An Inmate died

At Rec 8-21, all the units were outside smack in the middle summer softball season. Yes, we have softball in a medium security prison. 90-degree heat and exertion and being cooped up for years of lockdown for a pandemic... it can take a toll. A man died.

The crowds bustling about, the yelling guards trying to direct traffic flow all told me something was up. A Lieutenant told me to put down the guitar I was playing and head to the gym." He was rushed but didn't seem as worried as if it were a riot or stabbing. I asked what happened and his flustered and impatient response: an inmate croaked.

That the guards weren't really running or worried made me suspicious of what I later confirmed: that it was a death by natural causes. i.e., not violence. There is a lackadaisical air when it's just one of us dying ("us" being inmates, cons, criminals. not the guards). I've seen it a few times and its nothing like when there was a fight or stabbing. There is none of the yelling or belligerent posturing of the cops all to better hide the fear that training instils in them.

This time, it was a guy out in rec, playing softball. It was hot, he probably overexerted and passed out. I didn't know him, not his name or where he was from. I heard he was 38 years old: my age. I do know a person doesn't need handcuffs to reap the benefits of CPR. I know that from the time the incident happened to the time the guard uttered his callous assessment of the situation to the time I saw the dying (or dead) man rushed past on the gurney, it was many minutes passing. Minutes that the other guards were busy trying to force inmates to leave, moving them this way and that, shooing us back to the cells... Overzealous and superfluous security measures, precious moments wasted. I know those seconds mattered. I know that a man died with handcuffs on, maybe even because they took the time to put them on. What security was needed to save his life? How much time did that take? Critical seconds?

There was no medical staff on site. I don't know why. I do know one guard was administering CPR as sincerely and able as I've ever seen. I won't write his name for fear his co-workers may see this and ridicule him for daring to care. He ran next to the gurney, doing chest compressions while a crowd of inmates yelled at all the officers present, calling them murderers, "take off the cuffs!" etc. I saw the officer though and he did his best.

The next day he was here, working. I saw him on my way to my own job and told him... well, that some of us saw him, we know he did his best. He looked like he just shed 100lbs off his shoulders. He thanked me and talked for a few seconds. I didn't want to ask if he could get therapy or anything else. I didn't know how fragile his mood was. I just listened. I know I did the right thing.