Doing time at a low

# The day

The schedule is the architecture of your life here, and it is not negotiable.

The number

## Counts

Counts (the daily headcount where everything stops) happen several times a day, including overnight. The afternoon count is a standing count — you stand at your bunk or in your cell, silent, until the number clears. Everything on the compound stops.

If the count does not clear, they recount. A bad count can absorb hours. You will spend a genuinely remarkable portion of your sentence waiting for a number.

The windows

## Controlled movement

At most lows you move between buildings during a window at the top of the hour, usually about ten minutes. Outside that window you are where you are supposed to be. This is controlled movement (you can only move in scheduled windows), and it is the single biggest adjustment from a camp, where movement is largely open.

It means planning: if you need the law library and your work assignment ends at the wrong time, that is a problem you solve in advance or not at all.

The rhythm

## The rest of it

Chow three times a day, run by unit or by rotation. Work assignment. Recreation (recreation time) in the afternoon and evening. Commissary once a week on your assigned day.

Weekly unit inspections are common, and at many facilities the cleanest unit goes to chow and commissary first. That matters more than it sounds like — going last regularly means the stock has run out.

Keep reading — part 3 of 13

### [Where you live](/going-in/security-levels/at-a-low/where-you-live)

Cells or cubicles, depending on the facility. Either way: a bunk, a locker, one other man, and the question of where your space ends.

For your people

## Hand the rest of this site to your family

You will not be able to look things up once you're inside. They can, and this is where: [everything written for the one waiting](/for-families) — a twelve-part guide to mail, visiting, money, and your release date, plus their own FAQ and checklist. Alongside it, a [guide to every facility](/resources/facilities) with [email alerts when visiting stops](/lockdown-alerts/subscribe), the [support group directory](/resources/support-groups), calculators for your release math, and [free answers](/contact) when they have questions.

Send them the link before you report, not after they can't reach you.

**Need help with this? Just ask.**

These pages cover the general rules. Your situation has details they don't. Email me a question. **Answers are free** , and "you don't need to pay anyone for this" is my most common answer.

[josh@federalprisondude.com](mailto:josh@federalprisondude.com?subject=Low%20security%20question)

I answer in the order received, usually within a couple of days. I have a day job. If your situation genuinely needs more than an email, I take a limited number of consults, so say so and we'll work it out.