United States of America: prison shakedown

Kenneth Key is sentenced to 888 years of prison at the Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet (Illinois, USA). In prison, nothing belongs to you: neither the objects, nor your proper self. During a prison shakedown, it is even more striking. Testimonial about an ordinary ordeal.

"Open your mouth. Move tongue. Stick fingers in. Lift your nuts. Turn around. Spread your cheeks. Squat. Cough."

Initially published on Live from lockdown’s blog

In a cell house at Stateville Correctional Center (Joliet, Illinois). Awakened by a prisoner who was up early and noticed the water, including the toilets, had been cutoff – the signs of a soon to come prison shakedown.

It’s a level one shakedown. It’s statewide, which means officers from the thirty-plus prisons in Illinois will converge upon us to search for contraband items such as knives, homemade wine, drugs, phones, etc. There are over 400 officers. Inmates are woken up at 6:45am. All water is cutoff – sinks and toilets. There are four units – B, C, D, and E – 290 men per unit. They will only shake one to two units per day.

Two men dressed in orange riot gear, bulletproof vests, oak sticks, tear gas, and large containers of mace are at your door. “Inmates,” he hollers, “on the floor. The other to the back of the cell. Face the wall.” This is when you are required to strip butt-ass-naked.
The officer commands, “Open your mouth. Move tongue. Stick fingers in. Lift your nuts. Turn around. Spread your cheeks. Squat. Cough.”

You are not allowed to wear underwear or socks, only a shirt and pants and shower shoes, whatever the weather. You are cuffed from behind and told to face the back of the cell while your celly goes through the same humiliating routine.

There are 29 cells to a gallery. Not one door will open until all inmates have been searched and cuffed. When all inmates are cuffed, all doors open and we are marched to a location such as the gym or chapel and made to stand along the wall for a minimum of three hours. There are no bathroom breaks. Mind you, we just woke up and the water was cutoff so no one was able to use the bathroom or wash up.

Some prisoners are randomly taken off the wall for drug drops [tests]. There is no talking, just silence, like death. There are huge masked officers with sticks who often tap you and punch you with those oak sticks if you are moving or seem to be irritated by the standing. Any feedback will automatically have you removed from the line and taken to segregation immediately.

I’m always prepared for the tsunami of prison shakedowns...

This is about power and intimidation.

This is done several times a year. It’s something no one ever gets used to. You will return to your cell and depending on the type of officers you draw, your cell will be completely ransacked.

Your property and your celly’s will be all mixed together on the floor. Your food will be opened, containers taken and anything else they feel you should not have, despite your having purchased it from the commissary or it being sent to you in an approved package. Depending on why they are there determines the extent of the damage.
If an officer was assaulted, man get ready. If it happened in your cell house, you may have your TV smashed and cassette player thrown off the gallery. One thing is certain, everyone will be affected by their actions. It takes several hours to clean up and take inventory of your things and determine what was taken or destroyed. As a jailhouse lawyer and one who is considered an agitator, I’m always prepared for the tsunami of prison shakedowns.

Off to court you go and even if you win, you are given money to replace your property from the Inmate Benefit Fund, but it’s not money from the State or employees’ money. It’s your money, used to purchase commissary, books, etc. This is another thing you will have to, but never get used to.

Trust me, after 33-years, it still bothers the hell out of me. Here your girl, wife, family, or friend sent you $280.00 for a 13-inch digital TV and it’s been smashed. And if you sue, you will only get $100.00. It’s called depreciation. And the claim could drag on for a year or more. In the meantime you are without a TV or whatever property you had that was lost, unless you have another $280.00 to get another, or if your celly doesn’t mind you looking at his until you get another.

Here’s an actual claim of mine, one of the thirty-plus I’ve filed. Some won. Some lost.

Everything you thought you were is left at the door

What is private property?

This is one of many prison shakedowns that take place. There are shakedowns that occur every thirty days. The random and wine shakedowns. The snitch shakedowns. Sometimes there can be shakedowns four to five times in a week or a month and you can lose something every time. Unfortunately, this is part of prison life.

Last year, they took all the typewriters out of maximum security prisons in Illinois, claiming they are a security threat.

Imagine the brother who saved $300.00 or whose family sent the money to buy the typewriter and it was confiscated by the State, no refund. Yes, it happened!

Now everything is done by long-hand. You are allowed to purchase two rubbery four-inch pens from the State. And trust me they do not hold a lot of ink, so imagine having to do legal work.

In prison your property is not your own. It can be taken at anytime on the whim of prisoncrats, and you can’t go on the offense about it. Go ahead and try, they have something for that as well. I’ve witnessed and have been the recipient of a 6-man tactical unit beat down, and I promise you’ll feel that ass-whipping many years afterwards.

If you want a life of disrespect, humiliation, dehumanization, and to be treated as if you and your property is of no worth, then come to prison and experience the wrath of the prisoncrats. This treatment is guaranteed, and everything you thought you were is left at the door. I promise you.

Kenneth Key

Live from lockdown

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“Live from Lockdown (LIVE)”, published by Raise UP Media, is a blog meant to educate the public on the harsh realities of the streets and prison by providing voice to gang leaders and influential inmates. LIVE aims to utilize gang leadership as credible messengers to talk about prison and harsh reality they have to face once behind bars.
For LIVE, change comes from within. To that extent, inmates contribute by sharing their experience hoping these lessons will guide other young gang members to put an end to gang violence and mass incarceration.

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