Unlock the Box - Marion Correctional Intitution

The Rehabilitative Diversion Unit(RDU) keeps us on solitary confinement for 24 hours on Monday and Wednesday. The rest of the week we have a chance to go to the rec cages for an hour. If the weather is bad on those days they have an empty cell inside of your block for inside rec. There is no congregate dining, no programs, no religious services, you can’t get a job or work for merit days, and no schooling. If you refuse to do the program, you stay on lock up indefinitely, limited to only 3 gain days every month you go without a write up. The whole time we’re classified as being in general population in the RDU program.

The majority of the prison is a control unit, one unit is regular close population. RDU is 4 units of about 190 prisoners each, for a total of about 760. In my block there are 31 cells with 1 white, 2 Latinos, 2 Indians, and the rest are Black. Other prisoners in other blocks say their blocks are similar.

This program is supposed to replace I-CON (6 months on restrictive housing). They say they only want violent offenders, but bring people here for getting caught with knives, cell phones and for regular fights. One prisoner I ran across was here for accidentally hitting an officer with a rubberband.

This same program is starting at Pasquotank Correctional Institution.

People are missing their minimum release dates because the program is locking them down for extra time to where they can’t work their time back down. They chain us to tables to watch videos and some prisoners get out of their restraints and stab other prisoners while they’re chained to the table. This happened recently where a prisoner stabbed another in the eyes and face while chained to the table. They take most of our property and make us either ship it home or throw it away. No contact visits.