1-9. A Rape of the Mind

DAY ONE. The prison gates clanked loudly behind her as she pulled opened the heavy exterior door. Without the fence with the razor wire on top, the building could have passed for a college campus. However, this campus population consisted of rapists, murderers, pedophiles, etc. instead of students. Hard core violent offenders. The Ministry of Corrections had eased her into the process by placing her in the Youth Detention Center for the first couple of days (a minimum security facility for male juvenile offenders). She then progressed to the Women's Prison (a medium security facility), and the final three days of her course field placement was being spent here in the Men's Prison (a maximum security facility). She identified herself to the guard and slid her purse across the desk at his request. He went through the contents carefully, returned it to her, and handed her a temporary pass. The librarian waited patiently in the main lobby on the other side of the glass doors while the guard cleared Rani, then buzzed her in. The other two librarians had been female, but this one was male. Not surprising considering the location. He was tall, slender, with short hair, light coloring, regular features, and a friendly smile. "Hi Rani, it's nice to meet you!" He held her outstretched hand in a warm, firm grip. "My name is Phil. I'll be taking you on a tour of the prison, then we can settle down in the library, have a coffee, and talk about what you're going to be doing here until the end of the week. Ok with you?" "Sure." Rani said, returning his smile. "Sounds fine to me. Is there some place I can leave my coat and purse? Or should I keep them with me for now?" "We'll stop by the library and you can leave them in my office." Rani followed Phil down the long hallway at the opposite end of the lobby. They were buzzed in to the main prison area by another guard who checked the passes. The building was brand new and painted in soft oranges and browns. The back door to Phils' office was unlocked. They passed through a short hallway into the back of his office, the front of which was glassed in. Another door at the front of the office led into the main library area and was open. Phils' desk was to Ranis' immediate left and faced the front of the office. To her right, a coffee pot sat on a small cabinet, percolating softly and permeating the air with the scent of fresh coffee. Phil took Ranis' coat and purse, hanging them on pegs secured on the back wall of a small closet in the little hallway. "No hangers?", Rani asked. "No." Phil explained, "They can be converted into weapons by the prisoners so they're not allowed." Phils' tour was quick but informative. The tiny, somewhat claustrophobic cells looked comfortable, and a little like student dorms. They were painted the same colors as the hallways, a soft, soothing brown and orange and included TVs, book shelves and desks, as well as the basic amenities. None were shared, offering prisoners a certain amount of privacy from each other. Instead of bars each cell was enclosed by a locked electronic door with a small glass window which allowed the guards to observe prisoner activities within the cell. The living quarters were in an area of the building protected by another locked electronic door and a guard. Returning to the main area led to a visit to the cafeteria, a large, austere-looking, institutional grey, windowless room with tables and benches screwed tightly into the floor. Then, finally back to the library. The library was large in size but short in content. The collection consisted largely of westerns with some legal books. Zane Grey, a prolific writer of westerns was by far the most popular author here, and my guess was that they had pretty much everything published by him. Phil provided Rani with a description of the prisoner population, an explanation of prison policy, and an explanation of library content policy. He also instructed her not to go outside of the library without an escort and reminded her that she would be in violation of the Oath of Security if she discussed any of the happenings in the prison with anyone outside of the prison environment. He assigned her duties and she began by filing into the card catalogue. She sensed a presence behind her and turned around to face a small young man in his late 20s or early 30s with shoulder length dark brown hair. He had a small fragile looking face which appeared to have a smile permanently pasted on it. His eyes were cool, calculating and glittering with amusement. "Hi!" "Hi" responded Rani. "Who are you?" she said with a smile. "I'm Greg, I work here part-time, didn't Phil tell you?" "He mentioned a prisoner that worked here part-time in the afternoons for a couple of hours. Is that you?" "Yes." "You're in early. So what do you do when you're here?" "Some shelving, filing, whatever Phil wants me to do." "So what are you in prison for?" Rani knew she shouldn't ask this question. It would probably be better not to know, since this particular prison population was pretty hard core. However, she couldn't restrain her curiousity, particularly since he looked pretty harmless. "Rape." He responded, still smiling, and watching her reaction closely. Rani looked away as the shock sunk in. She could see that he wanted to get a reaction and she was determined not to give it to him. "I see." she said calmly, now looking directly at him. "Do you enjoy working in the library?" Phil popped his head out of the office. "Oh good, Greg, you're here. Rani let's go for lunch. The prison food isn't bad here. However, if you prefer to bring your own lunch, you can eat in my office. That's what I usually do." Rani was happy for the interruption and eagerly joined Phil as they walked down to the cafeteria. "By the way, if you have any suggestions about what you'd like to do while you're here, feel free to make them. I'm open to any ideas you might have." "Actually, I was wondering how you'd feel about a discussion group. If any of the prisoners are interested, that is. I'd like to explore some ideas with them about why they feel that they ended up here. Poverty, abuse, etc." "Okay, I'll check it out and see what I can do. By the way, did you hear that some prisoners escaped from the Youth Facility and the Womens' Facility right after you were there?" Rani looked at him in surprise. "No, no-one's said anything to me. Right after I left both facilities or each facility." "The day after you left the Youth Facility, a couple of kids escaped and the day after you left the Womens' Facility, some of the women escaped." "What a bizarre coincidence!" Rani said thoughtfully, searching her mind for any clues that any of the prisoners she met might have given. In fact, she hadn't had much direct contact with any of the prisoners at all. She had barely spoken to anyone at either facility other than the librarians. DAY TWO. DAY THREE. "Morning Phil!", Rani said cheerfully as she hung her coat and purse in the closet. "Hi! Coffee's ready. Have a cup, a seat and we'll work out today's schedule." Rani poured herself a steaming cup loaded with cream and sugar. "Yeah, yeah, I know ... having a little coffee with my morning sugar." joked Rani. "Well it's obviously not doing you any harm." Phil laughed, referring to her slim, petite frame. Rani smiled, and said, "You got that right! So what's up for today." "The warden and prison psychologist would like to meet you, so we'll get together with them this afternoon. When we finish our coffee, we'll do the afternoon routine this morning, then lunch. Ok with you?" "Sure." Phil and Rani handled the morning routine, finished their lunch, had another coffee, then strolled across the hall from the back door of the librarians' office into a very small, dark windowless alcove. The desk barely fit, the walls were empty and it looked more like a large closet than a psychologists' office. Three chairs were crowded together in front of the desk. Two middle aged men were already seated. Both men rose politely and shook Ranis' hand. Phil introduced the one behind the desk as the Psychologist, and the second one seated in front of the door but facing the desk as the Warden. Phil pulled the chair closest to the wall out for Rani. Everyone else sat down after Rani seated herself. "So how are you enjoying your field placement so far, Rani." asked the Psychologist. Rani tried to answer but suddenly felt herself falling into what appeared to be a soft dark cocoon. She could barely hear the Psychologists' ethereal voice through the depths of the black softness. "She's out." said the Psychologist, "Go ahead." "Rani, why did you sign up for this particular field placement?" Rani could hear herself respond from very far away. "I was curious about libraries in prisons." "Did your Uncle suggest this." "No." "Did your Uncle know you were going to be here and when?" "Yes." "What did he say when you told him?" "Nothing." "Did you know about the recent prison escapes?" "Yes." "Did you have anything to do with the escapes?" "No." "Did you help in anyway?" "No." Rani shook her head. The clarity was instantaneous. She looked around the room in momentary confusion. "So how have you enjoyed your field placements?" The Psychologist was asking her. Returning to the moment, she replied quickly, "It's been great, very interesting. I appreciate the opportunity for the experience." The Psychologist smiled, stood up, and held his hand out to Rani. "Well thanks for stopping by. It was a pleasure to meet you and talk to you." The Warden, also smiling, stood up and opened the door for Rani and Phil, shaking Rani's hand politely, as she returned their smiles and left with Phil. The shock of the experience was settling in slowly as Rani registered what had happened. Her instincts were guiding her not to react, not to indicate to Phil or anyone else that she knew what happened in that dark little room. She didn't even want to think about how her Uncle would react if he found out, and decided in that moment not to say anything to anyone, not even him. No possible good could come of it. "Well, Rani, I enjoyed working with you. I'd like to do a quick debriefing with you before you go and I'll take your Field Placement report if you have it ready." Rani, deep in thought, automatically located her purse, pulled it out, handed it over to him. "Okay, Phil, no problem. Here's my report." "As you know it has to clear the Ministry of Corrections to ensure that the Oath of Secrecy hasn't been violated by anything you've said. The Ministry will forward it to your Professor after they've cleared it. If you discuss anything that happened, at any of the prisons, during your stay, with anyone, you can be charged under the Secrecy Act." "Yes, I know, I was told that when I took the Oath." They discussed Rani's opinion of the library and her experience there. Phil reviewed her report and seemed to be okay with what she had written. Rani collected her coat and purse, they shook hands, and Rani left, looking forward to her Christmas vacation. BACK TO COLLEGE. Rani was well into her assignments and thought to herself that this semester was probably the most brutal of all. The sheer number of assignments had kept her at school from 7 am to 11 pm at least 3 days of the week, sometimes more. The strange events in her personal life were also taking their toll, but all of the work, helped to keep her from dwelling on those events. She came home and collapsed on the couch. Thank goodness it was Friday and she could just veg a bit tonight. She saw a letter on the coffee table addressed to her. Picking it up absentmindedly, she looked at the return address. Shocked, she dropped the letter on to the floor. "Oh my god! How did he get my address! That information is supposed to be confidential!" Her aunt came into the room and asked, "Did you get your letter? Who is it from?" She picked the letter up from the floor and read the return address again, just to be sure. "Auntie, It's from a guy at the prison! He's a rapist! I don't know how he got my address, I certainly didn't give it to him!" "Well, why don't you read it and find out what he wants?" "No, I don't want to confirm that I live here. I'll just write "Moved" on it and return it. Hopefully he'll believe that and not appear on my doorstep some day." Rani located a pen, wrote "Moved" on the envelope and slid it back into the mail box for the mailman to pick up the next day. ONE WEEK LATER. Rani had just packed up her school things and was getting ready to catch her bus when she looked up to see her Uncle walk through the door. That's unusual she thought. I wonder what's up ... he never comes here at this time of day. "Hi Rani, How are things?" "Fine Uncle Lal, How are you?" "Good, but I need to talk to you." "Okay. What's going on?" "You need to move from here. I want you and your brothers to move in together." "Oh, okay, but I thought Dave and Rog were settled with Dave's girlfriend? Has that changed?" "No, you and Dave and Rog will be better off together in your own place." "Dave is looking for an apartment for the first of the month." "Okay, well I have to get going or I'm going to be late for class. See you later." Rani rushed out the door. When she arrived at school, her Professor stopped her outside of class. "Hi Rani, I have a message for you." "A message?" "Yes, the librarian at the Men's prison would like you to give him a call when you have a minute." I wonder what he wants, Rani thought to herself. Could it be related to Greg's letter? "Okay, Thanks, Mr. Lethbridge, I have a break after this class, I'll call him then." "Oh, by the way, I'm still waiting for your field placement report." "I had to to turn it in to the Ministry. They told me they had to clear it and would send it directly to you once it cleared." "Okay I'll contact them. Have a seat now." Rani sat down in her usual seat near the front of the class, organized her papers, and focused on the lecture. When the class was over, chaos ensued as everyone collected their belongings and crowded into the hallway. She found a pay phone at the end of the hall and called the prison librarian. "Phil speaking. May I help you." "Hi Phil. It's Rani. Mr. Lethbridge said you wanted to speak to me?" "Yes, I know that you knew Greg when you were here and thought you might want to know that he was beaten up by some other prisoners last night." "Oh my god. Is he okay?" "Yes, but he's in the prison clinic." "Why did they do that to him." "I don't know." "Well I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope he gets better soon." Rani hung up the phone slowly. Why would the other prisoners have beaten him up, she thought to herself. This is so bizarre! And why did Phil call me to tell me about it. Rani knew they had been concerned about the escapes. She didn't really know what they did the day that they interviewed her. Drugs, hypnosis? Most likely a combination. While it was illegal, extremely unethical, and a violation of her civil rights, she found it hard to blame them considering the circumstances. That is, considering who her Uncle was, and her involvement in his organization, no matter how peripheral her involvement was. They had no way of knowing whether he and/or she were involved somehow in the escapes, and had done what they felt they needed to do to get at the truth. She knew she hadn't been involved in any sinister activity at the prison, so she hadn't bothered to make an issue out of it. She had just told the truth. This other stuff was just bizarre, the escapes, the letter from Greg, the assault on him ... . Rev. 2007.08.18