Living a Nightmare and The Guard with the Pink Handcuffs

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...