I was a new correctional officer at a large California State Prison. A Sergeant, one other officer, and myself were locked in the dinning hall with about 300 of the States worst inmates on a very stormy night. The power failed and the lights when out. :huh: Of course, none of the battery operated emergency lights worked,
and the dinning hall was plunged into complete darkness. The inmates began screaming, and throwing things: Metal food trays, bottles, metal salt and pepper shakers, and shoes. It was total Bedlam :rock: ...Somehow, we three staff members managed to find eachother...If we tried to use our flashlights to find eachother, we stood out as individual targets. Then, using our Maglights (3 cell, I think :candle: ) we lit up the exit and prayed for the power to come back on, and/or for staff :help: to unlock the door to let the inmates out. After about 10 min. someone outside the hall opened the door and the inmates left the hall :wave: , and we could breath again. Somehow, nobody was killed. The last time we had shown a movie to the inmates in that same dinning hall, we had found a dead body when the lights had come up after the movie.
I wish I had a million lumens that night. Nothing succeeds like excess!