DIARY OF A JAIL KID

Fun and Games

Wednesday, July 10 (in the exercise yard)

At 2:00 PM, we put on our orange jail clothes and went outside to the exercise yard. Almost everything was concrete. Tables, benches and walls. There were metal bars on top of the yard walls.

There are bars everywhere in this jail. We're behind bars in our cell. We're underneath bars in the exercise yard. 

Caleb and I walked around the yard at least a dozen times. It felt good to exercise our legs. We also tried to run, but our plastic shoes kept coming off. Jail shoes aren't good for running.

Last summer, Caleb was in the exercise yard and kicked a teenage bully where it hurts. In his balls. The guards grabbed Caleb and locked him naked in a punishment cell. The cell didn't have a toilet, so he had to use a bucket.

Caleb is really brave in jail. Nothing scares him.

Wednesday, July 10 (fun in a jail cell)

At 3:00, all the boys went inside and returned to their cells. We could hear the cell doors being closed. It was one loud clang after another.

After the guard locked our cell door, we immediately stripped down to our underpants. Then we started school again. Caleb did reading practice and I read a couple of chapters from the Tom Sawyer  book. Caleb wished that we could be free like Tom and Huck.

We also played basketball. I wadded up some sheets of tablet paper into a ball. The sink on top of the toilet was our basket.

If the ball missed the sink, it was an air ball. If the ball bounced into the toilet, it was a water ball. We also played dodge ball. We threw with our left hands to make the game harder.

We're not supposed to have fun in jail, but we did. Ha! Ha! Ha!

Before supper, Alice sat in front of our cell and talked to us. She was the nicest guard in the jail and we really liked her.

I think Alice felt sorry for us because we were the youngest prisoners. She brought us cupcakes, too. We teased her and asked if she put a jail key in one of the cupcakes. She didn't, so we couldn't escape.

Wednesday, July 10 (last night in jail)

We had peanut butter sandwiches for supper. We never get hot food.

At 6:00 PM, we went to the rec room for an hour. We played checkers again. An hour later, we got locked in our cell. It's 7:00 PM. I've been in jail for 24 hours. That's one full day. It seems a lot longer.

Caleb has been in jail for nine full days. I feel sorry for him. He's only 10-years old. That's too young to be in jail.

Caleb did reading practice again. Then I read from the Tom Sawyer  book. The picture of Tom and Huck visiting Muff Potter in jail made Caleb feel sad. He wants to be free like Huck.

The bell rang at 8:30. It was time for showers. Our cell was first tonight. The guard watched us take our showers again. That was creepy. I think he likes seeing naked boys.

After our showers, we had to walk naked back to our cell. The other boys whistled at us and called us smooth boys again.

Caleb got even with those boys. He gave them the finger as he walked past their cells. That was so funny. Even the guard laughed.

Those boys got really angry. They rattled their cell doors and shouted all sorts of swear words. It was a good thing their doors were locked. Otherwise, those boys would have beaten the crap out of Caleb.

After the guard locked us in our cell, he gave us diapers for the night. At 9:30, the cell light went out. Caleb insisted that I sleep with him in his bunk. He was afraid I might try to commit suicide again.

I really like Caleb. I'm glad I got locked up with him. Jail would have been so lonely without him.

I couldn't get to sleep right away. I was so worried about tomorrow. Mom and dad might not want Caleb. They might not want me, either. Maybe I'll be homeless.