April 25 2018
April 25 2018
When I first came to prison the older convicts would talk about being institutionalized. They talked about it like it was a sickness I’d eventually catch. I didn’t believe them. I thought it was a myth.
The other day I get called up to property to sign a contraband notice for a magazine they won’t let in (apparently my Moviemaker magazine is a threat to security). On the way up to property there’s a gate that separates the housing units. When I get to the gate, I look around for a C.O. to unlock it and let me through. There’s no one in sight. So I wait. I know there’s a C.O. stationed on this part of the yard, and that he’ll be around sooner or later. Minutes tick by and still nothing. I tap my feet. I finger-drum my forearm. I stare at the sky. I check my watch, and it’s ten minutes until count-time. I curse the C.O.'s and their incompetence.
Just as I’m about to give up and walk back to the house, another inmate comes up. He nods his head in the typical “’sup” greeting. He slides past me. He pushes the gate open and walks through.
The gate was open the whole time.
The struggle is real.
When I first came to prison the older convicts would talk about being institutionalized. They talked about it like it was a sickness I’d eventually catch. I didn’t believe them. I thought it was a myth.
The other day I get called up to property to sign a contraband notice for a magazine they won’t let in (apparently my Moviemaker magazine is a threat to security). On the way up to property there’s a gate that separates the housing units. When I get to the gate, I look around for a C.O. to unlock it and let me through. There’s no one in sight. So I wait. I know there’s a C.O. stationed on this part of the yard, and that he’ll be around sooner or later. Minutes tick by and still nothing. I tap my feet. I finger-drum my forearm. I stare at the sky. I check my watch, and it’s ten minutes until count-time. I curse the C.O.'s and their incompetence.
Just as I’m about to give up and walk back to the house, another inmate comes up. He nods his head in the typical “’sup” greeting. He slides past me. He pushes the gate open and walks through.
The gate was open the whole time.
The struggle is real.
Comments
Post a Comment