Life On The Inside

Chapter 6

Several more months had passed. It was close to the end of his first year at ADX Florence. The man's mental state had continued to deteriorate as time progressed. The man had also, been moved back to general population, which he was eternally grateful for. However, it was no different from solitary. He cherished the sunlight, the tv and shower he had in his cell. It was like New Year's Eve in New York. He was watching a knitting show. It seemed like it was from a century ago, since they only allowed black and white TVs.

He sat and watched for hours on end. One morning he was woken up, routinely, by the sound of his breakfast falling through the door. However, today it was different. He was awoken by the sound of the entire door opening. "Wake up boy." He was shaken in bed by a CO. As he got up, wiping his eyes and yawning, he looked at three guards stood at in the doorway. "What is it?" The man's voice was croaky. The guard sat him up and threw him a large plastic bag. "Pack up the bedding. Get your shoes on. Come outside. You're being transferred." Once the guard has finished he left to let the man do what he was told. And he did just that. Once he walked outside, his wrists were cuffed, his ankles shackled. He was escorted out of the building to a bus. "Can someone tell me what's going on? I don't understand." The guards all sighed, shaking their heads too. "You're being transferred inmate. To which prison we don't know. Just get on the bus."

The man was placed amongst several other inmates. He recognised one of them. The same Latino man who beat him on his first day. They exchanged death stares.

The bus ride took them somewhere. But where? The inmates had no idea. The guards didn't really know either. As the inmates were removed from the bus the first thing they noticed was the sound of aeroplane engines. "What're we doing at the airport?" One of the inmates asked. "Shut the fuck up man. Just run with the programme ese." The Latino man was starting to irritate the guards, having listened to his unnecessary comments throughout the journey. "Hey ese. Shut the fuck up yourself. Stupid cunt." The guard who asserted the Latino was mixed raced. Another bus similar to their own had pulled up. A sea of inmates flooded out. From a women's prison it seemed. Some of the male inmates from ADX Florence started cat calling, whistling and making comments towards them.

All the inmates were escorted inside, taken onto a plane. They were shackled together and to the plane. As it started to move the lights dimmed, making the entire place dark. Guards kept watch over the flight duration.

After what seemed like a millennium the plane had finally landed. The lights came on, those inmates who were asleep, awoke. "Ladies. Let's move." All the female inmates stood up, guards went around to unshackle them. They were of all shapes and sizes. Some built like bowling balls, others like twigs. Some incredibly butch in nature. Covered in tattoos and rather muscular.

The man was sat next to an African inmate. He was built like a Greek god, had small, bubbly facial hair. He was fast asleep, snoring incredibly loud. The man nudged him a few times in hopes it would stop him. It didn't. He decided to just deal with it, saving himself a beating. The lights dimmed once more, then the plane took off again. It landed again soon later. A guard whistled, spectacularly loud, waking everyone up. Including some COs that had passed out from being so tired. "Alright fellas. Let's go." The COs were swift to get the inmates up on their feet to vacate the plane. As soon as the man stepped out of the door the first thing that hit him was the insane heat. They were in the desert. Nevada? California? There aren't any prisons in the desert are there? A couple of the inmates took their jumpsuit shirts off. Some guards noticed and they started barking order. "Hey. Get that jumpsuit back on inmate." They complied with little fuss.

Two busses awaited them. Half was loaded onto one, the other half on the other bus. They set off in separate routes. The man was still next to the snoring African as he regarded him to now. The smell of sweat began to reach apocalyptical levels. The guards, inmates and driver were started to become irritated by it.