Probation – Part 03

By Johnny Utah

Ryan and I were on our fourth day inside. It didn’t take long to settle into our kitchen duty routine. Get up, go to work, go to sleep. We didn’t have a lot of contact with the other inmate volunteers.

At that morning’s headcount things changed. After the guards counted us all present, one guard strutted down to me and Ryan.  “Both of you are going up to the Sergeant’s Disciplinary Office. Get up against the wall,” he ordered. We were frisked right there in the pod, the other inmates looking on. We had a leather belt with a metal loop tied around our waists. Handcuffs went through the loop.

“Click,” the handcuffs went on. “Down on yer knees!” Leg shackles with a connector chain to our handcuffs. We shuffled out the pod door to the Sergean’’s office across the hallway. We were just outside the closed door to the office when the guard said in a whisper, “Just go along and deny everything, you’ll like it.”

The guard gave one loud knock on the door and bellowed, “Two inmates for a disciplinary hearing!”

Continue reading Probation – Part 03

Probation – Part 02

By Johnny Utah

We parked in front of the Probation Office. My stomach churned. I double checked that the car was locked. We walked over and rang the bell. Trooper Shaw was in the office, he was not in uniform. He strutted up to the door and unlocked it. “I wasn’t sure if you two had the balls to show,” he said. “OK, get in here.”

“Did you both take a piss before you got here?”

“Yes Sir,” we said at the same time.

“OK, just remember it’s a long trip, if you even think you have to go, do it before you leave here. Come on into the back office.”

We went into the back office.

“Empty your pockets. I’m gonna put all your stuff in these two envelopes. All I had was my car keys and driver’s license. Make sure the inventory is right then sign on the bottom line. Belts off too. The transport guard will frisk you before they put you in the back.”

“Time to get you chained up.”

I had butterflies in my stomach.

“You first,” he said to Ryan. He had Ryan put his right-hand palm down and then his left hand palm facing up over his stomach, then put on the handcuffs. Then Trooper Shaw took out a plastic box and put it over the cuffs making them a solid unit. The chain went around Ryan’s waist and then connected the box to the waist chain and the to the leg shackles.

I got exactly the same treatment.

Continue reading Probation – Part 02

Probation – Part 01

By Johnny Utah

I’ve been through that intersection about a million times. Out on Maddox Road there are two stop signs about 30 feet from each other. If you’re going straight ahead, no one stops for the second one. No one. I should have stopped. I didn’t see the Maryland State Police SUV until he hit his lights. He was right on top of me in a second, right on my ass. I managed to pull over to the side of the road on a wide strip of gravel next to a drainage ditch. Early on a Sunday morning, no other traffic around so I’m not worried about anybody I know seeing me. I looked at my rear-view mirror and then my wing mirror and out struts a uniformed stud.

The first thing that hit me was just the mass of him, the space he took up. His chest was big, and his shoulders sloped up to his neck. He had a tight-fitting shirt with an obvious bullet resistant vest underneath. A walking column of muscle. He had a red, white, and black State of Maryland flag patch at his left shoulder. His biceps bulged out of the tight short sleeves, halfway down each short sleeve were three gold stripes of a sergeant.

Continue reading Probation – Part 01

Twenty-First Century Slavery – Part 04

By convict 975468

One day Ted and Blake were ordered to a large area in the center of the new camp.  They saw other prisoners naked and washing while guards sprayed them with water from hoses.

They were told to strip and throw their clothes in the trash barrels provided.  Again their hair and beard were cut, as they had regularly been.  Soon their turn came they were sprayed with cold water and given soap to wash.  After that they were sprayed with an insecticide and washed again.  It was humiliating being naked in a group being sprayed with water.  The water was very cold – but in the end they were glad to be clean at last.

After they finished washing, they were then led naked over to the paved area, where there were trucks parked and tents erected.  The trucks were backed up to the tents and prisoners were being issued new uniforms.

Continue reading Twenty-First Century Slavery – Part 04