by Marian Stack
Startled and hurt and definitely not familiar to this style of brutality, she found herself being hit again by the officer. “Are you a mute or are you just stupid…now the doctor told you to open your mouth… so open your effing mouth.” The officer exaggerated her message by pressing the round end of her baton between Turtles exposed breasts.
Shocked and frightened she shakily opened her mouth. The woman shone a flashlight into her mouth and told her to move her tongue to the right and then to her left. Turtle immediately acted upon these instructions. As the inspection continued, she was touched, poked and prodded like and animal. As the violations continued she did everything possible not to vomit as she feared that if she did only more violence would ensue, so she silently endured the physical humiliation of the inspection.
After every inch of her body was searched she watched in horror as her aggressors just left the room without voicing a single word. As trembling fear continued to rip through her body she remained completely exposed standing behind the yellow line.
“Ok number 99862… come with me.” The booming voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Unbeknownst to her, another officer had entered the room. “And put this on.” The instruction came seconds before a rolled up ball of clothing hit her body.
As she bent over to pick up the piece of cloth she noticed that it was similar to a hospital gown. Her memory immediately went to her friend Susan, however it was short lived as the new officer seemed to have less patience than the others. “Get a move on…when you are told to do something around here you will do it immediately, got it number 99862...this ain’t no country club you know!” Her words were quickly followed by an aggressive push on Turtle’s back that pushed her towards the other door that was at the end of the room.
Reeling from the fact she now would be called by a number and not her name, the name that she loved because her father loved it, now clumsily struggled to put on the gown as she was half walking and half running towards the door, fearful if she didn’t get the gown on fast enough, she would be walking to her next nightmare in the nude.
Finally she received a little reprieve from the constant processing, as she courageously stood under the forceful spray of the luke warm shower water. As she stood under the spray she forced her mind to reject the beautiful moment she and Blair enjoyed outside the cave the night of the torrential rain storm and forced her mind to remain in the present and to keep her mind clear of all other distractions. Her time for falling apart was over. She completely understood that she was now firmly locked into this dangerous game and she needed to be at the top of her game.
“No more crying and no more falling apart. Look at this as another dangerous adventure. Remember…you just survived one of the most dangerous river and rapid system in the world, you can survive this one…now keep your wits about you.” As she encouragingly spoke softly into the water that rolled over her face, she turned around so never to have her back to an open space again. Lesson one complete.
Suddenly the water shut off. She apprehensively turned around and only then noticed that the shower adaptor had a maximum of a five minute timer setting.
With her new found courage set in place she followed another officer to the third floor of the detention center and was escorted back into the Assistant Chief Warden’s office.
“That will be all.” Mrs. Coffee stated to the officer after Turtle had been seated and cuffed to the steal framed chair, which was bolted to the floor.
It was only when the Warden heard her door click close did she begin to speak.” Miss Turtle Dove…May I call you Turtle?”
The shockingly polite question almost broke down Turtle’s wall of strength…the very one she had just established. Remembering the very recent past and the violent results she quickly answered, “Yes, that will be nice, but…”
“Yes, I understand you have a number, it’s just our filing and security system. Everyone still uses names here though…well mostly. We’re not that barbaric.” And then she realized she actually noticed the woman cuffed to the chair…exhale! And in all her years of working in this branch of the legal system she knew this young lady to be innocent. Nevertheless she would keep her first impression to herself as many of these women survived merely on their wits in the outside world before they got tired or sloppy and get caught. However she did decide to offer Turtle the benefit of the doubt, while the legal system decided on motive and charges and allow her, her first phone call to be conducted in the privacy, in the office next door to her so it didn’t appear the newly appointed Warden was offering favours to the newest controversial inmate.
“Hello Margo… its Turtle.”
“Oh my God Turtle…I’ve been trying to find out what has been happening to you.” The volume of her voice rose in both anticipation and hidden fear. “Sweetie I only received the information moments before you were detained. But I was told that you would be held at the Rynthorp police station until I could gather more information regarding this matter, not send you to the detention centre, but for some reason the officer at the desk would not give me any information about your case at all only that you were transferred.”
And then it became very clear by her tone of voice that the Chief’s exasperation had entered the party, “what the hell is going on, and are you ok? Oh my God Turtle… have you been processed?” Her voice weakened at the thought of her friend going through such a degrading ordeal.
With her new found strength she responded, “I guess the answer to all your concerns is yes. But…” she quickly wanted to calm her friend. “I’m fine…for now.” She purposely deicide to keep all the fear and abuse to herself for now, as she believed her friend was doing everything possible with getting her out of this mess and adding the physical abuse into this conversation would only make her more upset.
“Turtle…there’s a bad smell to all of this.” Margo had slightly calmed her nerves now that she knew where her dear friend was being held.
“Yes… you are right, even the newly appointed Assistant Warden believes something is up, but she is very new in her position. We had our first meeting just minutes ago and she will be contacting you…soon.” Then suddenly she heard a knuckle knock on the glass window on the door of the room she was in. “Chief I got to run…more fun to be had. Is Susan Ok? Please do not tell her about this until we can get more information.” Her voice sounded strong and convincing.”
Reluctantly the Chief agreed. They will have too many questions that would only worry her friends. “Ok, but I will get in touch with your lady friend Miss Foster and…”
“NO!!” Turtle unwillingly screamed through the receiver as the aggressive knocking sound on the window demonstrated to instantaneously end this call. “Please don’t contact her. I will explain later.”
Only seconds before the line went dead, Chief English reluctantly agreed.
General Population
As she placed the receiver back onto its cradle she first heard and then noticed the two officers who first introduced her to her new way of life, enter the room.
“It’s time for you to meet your new neighbours.” The approaching female officers joyfully announced as she approached Turtle who had quickly stood at attention with her hands behind her back assuming the position.
Both officers smirked as they understood jail procedure clearly better than their new toy. “You don’t need to keep your hands behind your back. You’re now part of our happy family.” Then she tossed Turtle a rolled up jumpsuit. “Put this on, it will be the only item of clothing you’ll need in here, because you won’t last long enough to get outside clothing sent to you.” She laughed as she turned to look towards the unemotional looking officer that remained in front of the door, clearly using her body as a barricade.
Turtle immediately noticed the orange colour of the jumpsuit and took in a huge breath of stale air. The jumpsuit instantly confirmed to her that the woman Grace was once housed in this very detention centre.
As her mind faded off s
he suddenly heard, “Come on… no day dreaming… get that jumpsuit on so we can get you to your living quarters.”
Again looking towards her stationary fellow officer hoping that she would for once engage in this light banter, but as per normal the only look she received back was a look of annoyance. “Hurry up…we haven’t got all day.” She aggressively declared, being somewhat annoyed she couldn’t get a reaction from her bland co-worker.
Turtle followed in the shadow of the two officers as they escorted her through the many different corridors, stairwells and walkways, that eventually took them down a very long underground tunnel that led to a building that Turtle would soon learn was the general housing unit for many of the so-called non-violent offenders. As they waited in front of a glass door that was encased with steel mesh Turtle observed that the large area on the other side of the door was void of human activity. During this time both accompanying officers purposely remained quiet leaving Turtle’s imagination to run wild with believed trepidation.
But what the officers didn’t realize was that she was actually looking forward to being taken to her cell so she could rest and regroup.
Pressing the button for the intercom the talkative officer waited for a response. “What is taking so long?” She questioned aloud as she looked towards her fellow officer, knowing full well that her co-worker would not react to a non-descript question of impatient, but chose to involve her in the want anyways. And then much to everyone’s relief they listened as the doors’ disengaging system released its grip allowing the door to open.
“Finally” the officer stated. “I’ve not had my break yet and this processing has taken way too long.” She grumbled as she aggressively pushed Turtle through the open door.
As they marched up two more flights of open iron stairs, Turtle could feel many sets of eyes eyeballing her from the shadows.
As they approached, and then stood outside the cell entrance of her designated cell the silent officer spoke into her shoulder intercom system. “Open cell number AA-007.”
Within seconds the doors locking system released its grip.
“Inmate… number 55567 stay where you are. Remove whatever you have in your hands and place your hands on top of the table top, with fingers spread.” The familiar message left little room for misunderstanding.
Although the situation was filled with anxiety, Turtle could not help but wonder that if her identification number began with the number nine, then this poor woman has been in this detention centre for a very long time.
“You, number 99862, this is now your new home. Top bunk is yours. Now turn off the lights. Curfew has begun.” And then without any further conversation, the officers left the cell after they confirmed their delivery process had been completed, “Close cell number AA-007” and with computerized precision the door automatically closed and locked.
As she stood in the indoor darkness of the small cell, just beyond the threshold of the locked door, she noticed slight shadowy movement of her new cell mate, as she pulled back the covers on her bunk bed and entered the sleeping sheets without uttering a word.
Waiting for her eyes to adjust to the room she remained statue still until she could somewhat see where the best possible placement of her foot would go to give her the lift to boost her body onto the top bunk. Being very agile and athletic the hoist up onto the top bunk was an easy accomplishment.
The unobtrusive quiet and easy climb to the top bunk was not lost on her new roommate.
She was very surprised that the next thing she remembered was the strange muffling of loud and soft sounds from the very active activity that seemed to be going on all around her. As she looked below her new home she noticed that her roommate was already out of bed and dressed, sitting at the only small writing desk in the room. Turtle took this time to remain quiet and look around the cell she was now sharing. Her knowledge of detention or prison life was at the very low end of her vast knowledge of survival skills.
The first and most surprising thing she noticed was that the door to their cell was wide open and that the noise was coming from what she could only assume was the large space they walked through the night before, as she thought it might be a gathering place of sorts.
As she looked around the cell she noticed that she was to share with this stranger very few items which included the small desk with one chair, a toilet and a small sink with a small medicine cabinet that was clearly bolted to the wall. Four hooks on the wall and a small plastic mirror, that offered a much distorted reflection, and a four drawer chest of drawers that was also noticeably bolted to the wall.
Sadly what she also noticed that was void in the room was a window that could be opened to allow her one of most enjoyable treasures from Mother Nature, fresh air.
“You missed breakfast. You will have to get up earlier than this.” The message came from the woman sitting at the desk, however Turtle could only assume this, as she did not turn around to announce her message.
“That’s too bad, but I’m sure this will be the only time. Rising early is normally my way, but yesterday was a little bit more adventurous than I’m used to. Hopefully I won’t miss lunch.”
As she slipped off the top bunk she ran her fingers through her hair and then took the five steps required to reach the sink to wash her face, and then as she had done so many times in the past, when a tooth brush was not available she used her index finger and would attempt to brush her teeth.
“Cabinet …toothpaste.”
Turtle was surprised and thankful for the gift, and kind gesture. “Thank-you, this relocation was quite a surprise…I have arrived with very little. Only the cloths on my back and even those were taken. I’m hoping this day will begin better.” She stated as she took only enough toothpaste to refresh her teeth and morning breath.
Her roommate during their light conversation either cared very little about her well-being or just in general cared very little. As she went back to whatever she was writing and remained silent.
After running her fingers through her sink-wet hair, and adjusting the one piece jumpsuit that was her only item of clothing to offer a less straggle look, she decided to venture outside the cell and investigate her new surroundings. She wanted to become more familiar with her surroundings, allowing her to remain calm and peaceful even in this situation. In her heart she believed that this was a temporary situation but was willing to accept the darker side of her circumstance.
Walking out onto the walkway that surrounded the second floor, of the three story cell block, she looked around and saw many women walking about and many more either sitting or just standing on the walkway, using the balcony as she was to view the very active assembly below.
Turtle’s first impression was how crowded the area seemed. She would have never predicted that this building could hold so many women. There seemed to be at least fifty or more just within her viewing alone.
As she stood alone in her thoughts, she suddenly noticed that her roommate came to stand beside her at the railing but oddly stood at least six feet to her right. She had set in her mind the night before that she would remain an active spectator first before she would decide to become a willing participant, as she didn’t want to make any enemies or mistakes that she might learn to regret after her very fast introduction to the detention system, thanks in part to her law enforcement educators.
What Turtle didn’t realize was as she was standing watching everyone below conducting their normal day’s activity she was being watched by a few small groups of women. What she also did not notice was that some of those women who were talking about her started walking and looking up towards where she was standing, and then some of those women started climbing the stairs just off to her left. Then as she continued her out-of-focus thinking she was suddenly aware that her roommate was standing almost uncomfortably close beside her but this time on her left and so close in fact that she was, barely inches away. And then as if providence alerted her awareness she wised up and noticed
that four women walked slowly and intentionally directly behind the two of them, from the left. Her roommate didn’t say a word, however she also didn’t remove her glare from the women as they passed by, but instead turned towards them, keeping her focus on them the entire stroll by, using only the left to right swivel movement of her head.
As the women passed and the area became less active, “I wish she would stop doing this shit to me.” She gruffly announced and then returned back through the open door and sat back down at the desk.
Turtle suddenly felt very vulnerable as she stood alone by the railing, not to mention she now stood just inches away from a several meter drop, which would abruptly end onto a cement floor, decided to make a fast re-entry back into the cell, with the message ringing loud and clear in her head.
She mentally proclaimed, Lesson two complete…always be aware of your surroundings.
However just as she was about to re-enter the room she heard an announcement over the intercom system, “number 99862 you have a visitor. Stay where you are and an officer will come to you.” She immediately recognized this number to be hers as the humiliation the first time she was informed she had a number was now burned in her memory. So she did as she was told and stopped moving just inside the threshold and waited.
As the officer approached Turtle, she immediately noticed that her hand had a tight grip on her protective/defensive baton, which remained in its sleeve.
“Number 99862 you have an allowed visitor, follow me now and make sure that you have nothing in your hands, and walk ahead of me with your arms and hands at your sides at all time so I can see them and I will direct you to the visitors room. Start walking now.”
Turtle chose to remain silent and just listen to the instructions given.
As she walked to the visitors meeting room she kept her eyes staring straight ahead and her ears open so not to miss any of the important directions. She also silently mumbled a running sentence to repeat itself in her mind, “Please let the visitor be Chief English…Please let the visitor be Chief English.”
