I work as a correctional officer in a maximum security prison.

Now saying that probably brings up all sorts of images and ideas,

but just know that the job is very different than what you see on TV.

There are no nightly escape attempts, no big throwdowns on the yard every afternoon.

And if your roommates are drunk, it's because they've been smuggling things out of the kitchen for weeks.

Night shift, which was C shift, is not generally very exciting, but it does have its quirks.

For example, all the guards on C-shift

knew about the mysterious shower in quad two of confinement.

At first, it was just a curiosity

to help pass the time, a mystery to be solved, or some bit of annoyance

that inmates could complain about ceaselessly.

No one could have known how bad it would get in the end.

I've been an officer in the confinement unit of this prison pretty much since I got

certified.

There's a real need for male officers in an all-mail facility.

Shocking I know, and the confinement unit is no different.

Typically, the crew is small, each one filling a desired need, and in the two years I've been here,

I've seen and heard some things that you don't see on TV.

I've heard hits planned out through the backgrading in the windows.

I've had all many of things thrown at me through

the flaps which we push their food and clothes in through. I've been called some pretty

colorful names and I've stumbled across my fair share of bodies, hanging and bleeding, which needed immediate

...