Prompt #29 I don't need you; I can take care of myself.

I Can Do Bad All by Myself

Daniel Walker waited in his office for Officer Johnson and Officers Carter to bring Dennis Nedry. He massaged his temples when he thought about how he had to address the most recent incident.

He was becoming increasingly frustrated that none of his rehabilitative efforts were effective. Nedry had quit his work assignment of washing dishes in the chow hall. It left him idle and gave him room to get into more trouble. Walker thought of enrolling Nedry into an education program, but he had refused that too. He tried increasing Nedry's therapy sessions with the prison psychologist, but that ended abruptly when Nedry tried to steal Dr. Morton's notes.

While he waited for their arrival, he opened a folder thick with paperwork that had Nedry's full name and department identification number written on the front. Walker began scanning the numerous incident reports and then stopped at the most recent record that mentioned Nedry's last fight with another inmate. Initially, he had been placed into solitary confinement for one month, but because of the attitude he showed before he even made it to his cell, the time had been increased to three months.

Nedry had been laughing when Officer Johnson had escorted him to the segregation unit. When he left the unit, he was somber and quiet. Three months of isolation had taken its toll on Nedry—or so everyone thought. After three months of solitary confinement, Nedry had a two month stretch where he exemplified what it meant to be a model inmate. He showed good behavior and received no disciplinary infractions. No talking back to the correction officers and no fighting with the inmates. He kept his head down and served his time.

He was doing so well that Walker thought it would be good for Nedry to engage in a positive activity that would benefit the community. Nedry had agreed to participate. Walker even thought he would be excited to go outside. However, Nedry had returned an hour ago—after Officer Johnson reported that he tried to escape. What stopped him was Officer Johnson firing a warning shot.

"What was I thinking?" Walker muttered.

He had always taken the time to know each inmate's case in his facility. Nedry was a high-profile case since he had worked for a major genetic technology company. As noted by the judge of his trial, his poor conduct during the proceedings and his lack of remorse earned him a lengthy sentence, although he was a first-time offender. The crimes he had been convicted of indicated he was a white-collar criminal. His crimes were nonviolent, but ever since he had started serving his prison time, Nedry had become increasingly aggressive. It wasn't just a matter of defending himself from bullying inmates. If he couldn't use verbal insults to settle a situation, then he used his fists. Even so, Walker remembered that one of Nedry's charges including reckless endangerment of human life… He closed the folder just as the door to his office opened.

Officer Johnson and Officer Carter dragged Nedry into Walker's office. Nedry kept trying to pull away from them. Because he had tried to escape, Officer Johnson made sure to bring him in wearing full restraints with Officer Carter accompanying them to form a two-person escort. Both correction officers forced Nedry to sit in the chair situated in front of Walker's desk.

"Sit there and don't move," Officer Johnson demanded. He turned to Walker. "Do you want us to stay here while you speak with him?"

"Yes." Walker nodded. "It won't take long."

He watched Nedry fidget and twist in the chair. Nedry gritted his teeth and tried pulling his arms apart. Walker had seen this behavior before: Nedry was trying to break the chain between the cuffs. It would only tighten the restraints. Walker thought it was the perfect metaphor to describe Nedry's time in prison: the more he tried to fight against the system, the more it tightened its grip on him. He wasn't doing himself any favors, and Walker was going to mention that, but decided not to. One thing stood out to him: Nedry's jumpsuit fit loose on him. Nedry was losing weight. He was healthier than before, but it also made him more combative. Brushing that last thought aside, Walker decided to start at the beginning, as he took out a form from his desk that read INCIDENT REPORT at the top. He clicked his pen, poising it over the paper.

"Tell me what happened, Mr. Nedry."

Nedry shrugged, indifferent.

"Tell him!" Officer Johnson demanded. He gestured at Walker, who waited patiently.

"Tell him what?" Nedry twisted in the chair. "You tell him, you're the one that forced me to come here, Officer Dumbass!"

Officer Johnson sent Walker an exasperated look. "He tried to escape as I told you earlier. I had to fire a warning shot to stop him in his tracks."

Walker nodded as he jotted everything down. He decided to give Nedry another chance to explain himself. "Is that what happened?"

"Who cares what happened?! You didn't tell me I was gonna be on some old-fashioned embarrassing chain gang!" Nedry glared hatefully at Walker. "I have nothing to say to you. Just send me to my cell or throw me in solitary."

Walker sat back in his chair. Nedry was right: Walker hadn't told him that the activity he had been encouraged to participate in was a chain gang. He was sent on a work crew, where the inmates were chained at the ankles. During their outside work assignment, the restrained inmates followed whatever directions corrections staff gave them: clean a section of the highway, help with farming, assist with building roads, and so on. Walker thought the idea of being outside of the prison would motivate Nedry to continue his good behavior streak, but he had broken it today when he tried to escape. Walker decided to go in that direction now.

"Prior to the incident today, you showed exemplary behavior. Tell me why you tried to escape."

"I didn't try to escape—I took three steps away from the group."

Walker was aware that Nedry was minimizing what he had done. By now, Nedry should know his actions would be interpreted as him making an escape attempt—especially after a correction officer ordered him to stop.

"That's not all you did," Officer Johnson interrupted as he came to stand next to Walker's desk. "I told you to stop, and you took another step. I fired a warning shot."

"That stopped you from going further," Officer Carter said. He stood in the doorway watching the exchange.

Nedry turned around in the chair and glared at Officer Carter. "Mind your business!"

Officer Carter shook his head. He was used to Nedry's "mind your business" mantra. Everyone in the prison had heard it enough times to know it meant nothing.

Walker put down his pen as he had finished writing his notes based on what they had shared with him. "You need to make changes in your character if you eventually want to be released, so that you're successful when you re-enter society."

" If I want to be released?" Nedry gave a half-smile. "It's not a matter of 'if'—it's when! When I'm released, I'll be free of your dirty prison, your stupid guards, and best of all, I'll be free of you!"

"That's not happening anytime soon, so in the meantime, it's important that you work on your character."

"My character doesn't need work, and you need new material. You're like a broken record, always repeating yourself." Nedry started to rise from the chair, so that he could leave the warden's office when Officer Carter came behind him and forced him to sit down again. "Get off me!" He made an exaggerated motion as though trying to throw Officer Carter off him.

Walker remained steadfast. "I've helped many in your situation, Mr. Nedry."

"I don't need your bullshit help! I don't need you—I can take care of myself. Thank you very much!"

Walker regarded him with concern the way he always did. Nedry thought Walker was pitying him, which he hated. He stared at the floor, at the wall—anywhere but Walker's direction. Walker pushed ahead with his questioning.

"How's that working out for you?"

"Just fine."

"Really?

Nedry gave an exaggerated sigh. "Yes, really."

"But you're here, in this prison."

"I'm here in your shithole."

"Watch your mouth!" Officer Johnson barked, pointing at him.

Walker held up his hand to signify for Officer Johnson to not speak further. Nedry would already receive multiple disciplinary infractions for his attempted escape and disrespectful behavior towards staff. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Officer Johnson shaking his head, disagreeing with how he chose to handle Nedry.

"In this shithole," Nedry repeated, locking eyes with Officer Johnson, while speaking to Walker. "Because two of my coworkers are nosy-ass butt-kissers to a selfish senile billionaire who couldn't pay me my worth, and who tried to ruin my career."

"John Hammond? Walker asked. He appeared interested as he leaned forward. "What did he do?"

Nedry eyebrows rose. It was obvious that he was surprised that Walker had asked him about what occurred between him and Hammond. Nedry was quiet as he tilted his head in thought, as though debating in his mind if he should be open with Walker. Then he swallowed nervously and tried to press forward.

"He sent letters to my clients saying that I couldn't be trusted. He tried to sue me. He blackmailed me, and this was after he refused to tell me more details about what he needed…" His voice trailed off. Why was he letting his guard down to Walker? Walker was the prison warden—he wasn't Nedry's friend. He straightened his posture in the chair. "I'm not doing this. You wanna know why I did what I did? Read my court records. It's all in there."

Walker was careful with what he said next. It wouldn't be the words Nedry wanted to hear—but more so what he needed to hear. "You're serving time for bad choices you made. Bad choices you made because of someone else, yes—but they're still your choices."

Nedry smirked in Walker's direction. "My choice to steal lizard embryos for a million dollars was worth it—and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!"

"Was it worth it since you ended up here?" Walker sounded empathetic—but then he pulled the rug out from under Nedry (at least, that's how Nedry saw it.) "I get why you're angry with John Hammond, I would be angry too. But you still made your own choices, no one else made them for you. What you did today, trying to escape—again, your choice."

"Whoopy-doo for stating the obvious!"

"If you want different results, then you have to do things differently."

Nedry twisted in his chair and appealed to Officer Carter who stood in the doorway. "Can I leave now? I don't want to hear his stupid lectures." He turned back to face Walker. "And don't bother sending me to Dr. Morton either. He's a psycho who wrote down that I have a personality disorder."

Walker set aside Nedry's folder and the incident report he had written. He was at a loss of what else to say, except for the one fact that Nedry refused to accept: "Your time would go by faster if you stopped fighting against the structure of prison life. Do you realize that?"

"I don't want to be your pet project either. Find someone else to fix."

Walker decided he had done as much as he could for today. He motioned for Officer Johnson and Officer Carter to take Nedry out of his office. It wasn't surprising that Nedry would return to solitary confinement. "Place him in AdSeg."

Surprisingly, Nedry was silent when Officer Johnson and Officer Carter escorted him out of Walker's office. They had left the door open, and Walker got up and shut it. He went back to his desk and picked up the most recent incident report he had written about Nedry's attempted escape while on the chain gang. After rereading it, Walker placed the form in Nedry's folder, and wondered how many more incident reports would be written about Nedry's behavior before he changed…