Loud music and drugs fuel a ghetto climate of ignorance and despair in the Massachusetts maximum security prison Souza-Baranowski. In the K-2 cell block about sixty incarcerated people must live in squalid conditions surrounded by loud music from homemade speakers and secondhand smoke from an illicit drug cocktail commonly called ''Deuce'' or ''K-2''.
Rules governing loud music from altered homemade loudspeakers and secondhand smoke from illicit drugs are ignored. Most prisoners are bullied into accepting this ignorant ugly behavior because guards and senior staff refuse to enforce rules and accept gang activities in housing units.
About four Correction Officer's monitor a cell block. In Souza-Baranowski prison authorities have segregated the two major gangs, the Bloods and Crips. Still, every horror associated with prison life is commonplace. Extortion, violence, rape and inhumane treatment are a daily routine.
Lately, correction officials have given up enforcing rules about smoking ''Deuce''. In K-2 cellblock, loud obnoxious music floods from cells creating a cacophony of noise that contributes to anxiety and feelings of hopeless despair. Noise from loudspeakers is a kind of microaggression. Aggressive music shouts down inmates who want to peacefully do their time free from the chaos of other people’s music choices.
Prisoners are given some autonomy as long as there is no fighting. There is no supervision over the cleaning of the housing unit. Showers are filthy. Floors and walls are rarely cleaned. Inmates who hand out meals are sullen and indifferent often stealing food and selling what they take to hungry fellow convicts.
Guards do make rounds, usually on the hour, although they may make rounds at any time. These officers must also breathe the toxic secondhand smoke of Synthetic drugs. Guards hear the loud noise from prohibited speakers. Nothing is done. These cellblocks are modern - but exhibit every element of a ghetto in distress.