Sent to Prison
That night I was driven to a prison. The prison had a courtyard with a skylight in the center. It was lined with eleven prison cells. On one end there was an area for storing prisoners’ food and on the other side a lavatory and water tap. It all was very clean and tidy, but smelly. When I first arrived at the prison I thought that I had arrived at a bathhouse. The smell was awful and had the damp unique odor peculiar to a bathhouse. It did not seem like a prison because of the bright sunshine.
Twice a day, at 9AM and 4 PM we are allowed outdoors to relieve ourselves and get fresh air in our cells. This was called by the guards, “Let in the fresh air.” Each room had two large metal pails, one is for green soup and the other is for boiling water. There was also a basket for steamed corn bread. After we were allowed out and had let the fresh air into our cells, we were given a meal.
Prisoners were barefoot and had to sit on the wide bed for 16 people. The wide bed was 1.8 meters wide and 4 meters in length and only 20 cm off the floor. The room was 4 meters by 2.5 meters, so there was little floor space. At night sixteen men slept on the bed opposite each other, head to feet. The other four men had to sleep on the floor. Two men had to share a padded blanket. During the day we all sat on the bed and could not move. We were supposed to think about our crimes. There were also two metal pails that were used as urinals.
When the guards came, the prisoners formed a tight line against the wall. When the lock was opened and the guard yelled, “let in the fresh air” the prisoners made a nervous rush out the door. We must hurry or receive a beating. We rushed out the door to the water tap in the yard. I would stay sandwiched between others. There was only one tap so the prisoners would wash their hands at random. The lavatory was near-by. It was neat and tidy, but smelly. Everyday there were two prisoners on duty to turn over the heap of manure. They also sandwiched themselves between people to clean the urine stool under the tap. Then we were allowed to use the lavatory. If there was a mean guard we had only 1 minute to defecate. If there was a good guard we had a little more time.
Then the order was given to “return.” Everyone immediately formed a line and went back to the cells. It was a very tense atmosphere. The person who marched at the head of the column always took the food that was laid out by the door. In these seconds he might steal a little extra food without anyone seeing him, but it had to be done quickly. One day when I got in the cell there was no food left for me. I asked for some and was given the corn bread, but no soup or boiled water.
There was a little window in the door for the squad leader to watch that the prisoners did not move. At the top of the wall was an open window allowing in bright sunlight. This was such an improvement over the damp basement with only a crack of light where I had been kept all alone. It was a great improvement to have cellmates, except that there were too many for the amount of room we had.
The first night by 8:30 everyone had fallen asleep. I was lying against the wall thinking of the woman I had loved years before. It was better that we had broken off the relationship rather than for her to know I was in prison. I was happy that the relationship had ended. A little bedbug crawled down the wall and I killed it with my finger. Then another came and another. In the 30 minutes before I fell asleep, I killed perhaps 80 bed bugs. Within two to three days my body was covered with lice. My waist was one bite beside the other. I itched day and night. I was constantly tired from dealing with the lice and bedbugs. It was impossible to sleep.