"What?"
"I need to go to the bathroom."
After about a minute, the door swung open and I hurried down the hallway. Afterwards I walked back into my "bedroom" and waited on my bed, with thoughts of freedom on my mind, for the clang of the keys and the daily morning directions.
"Get up, get up, sweep and mop your rooms and brush your teeth. Make your beds. Get up, get up……"
Throwing my towel around my neck, I went to the foul toothbrushes and walked into the bathroom. Four sinks, bolted to the wall, provide about seven toothbrushes and water for our pearly whites. Once I finished, I wiped my mouth and threw it into the bin for the dirty laundry and grabbed a broom and trudged back into my room, with envious thoughts of freedom sliding down, inside my skull.
Once I swept the entire room, I waited for the same rattle of keys that always gets my stomach growling. Time for breakfast.
When the unfriendly staff unlocks the door, the beauty of temporary freedom puts a smile on my face. We walk in single file, with boys on one side and girls on the other. After they’ve checked us up, we put our hands behind a backs and walk towards the dining hall to eat breakfast, which consists of muesli and lukewarm water.
Breakfast ends and we head to the playground for free play. Free play is the time where the prisoners are allowed to do whatever they like and play whichever sport pleases them. As a prisoner, all I can do is enjoy it to the best I can. The fresh air is soothing yet disturbing at the same time. As usual, I just sit by myself and reminisce on old times and past events. However, when my imagination takes me back in time, my reality doesn’t change. The harsh reality of being in prison.
Lunchtime.
We come to the Lunch Quarters and wait for our lunch to arrive. We change out of our trainers and back into our sandals and as a privilege, we are giving deodorant to pump on ourselves. After playing and sweating, everyone’s hormones are high and skin is glistening.
Lunch is here. Today’s menu consists of a hard cheese sandwich and a desert of crackers, with butter as hard as a rock. We usually go through four jugs of lukewarm water. Everybody here thinks that the lunch meal is by far the best meal of the day, but compared to the food in the outside world, it’s just plain repulsive.
After lunch, we go to daily lessons. The lessons are never constant. They’re always changing, but most of my life is going to go down the drain here, so I don’t really bother listening to the so-called teachers much.
After school is done, we go back to our rooms and just soak in the solitude. That’s all us prisoners can do. Most people think about their dreams and ambitions when they are in solitude. My life has become so feeble, I can’t even do that. When you’re a prisoner, all your dreams and wishes fly out the window as soon as you step into the 4-by-4 cell.
We come out for dinner and then go back into our cells. I know the details are very limited but after all the working, sweating and mopping, the rest is just a blur of dullness that just comes and goes.
Since I have been here, my capability to deal with certain situations has increased. I choose to block out all voices, and I am almost always dissociated. This faculty is a break from the world. A place where I don’t have to worry about when I’m going to wake up, what I’m going to eat, where I’m going to sleep…..etc. Everything is planned out for me. It’s actually like a hotel for me with room and board. When people receive a sentence, they associate it as being the worst time of their life. Nevertheless, this prison has given me a lot of time to think about my life, my mistakes and what I need to do in life to be a better person. Afterall, you only have one life and no second chances.
A day in the life of a prisoner isn’t always dreary but being connected to the outside world only by the 4 o’ clock news is quite dismal.
Although being locked up here isn’t the best thing in the world, its not all that bad. Prisoners get all the attention they need, even if they don’t want it.
I have grown quite attached to this institution. When I had my freedom, I was unsure about a lot of things, like if I’ll be able to get food and a bed. Here I get both. If you take advantage of prison, believe me, you will go far.
Well, that’s enough of me talking. What you have just read is the utmost and bitter truth.
