A Change in Scenery!
Howdy, folks! I get to talk a little about a change in scenery that I just went through, and introduce a couple of terms.
Today's terms are...
- Open Bay (or Open Dormitory)
This describes a prison housing layout that is effectively an open floor plan. There is no privacy when you sleep -- all inmates share this 'single bedroom'. The toilets and showers are barely separated from the sleeping and eating zone by a partial wall.
Layouts may be designed for wheelchair using inmates, with numerous single beds and fewer stacked bunks, and the presence of transfer rails in the toilet stalls and showers.
and ...
- Two-Man Cell
Housing modules are populated with a large number of these small cells. The cell is perhaps 7 feet wide in most cases. A toilet/sink hybrid is provided in the cell, as well as a solidly built security door that unlocks from the outside. In some facilities, a help button is installed by the door in case of medical or mental health emergency while you are locked in. Bunk beds are installed in these cells, usually, though some facilities may install two side by side beds to reduce vertical stacking related issues caused by aging or heavy inmates.
What's changed, pussycat?
I only play as a big cat on the internet, dear reader. :)
What is new, however, is that I have gone from an open bay to the two man cell setup. I have to admit that I like this change, but it strongly depends on with whom you are housed!
Thankfully, I have an agreeable cellmate who prefers older cellmates: many of us (haha, I'm in my forties) are quiet, calm, reasonable, and would prefer to talk through an issue using words, not fist language. He just likes to draw and read.
Well, sweet! was my reply. I try to draw, and I am bad at it, but boy oh boy, do I LOVE to read!
Open Versus Shut, my view.
Open bays are a big question mark with regard to safety, in my mind. You are out in the open, with no sense of privacy at all. Someone can approach you from any direction at any time, unless you are against a wall. If there was a threat to your safety, you can only watch so much.
Plus, there is always someone walking by your head or feet at all times of day and night.
Cells are safer by a small margin, but let's point out that you are in a bottle here. If that same threat stormed into your cell and snatched the door shut while they did it, the threat is significant: You have no room to maneuver or flee. It can become Hell In a Cell until someone pops the door. That requires Control (the person or persons watching the board for door status) to have noticed a door going to Locked fast enough to pop it again.
That safety issue aside, it's likely to be safer overall in cells -- people can have their private conversations in private, in quiet, at or in each other's cells. There's significantly less noise in here, which increases my safety: I can hear, even with my bad ears, the normal noises when someone moves. I can make out more of what is said to me, even if I don't have my hearing aids in, instead of guessing over a bellowing inmate.
The lack of noise is reflected in the calm behavior of my fellow inmates.
It's a reasonable change for now. We will see how it goes as time progresses.
Thanks for reading. 👍🏾