Life On The Inside

Chapter 3

Once the guard had finished talking, a few others walked in to take them to their cells. The man was picked up, unshackled and walked to his cell. There were all kinds of different people. Most were mentally unstable and physically strong. The man would be placed in general population. The man found the prison disturbingly silent. He became very uneasy with it and started to fidget around. The correctional officer tried to get him to calm down but he wouldn't. He was too strong for her. He pushed her down and cried out as loud as he could. Several other officers ran down. They pushed him onto the ground to restrain him. "Calm the fuck down. Just relax your arms." The CO had his arms held in a pain compliance position. "Just calm down. We're gonna pick you up. Don't struggle. It's pain compliance it's supposed to hurt." They helped him up, dusted him off before all of them escorted him to his cell. Each cell door was remote activated by a central control panel somewhere inside the facility.

As he entered his cell he knew he would probably die in this very room. It was made entirely out of concrete. He didn't need nor want to know how thick it was, as it would not really matter. The window was 4 inches wide only showing part of the sky. This was a security measure to ensure no one knew their actual position within the facility itself. The cells were all soundproof. That explained the silence. This was another security measure as it prevented inmates from communicating with each other. The same guard stepped in to make sure he had everything. "Now listen up. Dinner is in about an hour. You're lucky enough to have a choice today. In here or the dining room?" The man looked up at the CO and then at his surrounding. "Dining room." He nodded and then left him alone.

Prolonged boredom. Exposure to silence. The same 4 walls to stare at. It drove inmates insane. Most inmates had some sort of mental instability, if they didn't already before being placed in. The alarm for the doors opening went off. Only around 50 inmates at a time were allowed to eat together. If no one would leave their cell to eat, they would be forced via an extraction. The man left his cell and told where to go by COs dotted around the complex. This was his first chance at seeing who was in the prison.

When he got down to the dining room he saw the many groups of people there. No one really ate alone. The man got his tray of food and sat down at the end of a table. He was the only one alone there. He started to eat his bread slowly before being approached by several Latino inmates. They sat down beside him. He ignored them and carried on eating. "What's up with you ese?" The largest of the 3 men spoke to him. He had a strong Mexican accent, covered in tattoos and scars. "I just wanna eat in peace here fellas." The man spoke calmly but he feared the inevitable. The Latinos grabbed his jumpsuit and pulled him up. He was punched in the stomach hard, kicked down at his knees then proceeded to be smashed in the face with his food tray. His face was covered in blood as his nose was hurt the most, he got to his knees and delivered a hard head butt to the biggest Latinos crotch, he punched the other two in the same place at the same time. Unfortunately for the man as he delivered the last punches, two COs walked in and restrained him. They held him down placing all their weight on the backs of his knees and his shoulders. His blood stained face pressed hard against the filthy concrete floor. He was handcuffed before being stood up. "Back it up bitch." The CO was similar in size to the man except slightly more stocky. The COs needed to be in Florence, these inmates were very dangerous and mentally unstable. Whether they entered the prison like that or whether the prison made them like that is unknown.

The man was dragged my his shoulders with his feet dragging along the floor and thrown into a bare cell. His first day in solitary confinement.