Trapped. Alone. Scared. A small, prison-like cell of solitude where the door to your room can’t be opened-and you’re inside.
In the story “Papillon,” French convict Henrie “Papillon” Charriere is sentenced to a penal colony in South America for life, but he maintained his sanity in solitary confinement by playing with centipedes. JSC Student Roger Conant during his stint in solitary had no centipedes but was very comfortable just the same.
Conant, a junior majoring in Environmental Science and Natural Resources, says, “I liked it better when they used keys.”
The incident began with a bang during the last week of October. “It was around 9:00 or 10:00 p.m.,” Conant said. “I was just hanging out when I heard someone slamming into my door. A couple minutes later I tried to leave but the door wouldn’t open.”
After knocking and yelling for help, Conant was able to attract the attention of a passer-by, who tried to open the door with Conant’s card that he had slid under the door. After this failed rescue attempt, Hayden Coon, H.A. for Senators was notified. They contacted Edson Jones, plant technician, who came from home to solve the problem.
“I had to climb in through the window and dissect the lock from the inside,” said Jones. “The electronics weren’t broken. It’s just that someone had kicked the lock and the striker malfunctioned mechanically.”
According to Jones, this could happen to any lock, as they are all mechanical.
Although Conant spent only about a half-hour in his room, he wondered what could have happened had there been a fire.
“It probably could have been dealt with quicker,” says Michael Palagonia, director of public safety, “I was in the Philadelphia airport on vacation when I got the call. There was some miscommunication. I had thought he had been locked out of his room. Turns out he was locked in.”
For any students who in the future get trapped in their own rooms Conant offers some basic advice: “Make sure you have your phone on you.”
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