I could tell that my blood sugar levels were bad. I have
Type II Diabetes and was not allowed to bring any medication with me. I found
myself falling asleep standing in line only to be screamed at and threatened by
the guards to within an inch of my life. “ARE YOU STUPID?! STAND UP STRAIGHT! STOP
BEHIND THE LINE!” At one point my foot was touching the line and I was screamed
and threatened that if it happened again there would be dire consequences.
At one point, after I
don’t know how many hours had gone by, I began to wonder why I had not yet been
bailed out. The door opened and the guards came in to do an “inventory”,
confirming where everyone was against the list that was posted on the outside
of the door. I looked up and addressed the guard. “My friend is getting a bails
bond, when will I know that I have been bailed out?”
The guard got into my
face. “DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK? DID I??!”
“No.”
“I DON’T WANT YOU
LOOKING AT ME EITHER.” She pointed her finger at me. “Now you’re on my list.”
I watched her leave.
She turned around and scowled at me in a menacing way. “Why are you looking at
me? DON’T LOOK AT ME.”
I glanced at Lindsey.
She had a panicked look on her face. “Look down; put your head down. Look down
at the floor.”
Clarissa elbowed me.
“Look at the floor,” she hissed. We all waited until the guards left.
Lindsey glared at me.
“I told you! Don’t speak to the guard with the pink handcuffs!”
“I didn’t notice she
had pink handcuffs.”
“DON’T LOOK AT HER!
The last time I was here she put me in the hole (isolation room). You.do.not.want.to.go.there.”
I suddenly realized
that I hadn’t completed the booking process; my hell was just beginning. “How
long does this take?”
“Oh it can take
days,” they replied. “Just close your eyes, keep your head down when the guards
come by. Just pretend you’re asleep; that’s the best way to handle it when
they’re around.”
Another hour went by.
One of the young girls in the cell was really struggling. I thought she was
having a panic attack. She was shaking, she was on the floor, curled up against
the wall. I looked at Lindsey. “Is she having a panic attack?
“No, it’s the drugs.
She’s coming off of drugs. She’s having withdrawals.”
“Is she going to be
okay?”
“We can’t worry about
it; we can’t get involved; you’ll just get into trouble.”
After a while the girl
was shaking so bad, it looked like she was having convulsions. She began to
scream for help. The guards ignored her. She began banging on the door. Two
guards came in (the one with the pink handcuffs). Lindsey motioned to me to put
my head down and avoid eye contact with them.
The guard with the
pink handcuffs screamed at the girl. “SHUT UP OR THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES TO
PAY!
“But I’m sick; I need
to go to medical.”
“You look fine to me.
If you leave here you’ll go into the hole.”
“I need to go to medical,”
she insisted. She began to settle down a little bit but then 30 minutes later
she couldn’t take anymore. She began banging on the door again. The guards
returned and they were really angry. They threw the door open, grabbed her,
pushed her against the wall, handcuffed her and pulled her out like she was
garbage.
It was a nightmare. I
couldn’t believe that this was happening. The guards behaved like animals. I
had no idea that the law enforcement officers in our jails treated people with
such cruelty. She was only asking to see a doctor.
Clarissa encouraged
me to put my head down to try and get some sleep. “It’s going to be a long
while before we are processed and get upstairs. We’ll get a bed upstairs.”
I did manage to dose
off, sitting against the concrete in a corner. When I began to dose off, I
began having flashbacks to the beginning of my courtship with my husband. I had no
idea how much had passed when suddenly the door opened, the guards reappeared
and yelled at us to line up.
I stood up, hoping
that the nightmare was finally over. I looked at Lindsey and Clarissa. “Do you
think the bail bondsmen have come?”
“No, it’s going to be
a long time for that. They’ll come after we go upstairs.”
I wondered what’s
upstairs. We lined up. “So what are we doing now?”
“SSSH! DON’T SPEAK!
SHE’S HERE!”
The guard with the
pink handcuffs was there.
We were ordered to
put our hands behind our backs and to follow the line out the door. When they
say stop, we are to turn and face the wall and not look at anything except the
wall. We stood there for what seemed an eternity as they took away one person
at a time. I had no idea what they were doing. I turned to Lindsey. “What are
they doing?”
“Sssh! We’re getting
x-rayed.”
Why were we being x-rayed? I turned my head to look and I got
caught by the guard with the pink handcuffs.
She got close to me. She
spoke in a menacing voice.“What is your problem? Can’t you follow directions?
Did I tell you to turn your head? Did I tell you to speak?”
I didn’t know what to
do. If I answered her I would get in trouble so I just stared at the wall.
“This is your last
warning. If you do it again; that’s it!”
I faced the wall and
could hear her walking back and forth behind me. Finally she moved on to yell
at someone else. Every so often we would get orders to turn right, walk a few
steps and face the wall again. It took hours. I had no idea I was dozing off.
A guard startled me
by shouting. “Your head is not supposed to touch to the wall. Get it off the
wall!”
All of a sudden there
was a horrible, almost haunting scream in our room. Male and female guards came
running down the hall with Billy clubs and chains. I could only see
peripherally. I wondered what was going on; the scream was so terrifying. The
screaming got louder. I looked slightly to the side. I saw the guards carrying
a woman over their heads who was completely bound in a straight-jacket type of
clothing. She was struggling fiercely to get away.
I whispered. “Oh,
Lord, what’s happening?”
Clarissa whispered
back. “Don’t worry about it Rhonda, she just had ‘shit up her ass’.”
I was so tired it was
hard for me to think straight. I had no idea how many hours had gone by and I
had yet to use the stainless steel toilet in the middle of the floor. I
whispered to Lindsey, still clueless. “Were we supposed to have a bowel
movement before we get x-rayed? Doesn’t everybody have ‘shit up their ass’?”
“Sssh!” Clarissa
hissed. “You’re going to get us in trouble!”
Lindsey waited until
the guard were further away. “No, some people put their dope in a baggie and
shove it up their ass.”
We were finally x-rayed
and processed. Then we had to line up in another area where we were interviewed
and asked questions. I had to confirm my personal identity and verify or mug
shots that were taken earlier.
“When am I going to
get bailed out?”
The person behind the
desk was very kind. “Word of advice…this is just the beginning of a very long
haul. Just don’t worry about it; don’t talk and you’ll get through this.”
I finally resigned
myself to the fact that I was going to be there for a long time and that I
would have to listen to the advice of my new found friends. I was put in
another room and finally given a meal. They were cold in individual brown bags
in a larger plastic bag that people had to grab and dig for like rabid dogs.
Most of the food I couldn’t eat because of my diabetes. Since I didn’t have my
medication, I decided to just eat what little protein there was and save the
rest. Many of the other women were very, very hungry. They came up to me. “Are
you going to eat that? If not, can I have it?”
Clarissa looked at
me. “Word of advice…if you’re not going to eat your food, start hiding it
inside your pants.”
“Why would I do
that?”
“You can sell it
upstairs for your protection. It may come in handy.”
It sounded ominous.
TO BE CONTINUED...
