Scales

Eric Scales
On April 11, 1993 I was 26 years old, going into my third year on a 10-25 year sentence for aggravated
burglary. I was only at SOCF for about 90 days before the uprising and didn’t really have enough time to
understand what was going on r why. However, in just the short time that I was there, violence was the norm.
No one told me that a riot was being planned, so I was just as shocked and off-guard as everyone else.
It was Easter Sunday and I was sitting in my cell drawing and minding my own business when I heard a loud
crash. When I looked out my cell door to see what it was, I saw a pack of masked inmates storming the pod,
taking over the console and attacking the guard. That was the first sign I’d been given that something serious
was going down. Not too long after that, all the cell doors were opened amid shouts that the block was being
taken over. It was a real crazy scene.
Having never been in a riot, I did not really understand what my reaction should be. Those who had
taken over the pod and who were now in control seemed to believe that everybody should get involved. But
again, being someone who only recently arrived, I was more confused than I was eager to join what I knew
absolutely nothing about. As I stood there and watched, cells were opened and searched for food, which was
then stockpiled in the middle of the range. Everything was happening so fast.