Halloween has passed. October went somewhere. A lot has gone on since the last posting. I couldn't enter the prison for three weeks due to the entrance of scabies. Yes, those little mites had gotten through security, carried on the skin-contagious critters causing severe itching to those affected. The outbreak didn't spread widely but everything shut down. No classes. Staff did the cooking.
When the writers finally met again they were eager to write, even about the scabies. In this post are their thoughts on that experience, plus other scary things like teachers, getting back to "square one," even writing a blurb about themselves.
Let's start right here and get those scabies out of the way!
Wow, what a two weeks I had sitting in a dorm
with no T-shirt or panties on.
Just the brown uniform.
Locked down with no property.
Nothing to do but watch movies all day.
Nowhere to go and nothing to see
but what the scabies has done to me.
This all was very scary-but when it was over
I was so happy to be free.
I was ready to be all I could be-
and just be me.
-Brooklyn
10-day treatment
didn't cure the cause
Month's long adventures
Because it's not over y'all
Washed in the wrong treatment
But who would ever guess
The ones who gave us the OTC
Would be responsible for this
Back to square one
We've got to do it again
Don't they understand-
We need a vaccination, man?
-Determined LN
My prison world, as I know it, was turned upside down. All my clothes, personal belongings, including my children's pictures were taken away from me. Before this, I would have said something like this could never happen in a prison: shut down because of scabies.
I also would have said I couldn't live without my personal belongings, but I did.
This event made everyone equal. No one person had more than another. It was a big change and a nice one, especially to see who hid behind material things. But now the games of "who has what" begins again. Back to Square One.
-Princess007
