ratsonjulia

some sort of Incident at the prison last night (a couple of hours ago)--not sure what happened, exactly, but I was posted in the little machine-gun nest over the courtyard, which mostly involves popping doors, opening gates & staying awake.
shortly after the 3 a.m. count was called there was a burst of static over the radio, followedby something garbled, then ".....culinary!", then "All available officers report immediately to culinary.." I did my bit popping doors & opening the gates as there was a general rush towards the chowhall.
medical (3 nurses) went over in their little golf-cart accompanyed by an officer with a videocamera (Incidents must, whenever possible, be videotaped (the main Risk on this job, it seems, isn't violence but Lawsuits))--returning maybe 20 minutes later with a huge black dude , head swaddled in bandages, blood-soaked shirt.
then a call over the radio for a Blood Specimen Kit. then another officer with another videocamera.. then another inmate (skinny little white dude) led up from Culinary, fully shackled.
what happened?
I have no fucking idea. I had a phone, stentophone (intercommy-type thing) & a radio--but you want to stay off 'em in case somebody needs to contact you.
when the sargeant came to unlock me at 5 I asked what happened---
"Fight."
"Shank? Kitchen implements?"
"Fire extinguisher."
I made the rather sage observation that fire extinguishers should be used for putting out fires, not settling disputes.
the sargeant agreed.

anyway, that's what happened last night.