True Stories of Doing Time: Entry Four

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True Stories of Doing Time: Entry Four:
by Terry Chandler (TC32)

This author encourages feedback and solicits your honest opinion of his stories. You can share that opinion with him on Jpay.com, Washington state, #941311 or by mail at:

Terry Chandler #941311
Stafford Creek Corrections Center
191 Constantine Way
Aberdeen, WA 98520

Before I explain how I landed in the hole and what happened throughout the entire federal prison system while I was in the hole, I have something else to tell you about.

I can’t remember if this happened before or after the crack riots as it was a long time ago? But there was a hit down in the gym where a guy was lifting weights on one of the bench presses when someone came up and stabbed a shank completely through his head, I wasn’t there, but everyone quickly heard all the details from the people who were there. The crazy thing is that he not only lived, but he walked out on his own two feet with a shank sticking in one side of his head and out the other to the ambulance.

Before I tell you about this next part, I need to explain something to you. Our cells had solid steel doors that had a little cut out window in them and they were opened and closed from a lockbox at the end of each tier. Since our doors were open for most of the day people would hang blankets across their cell doors to have a little privacy in their cells without people being able to walk by and look in your cell. When the CO’s (Correctional Officers) did their tier checks they would stop and announce themselves before moving the blanket to look into the cell because someone might be sitting on their toilet with the blanket up for privacy.

Okay, I believe it was a week or so after the hit in the gym and they had recalled the rec yard for the lunch movement. The CO was doing tier checks when he found someone who had been stabbed multiple times laying in their bunk. We later heard rumor that this was a retaliation hit from what happened in the gym. They celled us in for about 15 minutes while they came and got the guy then they used crime scene tape to block off the cell while they took their photos and everything, but we were allowed to move around in the unit while they did this and we weren’t even late for lunch. That prison has seen so much extreme violence over the years that the staff simply clean up the mess and get things back to normal in no time at all. You would think that if someone got stabbed the entire prison would be on lockdown, but there it would take multiple stabbings in one day or a big multi person mini riot in order for the prison to go on lockdown.

Those were the first two major violent acts that I remember happening after I got there but believe me, there were many more to follow.

Back to what I had planned on telling you about,… One day while working out on the rec yard my name and BOP number (Bureau of Prison number, which is basically my ID number) was called over the speaker system telling me to report to the lieutenants office. When I got there they strip searched me looking for marks and when they found none, they asked me why a reporter would call and say I had been stabbed and was looking for a story? I explained that I didn’t have a clue as to what they were talking about but I ended up being placed in the hole while they did their investigation. To this day I have never been able to figure out what that was about as it made no sense at all? I had been in the hole for a few days and they had just come around and served lunch. I was in a cell on the top tier looking out towards the chow hall. In the hole all the cells had bars on them, not solid steel doors like out in general population. I sat down on my cell floor to eat and I happened to notice movement on top of the chow hall. When I looked out the window I saw the ninja turtles (That’s what we called the guards in riot gear) throwing ropes over the side of the building and descending so they could shoot gas canisters into the chow hall.

I will leave off here as I have some things to explain that leads up to the nationwide federal prison riot that was taking place. Til next time,…