CULTURE CLASH (Be a Better Human)
Lab Rat By Eric Cooper
as it rushes out my body and I don’t even have the strength to flush before I collapse onto the floor, shaking and cold. The pain is unbearable and I feel like I am dying so I crawl to the cell door and try to bang on it and shout for help, but all I can manage is reaching my arm out and laying against it. After what seems like eternity, the TDCJ guard assigned to my wing walks by and looks down as I look at my clock to see that is 4am, right before I black out. My celly wakes up ready to start his day at 7am, bright eyed and bushy tailed, but instead finds a cell covered in filth with my laying in it, shaking and unresponsive. Being a good celly, he decides to dry to help me instead of steal my stuff. “Man down! Man down! He shouts while kicking the cell door. Man down is a shout all too frequently heard on the runs of this prison. It means that 10
Photos courtesy of ING images
I AWAKEN WITH MY STOMACH FEELING LIKE I AM BEING STABBED WITH HOT POKERS AND I STUMBLE TO THE TOILET AS I SPEW A HOT GREENISH LIQUID THAT BURNS MY THROAT AND NOSE. It splashes a trail to the toilet
someone is down and needs immediate medical attention. It’s what we yell out when someone has a seizure, heart attack, or is severely hurt. When yelled out by someone, all other inmates immediately take up the shout and, in that way, we can get the attention of guards who cannot then get away with ignoring it. The shouts ring out from the wings and onto the main hall demanding something be done. If done during a shift change, it still does not guarantee any attention though. Help can be anywhere from ten minutes to an hour away. C U LTU R EC L A S H G A LV E STO N . C O M • M A R C H /A P R I L 2 0 2 1
