On average, there are about one or two fights per week here in Gunnison. I’ve seen two in as many weeks, and what I’ve noticed is that when there is a fight in prison, rarely does anyone stop it before it has run its course, even if an officer is close enough to watch it happen.

Officers may order those involved to stop, but will wait for an incident to conclude before they enter the premises. I’m pretty sure it is policy to protect the officers.

If a prisoner refuses to comply with orders, then of course the officers will eventually come in and use force, but not before they gather overwhelming numbers. I’ve witnessed a few incidents that lead me to this conclusion, but none better highlight how seriously they take it than the first showing of force I witnessed in prison.

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In my first couple weeks, when I was still in what is called research and observation, there was an old prisoner in a wheelchair who other prisoners called Father Time. He had a long white beard and only had full use of half of his body due to a stroke.

This prisoner, or “old number,” refused to live with sex offenders, as some prisoners do. When a prisoner was placed in his cell that was, he would tell them they had to “roll up.”

The term “roll up” is used for any situation in which you pack you stuff up and move. But when you tell another prisoner they have to roll up, you are telling them they have to hit the intercom button in the cell and tell the police they can no longer live there.

He kicked one sex offender out without incident, but when the next one moved in he refused to comply with this demand, and so he hit the guy with his cane.

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The section was already locked down at the time, but we could hear everything. He eventually got the other prisoner to comply with a combination of a lot of yelling and a few more cane blows. The police came and escorted the sex offender from the cell, and then came back a few minutes later to “arrest” Father Time. He had obviously been told on.

The officers yelled at the wheelchair-confined man through his door, ordering him to put down his cane and lie on the floor, but he just ignored them.

That’s when an “A-team” was called.

A dozen officers in full riot gear rushed into the section. They continued to demand he lie on the floor and drop his cane, which he apparently did not. When the door to his cell was finally opened, or “popped,” a couple of officers proceeded to mace him from a distance. After a thorough soaking, he was forcefully removed from his cell.

Observing this taught me really early that the guards don’t mess around.

I spoke to an officer who confirmed what I had — the guards will avoid physically separating a fight or subduing a prisoner at almost any cost.

He said they have variety of methods to make prisoners submit from a distance, so it is not necessary to put oneself at risk. Then he told me about all the cool toys they have. He asked if I’d ever seen someone shot with a bean bag round. With a smile he explained they can be lethal.

I asked, “What happens if a prisoner’s life is in danger during a fight, and the officer does not have the time to obtain his long-range deterrents?”

He said, “Immediate action in the form of physical intervention would be up to the officer, but the rule would be to radio first and make sure backup was on the way.”

Then he added – matter of factly, “But, if the prisoner has a weapon, it isn’t worth it.”

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.