Dear Readers,
Hey there. I want you to know this experience I am having while I am in here. This place is like hell with ice water. You can learn many new things from being where you are now.
The whole life thing changes from the second you get arrested and are in handcuffs to the point when you’re in your room thinking about everything you’ve done.
You go through the whole getting checked-in process (fingerprints to intake). Everythng you get arrested with has now been taken away from you. Even your clothes you came in. They make you take a shower and fully dress in someone else’s clothes (something someone else has already worn, it’s only been washed). Once you are dressed in someone else’s worn panties/drawers to bra, socks, shirt and pants, you get that one last call to your loved ones. Let’s not forget you have to go see the doctor to be checked out to make sure you’re healthy.
Once everything is taken care of, you are led to your unit. The girls have a separate unit from the boys, so you’ll never see them unless you get lucky. Your room is four-squared, with a toilet in your room with all the things you need in one room. When I’m in my rom, I feel like a dog locked in a cage. Trapped with your mind racing with no way to escape.
The food made me cry my eyes out when it was placed in front of me. I have to survive off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to get me by. Other than that, I would rather starve myself.
But that doesn’t stop me. I still manage to get up and go to school. Yes, they make us go to school, graduated or not.
But one thing I can say is being in here makes me realize what I have on the outside and to cherish what I have at home. To better myself for me to be successful in life, not for anyone else. This experience has been horrible but a lesson well-learned.
Thank you for letting me share my half of the story of the worst time of my life. Let’s not forget I have been away from my phone for over five days. I haven’t been away from my phone for over twenty minutes, but I manage to last.
— Adajah, Alameda
