Stillwater, Minnesota - Nov 3rd, 05
I awoke to the sound of my Nokia telling me that it was 5.30 am and rolled out off the oversized holiday inn bed to the window. View - very small town America. Post breakfast of cold bagels, cream cheese and coffee in the lobby, we sped to the supermax prison a few minutes away from the town, surrounded by thousands of yards of razor wire, past fall trees blazing brilliant under a cloudy sky, four fast food restaurants, two gas stations, a gigantic holocaustic smokestack that dominated the horizon, numerous overweight people and houses that looked the same in weather that made me huddle in my new and inadequate Gap coat, 49.99 on sale with a gift voucher for 5 bucks off any other coat I might deign to purchase within the month of November.
On my way to the prison
After the requisite security check we entered the prison. Contrasty, with guards, spic and span super polite how you doing? Good? Yaaa types drinking coffee and offering you some. So thats where the Fargo accent comes from.
Keeping an eye out
We met the "worst of the worst," the Hannibal Lectors, in the Adminstrative Control Unit, the "ACU," also known as the hole. Most of the inmates here are in for assaulting officers or throwing cocktails of shit and piss at the carefully turned out guards, often out of sheer boredom. Solitary confinement, one small window, white everything. "Sensory deprivation to calm them down" - says the captain.
Crowder is in for life for many murders. He is an old man and says he cannot cry anymore.
Regular wards of the prison allow inmates more freedom with "earned" rights to TV and an hour of exercise time in the yard with its solitary tree, the only tree many inmates will see for the rest of their lives.
Balmaceda killed his wife and dismembered her. Today he shakes it up a bit.
This man killed his cousin in a fight. He is in for life. He plays handball as other sports like baseball are not allowed as guards fear the inmates using the bat as a weapon.In the ACU inmates are kept in super secure non destructible rooms meant for solitary confinement where they see no one and are not allowed to talk to anyone. The lights are kept on 24 hours a day due to continuous video surveillance and the shower and all else is controlled by the guards remotely. A mic in each room tells the inmate when to shower. It is put on and the man showers.
A doll inside the guards bubble. The bubble is a secure unit within the ward meant to offer refuge to a guard if needed.
This man is in for life. He is a latino gang memeber in for several murders. He is very proud of his tattoos.
At the hole inmates are allowed one hour of exercise in a room with a view, lawn only, and I entered the shiny clean entrance of the hole, past the shiny guard, past the shiny windows of unbreakable glass, past two non-shiny black serial rapists who do some of the swabbing, who briefly discussed Allah and America with me.One had raped and beaten his girlfriend to death .
A man sleeps in his cell.
Rapist man knew more about Muharram than me and had an interesting take on atheism and how Shia Islam with its culture of mourning was more a lament against injustice rather than just a religion. We discussed oil prices and how Bush was possibly bad for America.
Never forget where you are, said an officer to me.
Phone time
A child abuser ("chronic" as guard Jay said) exercised alone in his recreation room waving his hands about and when the captain, who reminds many as Iam told of Ned Flanders, who smells of deodorant and has carefully shiny combed hair and shiny boots asked him if he would talk with us, big smile, he told the captain to fuck off and to fuck national geographic as well. Ned left and then he sent in the squad to give Larsen "quiet time". Any disciplinary offense is met with massive force at OPH to discourage indiscipline.
Guards put a spit mask and foam helmet onto an inmate. It prevents inmates from spitting on guards and head butting them.
We filmed his room filling up with Mace and since we didn’t have masks I choked along with Larsen the convicted molester who screamed ranted and raved as they pounded him to the floor. He resisted the 7 officers, trying desperately to grab their balls while they held him down (unsuccessfully) and was hauled onto a restraining board, strapped to it securely so that he would not hurt anyone or himself and left to cool off.
Larsen on quiet time
Ned was angry. Larsen stayed on the board for several hours in a cold, clean and shiny room wearing just his underwear. He cursed everyone, the world, us, Ned and all else. If he were let into the general population he would be killed as child molestors are hated by other inmates, Iam told. Larsen needed to behave badly so that his time in solitary would be extended. The board ensured that he didnt hurt anyone or himself we were told. He yelled from the board and and deep inside, I chuckled. Larsen knew what he was doing and everyone else did as well.
Capt. Steve a.k.a Ned Flanders as some of the guards referred to him
Capt. Steve eats plain muesli for breakfast, a banana for lunch and a small dinner. He’s a health freak and takes care of himself. He has a shiny bicycle that’s as good as the ones they use in the tour de France, he says. He rides around the prison dressed in a skintight bright red cycling body suit every day after work. Steve loves his job and has a Minnesota accent and calls me "Guy" as he forgets my name. Many of the guards were keen to let us know about their jobs and the difficulties involved in managing several hundred murderers, conmen and rapists. We laughed a lot at awful things because as guard Sally said, you could'nt do otherwise and stay sane.
The child abuser remains on his board and we meet with other hole people. One guy raps, another chats. We are the only people they have spoken with other than guards in a long time. They are happy to see us.
Rapper
Eliot Holly held a baby outside a window of a moving car and made the kids mother give him oral sex. He has raped numerous women and is the funniest man in the prison. He exposed himself to a nurse today and the squad came in to take away his stuff and privileges. They chain him and is thus restrained while they do so.
"Hey guys, the whole world is going to know about my relationship with the lieutenant ... it’s over babe he says,” The lieutenant laughs. She is a big woman and giggles. I like her as she seems very compassionate and professional. "I didn’t expose myself, ok maybe a little butt cheek, maybe a little something slipped out!"
I laugh. He laughs. She laughs, we all laugh. Something definitely slipped out. No bullshit here.
The child abuser Larsen is still on the board when we leave. He will be let off when he agrees to behave. He is defiant and keeps cursing us. He gives in when the cameras leave, so they tell us at the prison front desk. He is taken to his pristine cell in the ACU with its lights on 24 hours a day. He is safe and his day full of challenge for a change. Larsen is may be happy I think. He has fought and maybe won a little respect today. When the cameras leave everything changes, and they’re not so brave and yappy and says a guard to me.
We all laugh.
Larsen still on the board
Darnell SmithDarnell is in prison for the murder of one person as the prosecutuion could not prove the second murder. He told me about the second murder during an interview. While we were in the prison he was disciplined for trying to "seduce" another guard.
He is not "remorseful" and to date blames his victims for their deaths. He was the leader of a prison riot and is expected to try and do something to the female guard who complained about his efforts to seduce her for which he was given a disciplinary warning.
Nancy and Darnell
Darnell works out during yard time
The prison in winter.
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