I'm back with a new prison drama story. It's definitely inspired by the HBO show Oz.
Prisoner # 21F444, Huey Freeman. Convicted June 6th, 2021 – Arson in the first degree. Sentence: 26 years, up for parole in five.
The hallway was dimly lit with a small flickering light bulb. The walls were a dark grayish color, along with the floor and the ceiling. Huey Freeman was making his way, slowly, along this hallway, one in a group of men shackled together. When they finally reached the end, they were in a medium sized room with three rows of wooden benches in the middle. They were unchained and told to sit down. Huey did as he was told, familiar as he was with following orders. There was some scattered protest from a few of the more unruly looking characters, but in a short time everyone quieted down.
"Right, gentlemen. Welcome to the Pontiac State Correctional Facility," shouted a rather tall and skinny prison officer to the group of incoming prisoners, "You all know why you're here, and if you follow a few simple rules we'll try to make you're trip out of here as quick and painless as possible"
A few of the prisoners sneered at the prison guard and made obscene gestures, but Huey just sat there quietly and expressionless.
"The privileges you will all have are as followed: inmates are allowed to smoke in their cells at specified times. Relatives are allowed to visit once a month on any day except Saturday afternoons, Sundays, and holidays. Twice a month, inmates are allowed to write letters: once to a friend and once to a parent. A married prisoner is permitted to write every week. Inmates can also buy tobacco, candy and toiletries weekly and can receive newspapers and magazines from the publisher"
Many of the prisoners got excited when the guard mentioned the smoking privilege, but not Huey.
"Now, for the rules: there is to be absolutely no fighting under any circumstance. Also, the sale and possession of any kind of illegal narcotics is strictly forbidden. Furthermore, each inmate is required to work for at least two hours a day at a job inside the prison, such as in the kitchen. This is known as work detail. Any violation of these rules will result in privileges being taken away for 10 to 30 days for minor infringements and inmates being put into certain confinement cells with nothing but a slice of bread to eat every morning for 3 to 8 days, for worse violations"
More obscene gestures.
"All right, now all of you follow the officer standing at the end of your bench to your prison block"
Huey stood up and once again did as he was told. He followed the officer out of the orientation center and into Block B of the Maximum Security Complex. The route there appeared to be an uninteresting trek through a few gray hallways, but Huey had never been tenser in his life. However, he maintained the same expressionless visage.
When Huey and the rest of the group arrived at Unit B, the officer gave all of them there cell assignments; Huey was given cell #5. After all the prisoners had been assigned their cell, they departed for them.
However, when Huey arrived at his cell, he found it already occupied. There was a very tall and muscular black man lying down on the top portion of the bunk bed.
"Looks like I got a new playmate" the man said, without even looking up. "I hope you last longer than the old one"
Prisoner # 14W186, Leon Washington. Convicted January 12th, 2014 – Two counts of murder in the first degree. Sentence: Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Huey knew he was most likely going to have a dangerous cellmate, but he was still a little worried, nonetheless.
"Look, my brother, I don't want any trouble" said Huey, "If we both just keep to ourselves, I'm sure we won't have any problems"
This statement earned Leon's attention. He sat up and dropped down to the ground. Then he took Huey by the collar, pulled out a toothbrush with the end sharpened down, and stuck it so close to Huey's stomach that it was just short of piercing the skin.
"Are you telling me what to do, you cock-sucker?" Huey was speechless. All the mental preparations he had gone through to get ready for prison had now broken down.
"Now, from that alarmed expression on your face, I believe I'd be correct in guessing that no one's got their arm around you. In other words, no one that could pose a possible threat to me would care if anything should happen to you, correct?"
Huey knew he wasn't in a gang so he just remained silent.
"I thought so" said Leon, with a smirk on his face. "Bitchin'"
Later:
An hour or so later, Huey was standing in the lunch line, thinking on all that had transpired.
"What am I going to do?" he thought, "Tonight I am definitely going to be raped if I don't do something and fast. If I go to the officers, I'm sure Leon will figure out somehow and kill me"
Then Huey's mind wandered to something Leon himself had said.
"It's true that no one has their arm around me right now, but if I make friends in here I will have some protection"
Huey looked around for possible candidates.
"My best bet is most likely with the other African-Americans. However, most of them are probably allied with Leon and would tell him of my plan"
While Huey was thinking all this over, a white man with a shaved head and a swastika tattoo on his arm stabbed the black man in front of him after an argument filled with racial remarks. Immediately a fight broke out between the white, nazi looking men and the black, gangster looking men in line.
Huey was sucked into this confusion of fists beating and shanks cutting and by the time the officers broke it up, he was on the ground, unconscious, with blood pooling around his head.
More will be revealed in the following chapters. Comment if you feel like it.
