depending on your division. But all that stuff they get money for like the gym they don’t let us use it. They just use them for zoom court.
We already don’t have a lot. They will come through like every week or every other week and do a shakedown where they take everything extra you got, food, sheets, tissue. It don’t be right. Then we don’t be getting a sheet exchange, we should be getting one every week. Their rules I just don’t agree with.
People inside be doing everything else in there. That’s why everything else is going on, like smoking, because their minds ain’t focused on nothing else. Ain’t nothing else to do. Just walking around the deck all day. TV barely work. Some divisions they have games. But there really no activities. And then they barely give you enough to get by in there, locking people down, creating problems, then people take it out on each other, steal from each other, and all type of shit. I really think something needs to change.
Cracks At Hotel California is a newsletter that exposes the daily reality of torture, murder, and mistreatment inside of the Cook County jail. We believe that the people who can best tell the truth about what’s happening are the people on the inside and their loved ones on the outside. This newsletter is produced by Dare to Struggle, an organization committed to standing with the people subjected to the horrors of the American nightmare. Send us your story…
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