I can’t ever remember looking forward to the change of season as much as I do right now. Spring can’t get here soon enough.

As far as prison life goes, winter is the least enjoyable time of year. There are a number of reasons for this.

At the top of my list is the yard. Going to the yard is the best part of prison in my opinion, and right now there are no sports being played in the yard, just a bunch of snow piling up.

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I refuse to go out there, even to walk laps, because when the alarm sounds, as it does from time to time, we are forced to lie on our stomachs, face down, snow or no snow for who knows how long. I haven’t yet had the pleasure of this and don’t intend to. Although anytime I make the walk to another building, this sort of thing could happen, but at least the walkway is free from snow.

In Draper, there’s an indoor gym with weights and a basketball court; but in Gunnison, the recreation facilities are all outdoors. I’ve heard the average prisoner in Draper is in better shape than the average prisoner in Gunnison because of these better amenities. With this, the dreary weather, and just being stuck indoors, the general mood of prisoners takes a dip here during the winter.

During warmer months, there are all sorts of opportunities to play sports. When I was housed in the area specifically for drug offenders, there would be somewhere between 150 and 200 prisoners out in the yard playing basketball, soccer, handball, volleyball, softball and other games all at once.

Right now, I’m housed where not nearly as many prisoners choose to partake in sports. I hope to move before spring arrives.

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Another winter issue is a lack of consistent heating. In Draper some cells’ toilet water freezes over, and prisoners have to break up the ice to use it.

One guy told me that occasionally a cockroach would get stuck in his toilet and run in circles. The scurrying noise would keep him awake, but it was way too cold for him to get out of bed and do anything about it. It’s no wonder that place is getting shut down.

In Gunnison, we don’t have it nearly that bad, but in the cell I recently occupied, I could see my breath at night by the window. I would wear sweats, two pairs of sock and a beanie and cover myself with two blankets. I was recently moved out of that cell, and my new one is just fine. But my old cellie moved into the section right next to mine, and he now sleeps in his underwear because it’s too hot.

There are fewer issues in the warmer months here, but I’ve heard parts of Draper are miserably hot in the summer.

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Also, for the years I’ve been here, sickness seems to seep through the prison like clockwork with the coming of the cold. I estimate about half of the prisoners get sick at one point during the winter. This time last year I was terribly ill, so I’m thankful to not presently be out of commission.

This year there was a pretty bad throat and sinus issue. I could take one look at a guy and see he was sick, as their face was all red around the nose and eyes. At one point around Christmas, you couldn’t go 30 seconds without hearing someone cough. Guys were sick for weeks at a time, getting a little better and then sick again.

As you can imagine our living conditions lend themselves to the spread of contagions. For a while I was washing my hands well over 25 times per day. That’s just another seasonal prison pleasantry I’m all too happy to see pass. Winter is just another deterrent to never coming to prison.

Brian Wood, formerly of Layton, is an inmate at the Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison. He pleaded guilty to nine felony charges for offenses from 2011 to 2014, including counts of burglary, drug possession and prescription fraud. He could spend up to 35 years in prison, depending on parole hearings.