Doing Time

  Silence fell in the court room as the chairperson of the jury read their verdict to the court room.
I froze as I heard the verdict been read, it turned out that the verdict was gutlty. I was placed in
cuffs, then I was lead to a holding cell until morning. At 10am the next morning the police placed
me into the back of the van and drove me to prison. As the police and I approached the prison
gates and they helped me out of the back of the van I swallowed hard not knowing what to 
expect when they took me inside the prison walls.
  On arrival at the prison I met the warden, he presented me with a bible and a blank notebook
which I used as a journal.  As we entered the building I noticed that most of the prison inmates
were looking at me as I was led down the hall to an empty cell.  The cell was small and clean,
there was a toilet and a basin next toeach other in the corner of the cell, there was also a flat
single bed in the middle with a clean set of sheets on it.  I unfolded the sheets and made up the
bed slowly, then I sat on the bed, pulled out my journal and began to write.

Dear Journal,
  Today was just one of those days, first off my car wouldn't start and I was late to my court 
hearing and now I am in prison, framed for a crime that I did not comitt. 

 After lights out I just laied there listening to the prison guard patrolling the cell block, looking for
trouble makers.  I woke up slowly the next morning hoping that this was all just a dream, but it 
was as real as ever.  When my cell was unlocked I walked to the mess hall to join everyone for 
breakfast, while eating breakfast I got talking to one of the inmates who was on the same cell 
block as I was, we talked about how we felt being in prison, our families, and what we enjoy 
doing in our spare time.
  After breakfast we all got to work, there were many jobs to do from washing the dishes, cleaning,
cooking, the laundary etc.  I was told to go help the other inmatesin the laundary, as I entered the
laundary I noticed that there was a big washing machine full of dirty laundary and a big dryer to dry
the laundary.
  I was placed in the line of workers, there were 5 workers who operate the laundary, one to load the
washing machine, one to load the dryer and one to iron the sheets and pillow cases.  I had to put
them all away, it was a really big job because there were so many of them and they were so heavy.  
Once all the laundary was washed, ironed, folded and put away one of the other inmates come in to
wash the floor.  We spent the rest of the day in the inclosed courtyard doing what we all like best, 
having quiet time in the sunshine.  During quiet time most of the women enjoy writing in their journals, 
writing letters to friends and family and reading books.  I sat down on a bench under a shady tree 
and opened my journal and began to write.

12/01/01

Dear Journal,
  I have been in prison for a month now, if you ask me I should not be in here at all. I took my kids to
 a convenience store one day to get some munchies. I shouldn't have let them come with me but they 
wanted to. The next thing I knew a crime was commited, the crime was murder! the shop assistant was
stabbed 10 times in the back, I rushed over to help the shop assistant, I called an ambulance and the
police, attacker fled the scene before the police arrived and left me holding the weapon. My kids saw
me being arrested and framed for the shop attendents murde they were so upsetr, that is how I ended
up in here.

A few minutes after I finished writing in my journal I heard my friend screaming from the other side of 
the enclosed yeard so I rushed over to help her.  When I got there I saw my friend who was being beaten 
up by another women, I couldn't stand to see her getting hurt like that so I stepped in.  I pushed my way 
through the crowd to try and stop my friend Jan from getting hurt, I pushed Kim back hard against the
 fence and lashed out at her, I punched, pinched and kicked her as hard as I could, I knew that I wouldn't 
get into trouble for kicking Kim because there was witnesses that saw her punching and hurting Jan.
  The guards know how nasty Kim was that they thanked me for sticking up for my friend or she would have
been killed, they came and dragged Kim away to a timeout cell, as she was been dragged away I heard her
say I'm going to kill you.  When I went to bed that night I just lay there thinking about how the days events
unfolded, the words I'm going to kill you were swimming around my head, I just helped one of my friends
from getting beaten up by using self defense just like anyone else would do if their friends were in the same
situation and now Kim wants to kill me.
  I had a restless sleep that night, I kept having this weird dream where Kim was chasing me, she had a gun
in her hand and was planning to use it on me as soon as she caught up to me, so I kept running afraid for
my life.
  I woke up slowly the next morning and rubbed my eyes sleepily, I just laied there thinking about why Kim 
wants to kill me, what did I do to upset her so much?.  I got up and made my bed and cleaned up my cell, 
then I went to have breakfast, we got to work after we had all finished breakfast cleaning, washing etc.  We 
had to stay in our cells for the rest of the day because Kim was trying to escape by any means possiable 
and it was far to dangerous for us to be out of our cells considering how violent and crazy she is.
  I stood there watching the prison guards and the warden open Kim's cell to try and calm her down and try 
and stop her from killing herself.  After 5 minutes of listening to Kim's screaming match I went and sat on
my bed and wrote in my journal, I wrote:

Dear Journal,
  Today has been kind of strange so far, kim one of the inmates is not very happy, she has become very
violent and is trying to escape, because she is acting like this everybody is in danger, so it is safer for
everyone to remain in their cells.

  The rest of the day was real slow, there was not that much I could do but sit and think.  At lights out
things were calm, Kim was asleep which made it easier for everyone else to get a good nights sleep.  The
next day was visitors day, everyone was awake early getting ready for when their friends and family arrived,
 I spent the  next hour thinking about my kids and how they would react when they see me in prison.
  At 10am that morning my family arrived to visit with me, I asked the guard that was with me not to put me 
in cuffs because I didn't want to scare my kids.  I hugged and kissed my husband and then I reached out to 
hug my kids but they turned away which upset me.  I sat down with my husband who told me how the kids
were doing in school and how he is coping without me, the kids were quiet and didn't say much which had 
me worried.So I sat down and talked to them, they asked me many questions about why I was in prison and
not at home with them, I did my best to answer every single one of their questions the best way that I could 
I told them the truth.
  When it came time for them to leave I felt sad, my husband gave me a big hug and kiss and said I love you
and I miss you, I got a wave goodbye from my kids, I told them that I loved and missed them and that I was 
thinking of them,. I guess what I told them today came as quite a shock.  I went back to my cell feeling 
happy and a little sad so I wrote in my journal hoping that it might cheer me up a bit.

Dear Journal,
  Today was kind of sad don't get me wrong, it was great to see my husband and kids for the first time in 
3 months, my kids didn't want to see me today I think. They wouldn't even give me a hug when they first 
saw me, I love my kids like crazy, maybe next visit will be happier.

  Just before lights out we were informed that another inmate was to arrive the next day and that she was 
really dangerous, we were warned not to get to close to her.  The next day we were all awake early 
wondering what the new inmate was doing time for. Becausethe new inmate was so dangerous and violent 
she had to be in a cell by herself, it turned out that I had to move out of my cell in order for the new 
inmate to move into it.
  I got to share a cell with my friend Jan which was a good thing because I now have a friend to talk to 
about different things and someone to keep me company at night and when we were not allowed out of 
our cells. Once I was settled in the cell with Jan we got talking, we were both wondering what the new
inmate was like,  after awhile we both decided to go and talk to her the next day even though we were 
warned to stay away  from her, so that is exactly what we did.
  The next day we both walked up to the new inmate and talked to her, most of the people thought that Jan
and I were crazy to make friends with her, infact it was the best thing we ever did.  Later that afternoon I
wrote in my journal about my new friend and what I thought of her.

Dear Journal,
  Today has been a good day so far, Jan and I made a new friend, we talked to the new inmate Rose for a 
little while dispite what the guards and warden had told us the night before. Infact she is not like that 
at all, she is really nice but I wouldn't want to make her angry.

  I had a good nights sleep that night, I had a dream about me becoming a writer.  When I woke up the next 
morning I told Jan about my dream and she said go for it. But the trouble was that I didn't know what to 
write about, I thought about it for awhile, first I thought about writing a book using all of my journal 
entries that I have written while I have been in here but I didn't have enough of them, so finally I decided 
to write a romance story.
  My story was progressing slowly, I was interupted by the warden who had some good news for me, he 
said that I was due for day realese in a few days which I was really happy about.  I looked for my journal 
so that I could write dow how I was feeling at the time, here is what I wrote.

Dear Journal,
  The warden was just here to give me good news that I was due for day realese in a few days time which 
will be wonderful because I get to see my family again.  The next few days were really good because I was 
floting on cloud 9, I couldn't wait to see my family again, I kept thinking that I was dreaming what the
warden had told me a few days earlier but it was as real as ever.  I had a great sleep that night, I woke 
up early the next morning and got dressed, while I waited for my husband to arrive I wrote in my journal.

Dear Journal,
  Today is going to be a wonderful day, I get to go home sort of, I am on day realese, I get to spend the 
day with the ones I love my family.  When my husband and I arrived home my kids were waiting for me with 
lots of hugs and kisses, we spent the whole day as a family, we went on a picnic in the park, then we went 
for a walk along the beach, we also got to do lots of other fun stuff together.  I even sat down with my 
kids and talked to them and told them that they mean the world to me and that I love and miss them with 
all my heart. I also got to spend some quality time with my husband which was extremly wonderful.  I had
to be back at the prison by 8pm that night, my kids were very sad because I had to go away again, I told
 them that I would see them again real soon.  Once I got back to the cell I told Jan about how wonderful my 
day with my family was, she smiled at me and said thats great Jaqui, then I sat down and wrote in my 
journal.

Dear Journal,
  Wow! what a wonderful day, I got to spend all day with my family who I love so much, I talked to my kids 
they seem much happier now. Hopefully I will be out of here real soon.

  That was the last journal entry I wrote while I was in prison, I was realesed from prison on the 3rd of 
May, it was sad to leave all of my friends I made while I was inside but I can still write to them. I was 
going home where I belong.