Caution: The following is written
purely for entertainment and contents may be skewed by the intake of
rice cakes and almond butter (part of the approved diet) and may not
reflect the opinion of the writer.
Late Sunday night three suspicious
characters crossed the Michigan state line, no they were not making a
break for it, were on their way back…
“They sure spread these centers far
apart, maybe so the inmates won’t cross contaminate too much.” This
was the thought of the driver when three Texan yard birds managed to
obtain a parole and what did they do with this breath of freedom?
Visited two other centers! Apparently they were admitted as
psychiatric cases.
The stated reason for this erratic
behavior was to visit friends who are being held at the said
locations; Mikaela Santini and Amy Ortiz – sector 11, cell 30.
Contact was made strategically at dinner time where Flint residents
consumed salad and spaghetti sauce/soup in accordance with prescribed
diet from which there was no parole. After talking and looking at mug
shots of other detainees, the Flint trio had to leave for other
accommodations, the warden of ITC frowning upon aberrations of the
rules such as extra persons in a room.
Following sketchy directions to yet
another center, these three youth were headed for trouble, no,
trouble was following them and got them from behind. Being raised in
a tough region, the trio were largely unaffected, but the car
sustained heavy injuries from this brush with danger. An officer
arrived on the scene, filled out the paper work and showed leniency
towards the trio considering that the registration was in South
Carolina, the license from Texas, current residence in Michigan and
the whole thing was taking place in Indiana.
After being cleared of all charges,
and wandering around some country roads, the second contact was made:
Susanna Whitten, original acquaintance made at the Big Sandy center,
during a rehabilitation program (aka STEP). Susanna had been held at
the South Campus center for seven years and recently been released to
a house about three miles from the center. Whitten and three brothers
were the only ones still up waiting for us and entertained us with
conversation, theological discussions and peanuts (oreo cookies
safely avoided) until 1:30 in the morning.
Sunday morning dawned bright and
early, as did curious siblings and consequently, yours truly.
Breakfast, a walk, then home church service all proceeded at a
relaxed pace which did wonders for the soul and an offer to stay
another night had to be regrettably turned down. (Parole could not be
extended due to Monday morning class). After a tour of South Campus,
leave was taken of this good crony and the visit with our other
comrades was reconvened.
What did five Texans do on a Sunday
afternoon? Went to Texas Roadhouse! (steak is an approved diet food
🙂 Finishing there a stop was made at the nursing home where the ITC
residents had labored for the last several weeks, learning the trade
of Certified Nurses Assistant.
We reluctantly took leave of our
friends as visiting hours came to an end and we all headed back to
our own center. Five hours later we reached our very own holding
block only to find that the battery to our door lock was dead, being
too early in the morning to wake anyone, we crashed in a vacant room.
Ah, home sweet home.
