Day 8 – 9/27/11 Tuesday

The door popped open. I was already awake. I only slept for an hour and a half and spent the rest of the time lying awake. Poppi did like he usually does and jumped at the chance to scurry out and retrieve breakfast. Brooklyn actually woke up this time to eat but only the pancakes. I ate my cold pancakes and tried to go back to sleep. I, again, didn't get much sleep before I heard the door pop open again.

“Ok, rec time! Come on!” A C.O yelled at us.


It was now 11:30am and lunch would be here in any minute. That means the C.Os forgot to let us out in time. During rec, I noticed a new C.O. A young loud mouth who sat there yelling whore and slut at a woman who cheat on her man on Maury. I aslo couldn't help notice Brooklyn did the same thing. As time and Maury went on, the lunch trays arrived only 20 minutes into our rec. This sucked. We grabbed our trays and went back into the cells. After we finished, we sat and waited for everyone else to finish. All the while I'm watching the new C.O, D-bag, laughing his off at Jerry Springer. Time goes by and the dayroom and our cell is quiet. I'm waiting to see when D-bag will let us back out. He never did.

Day 7 – 9/26/11 Monday

The past 3 days on 8A have been pretty much the same. When we woke up, we had to wait for 3 groups of people to have their rec time: The general populations (blues), then the re-class -the people that have to be reclassified, and max security better know as reds. We always went last. Mikai didn't know this. The C.O mistakenly opened our cells. I closed ours because I knew it was a mistake since we're P.Cs but Poppi and Mikai went out.

“AY, AY!” Mustafa, an African C.O yealled while running up to their cell. “You noy supposed to be out! Go back in!”

“Why I gotta go back in?” Mikai asked

“You P.C! You don't know that? YOU P.C!” He shouted casuing many of the blues to watch and listen.

Mikai noticed the unwanted attention and just went back in. When the door went buzz buzz click very loudly, we went out for rec.

“Man. He blastin' my shit all loud that I'm a P.C.” Mikai said banging his hand on the metal table. Being out meant we got to take our first shower in 4 days. Rec time was very boring. The C.Os controlled the T.V and never turned it up load enough for us to hear. I went to the phone to try to call my mom again but it failed. I checked my account and noticed I had $100 on my books. This didn't help me since I can't order anything on this block.

Day 4 – 9/23/11 Friday

“Yooo!”, Brooklyn popped up screaming, “That chick just flashed her titties!”

Mikai jumped up and moved to the window Brooklyn was looking through. There was a woman down the hall in a cell towards the back, next to the poo cell. She was looking out the window, but not at Mikai or Brooklyn. She was mouthing the word “phone” to someone near the phones.

She lifted her shirt again.

“Oh shit! This girl is showin’ her titties,” Mikai said excitedly.

“She ain’t got nothin’ on my wife’s titties!”

Mikai has a habit of telling us in great detail how “hot” his wife was and how great the sex was.

In great detail.

They sat at the window waiting for her to do it again, but she never did.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Day 3 - 9/23/11 Thursday

It was day three, and we were still stuck in booking. Worker inmates were running around cleaning to make things perfect for the inspection. Meanwhile, we got a new cellmate, Poppi. Poppi was an older Hispanic man who didn’t speak much. He could speak English well, but his accent was so thick, it was hard to understand him.

I gave up my spot on the bench so he wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor, and I laid down and slept on the floor instead, next to the covered pee hole, because there was no more room. At one point, when I asked to go to the bathroom, Hard Ass told me to use the one in the cell.
“There’s a blanket over it for a reason. Plus, I sleep right there.”

Hard Ass looked at the blanket, rolled his eyes, and said, “Hold on.”
While sitting and talking, a group of well-dressed people were walking down the hall, talking to the C.O.s.
“How long is your intake process?”, one of the well-dressed people asked.
“24 to 48 hours”, the C.O. lied.

We were on 72.

Day 2 - 9/21/11 Wednesday

I woke up to someone tapping on the window. One of the inmate workers was passing out breakfast. He opened the slot on the door and slid in two trays, one by one. The other guy was still sleeping.

I nudged him.

“Breakfast.”

He peeked out a bit from his blanket, giving me a brief glimpse of his face. He looked at the food, shook his head in disgust, and went back to sleep. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I held both trays, his and mine.

I could have put it on the floor, but that felt disrespectful.

Day 1 - 9/20/11 Tuesday

My roommate drove around trying to find a spot. 

“I’m not going to park five blocks away again”, he said. 

Fine, maybe he could find a spot closer. He didn’t. He pulled up in front of the courthouse. 

“I’ll just let you out here.” 

“Ok”, I replied. I got out and looked back at him.

“So, I guess call me when you need a ride back,” he said from the driver’s seat.

“Ok”, I replied.

I shut the door and he drove off. It took a few seconds for me to soak in what just happened. I thought he was saying, “I’ll let you out while I go park”, since we were already late, but no, it was, “I’ll let you out and see you in the future.” 

I was sad, but I realized I was glad none of my friends saw me taken away in handcuffs.