Showers

Each dorm has a shower. In some dorms it's a one-at-a-time bathroom, with toilet, shower, and sink. In Post 10 you have a large, multi-person bathroom, with showers for 4 at a time. (There are also video cameras watching your every move.)

If you've got 10 in your dorm and 1 bathroom, you run into the same problem as large families. Most of the inmates are polite about asking others before they go into the bathroom, for a long shower or, um, "Number 2."

A long shower can be a nice respite. You are alone, for one thing -- it's a break from inmate chatter, which is constant. Also your neck may hurt from sleeping on the thin mattresses, and a hot shower may help.

In hot weather a daily shower is indispensable. Your fellow inmates -- and the guards -- will remind you if you become too ripe.

I noticed that some inmates would take a plastic chair into the shower and spend an especially long time in the shower. You do the math.

By the way, soon after lights out, a jail worker will come in wearing heavy gloves a scrub brush, and a bucket of disinfectant. From the sounds of it, he scrubs the shower stall thoroughly. Thank God.