PRISONPENN.COM FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Today is Christmas, a day of celebration and happiness, but my day was nothing of the sort. Instead it was extremely depressing and violent. It started first thing this morning, when I was awakened to the screams of a man being beat half to death by the sticks of correctional officers. The screams were so loud and piercing that it snatched me out of my slumber and made the hairs on my arms and legs stand at full attention. This was at 6:30 in the morning so the block was dead quiet. The screams of the prisoner echoed throughout the entire block. They started off as piercing screams which became somber cries. As the beating continued, the somber cries turned into pathetic whimpers, and all I could do was lay on my bed and thank God that that was not me. The beating lasted for about three minutes, which is a long time when you are getting beat with night sticks. Every time the sticks struck its mark, the walls vibrated. You could hear the cracking and crunching sounds that the sticks made when landing on the prisoner’s skull, ribs, and face. It was so quiet in the block that the sounds of the beating were almost in high definition. The sounds were so disturbing it made me flinch with each crack and crunch. Merry Christmas indeed.

Though that was more than enough to ruin any Christmas spirit I might have had, that wasn’t it. It was just the beginning. I spent the rest of my day in my cell, writing and reading. I was trying my best not to let this bullshit stress me out. At night time I went to the chapel to watch a movie. The movieProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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are my escape from my reality. For the two some odd hours that I am down there, I am in another world, a world far away from prison. I can honestly say that going to the movies helps me deal with the torture of being in prison. It doesn’t even matter if the movie is trash or completely boring. So long as the movie is not about prison, I am good with it.

For the past few months I have been unable to “escape”, because of school. So when I found out that my gallery had the movies on Christmas Day, I was happy. It is stressful during this time of the year in prison, and with the craziness in the morning, I needed to go to the movie and unwind. Going to the movie was the highlight of my day, but the highlight was cut short. Two or three minutes after the lights were dimmed, someone was cut with a scalpel. The attacker crept behind his victim, who was oblivious as to what was about to happen. When he got within striking distance, the attacker put his victim in a headlock with one arm while cutting him continuously with the other hand. After about half of a minute of cutting, the attacker let go and tried to get away but was too late. The officers in the back had seen the movements and were on him. The victim was leaking like a faucet. There was blood everywhere. He was cut about 10 times across his face and head. These cuts were deep gashes. You could tell that the attacker dug into his face hard with the scalpel. You could see pieces of his bones and teeth. The shit was a gruesome sight. Once they escorted both of them out, the rest of us were taken out one by one to be frisked and checked for any wounds or signs of involvement of any sort. After that we were sent back to our cells… So long for my escape…I don’t think I will ever look at holidays the same after prison. There is nothing Merry about Christmas in this place.