prisoners from different dorms. In between these miniyards is an asphalt walkway that divides them and circles the guard tower and more gates. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. There are no trees, no visual amenities to make the annex look less looming and desolate, just fences, razor wire, gates and the click click click of the gates unlocking and the noise of them slamming shut. I do not have the “privilege” of being in “population” at the annex. I am housed in T-Dorm which is the lockdown unit with high security, more so than the others on the annex.6 T-Dorm (Tango) is the 4-quadrant dorm with slide shut steel doors and yes, barred gates with locks. It is the CM SHU (Closed Management Special Housing Unit) but only 2 quads are CM prisoners. Quad 1 is Suicide Isolation (or the “Butt Naked Cells”), Quad 4 is the spillover of “DC” (or Disciplinary Confinement) and “AC” (or Administrative Confinement) from M-Dorm (Annex), and DC for main unit prisoners. Quad 2 is home to the only Death Row female at Lowell and also CM Level 1 housing. These women are handcuffed behind with a “black box,” tight waistchain, drop chain shackles for all movement. They are not allowed bunkies or roommates. One person per cell. If they are not DC status, they are allowed one phone call a month and can order five hygienes and five food items per week, that’s it. They also have access to reading material—three books from Lowell’s library, but only if the CM prisoner is not on DC status. If she is on DC, she is only allowed to read religious material. 6
Lockdown Unit meaning women are confined for 23 or 24 hours a day to their isolation cells—there is no free movement or social interaction; we just sit locked in a concrete and steel room the size of a small residential bathroom.
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THE FACE IN THE GLASS WHEN YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT IN YOUR STRUGGLE FOR SELF AND THE WORLD MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE A QUEEN FOR THE DAY, JUST GO TO THE MIRROR AND LOOK AT YOURSELF AND SEE WHAT THAT GIRL HAS TO SAY. FOR IT ISN’T YOUR FAHTER OR MOTHER OR HUSBAND WHOSE JUDGMENT UPON YOU MUST PASS, THE GIRL WHOSE VERDICT COUNTS MOST IN YOUR LIFE IS THE ONE STARING BACK FROM THE GLASS. SOME PEOPLE MIGHT THINK YOU’RE A STRAIGHT-SHOOTING CHUM AND CALL YOU A WONDERFUL GAL. BUT THE GIRL IN THE GLASS SAYS YOU’RE ONLY A BUM IF YOU CAN’T LOOK HER STRAIGHT IN THE EYE. SHE’S THE GIRL TO PLEASE, NEVER MIND ALL THE REST, FOR SHE’S WITH YOU CLEAR TO THE END. AND YOU’VE PASSED YOUR MOST DANGEROUS TEST IF THE GIRL IN THE GLASS IS YOUR FRIEND. YOU MAY FOOL THE WHOLE DOWN THE PATHWAY OF YEARS AND GET PATS ON BACK AS YOU PASS BUT YOUR FINAL REWARD WILL BE HEARTACHE AND TEARS IF YOU’VE CHEATED THE GIRL IN THE GLASS.
GRICEL PAZ, W26568, MA 05L, CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN 16756 CHINO CORONA ROAD, CORONA, CA 98820
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