The Study

At lunchtime on Day 4, the plotters put their plans into action. One of them, pJE, flings his meal to the floor. He shouts that he has had enough of the awful food.

The Guards blow their whistles and send everyone except the offender to their cells. At first pJE insists that he too wants to go to his cell and the Guards have no right to stop him. Then, just as he gets his way, his cellmates decide that they won’t go to their cells until their further grievances are addressed.

Guards and Prisoners go nose-to-nose and seem close to blows. At critical moments, the various Prisoners come in to support each other while the Guards, disunited as ever, undermine each other.

One Guard threatens punishment unless the Prisoners go back to their cells. Another says “no, punishments have to be agreed collectively”. Yet another says that the Prisoners must go back to their cells immediately and a final Guard agrees to let them have a cigarette before they return.

Prisoner solidarity. Guard division. The result is inevitable. The Prisoners get their way.