During the COVID-19 Crisis, Don’t Shoot the Messenger
When you lead the Inmate Liaison Committee in a pandemic, you have to deliver bad news with finesse.
One summer about 20 years ago, the main pipe that supplied water to Attica Correctional Facility burst. Similar to the COVID-19 crisis, it was unprecedented and prison officials struggled to adapt. To their credit, they eventually brought in lake water to flush the toilets. Unfortunately, it was after human feces had filled over 2,000 commodes. It was too little, too late. Prisoners had resorted to flinging plastic and paper bags of crap onto the middle of the gallery.
I don’t know who started the first fire. By the time I smelled burning paper, plastic and shit, it didn't matter. Attica's C-block was lit. Everyone had something to burn. The smoke and
