Chapter 5 Chapter 5 "The Fresh Meat Has Arrived"

A stocky warden with dark brown hair was sternly addressing the newcomers: "Some of you are going to be here for a long, long time. There is only one way to get through these years, and that is with the The outside world is completely cut off, don't think about it anymore. You can sit in this prison smoothly or awkwardly. There are rules in the prison. You have to obey the rules honestly. We will tell you when When to get up, when to work, when to eat, when to go to the latrine. If you break the rules, it is too late for you to cry. We hope that the prison is safe and sound. If anyone makes trouble, we have more ways to punish her." She quickly glanced at Tracy. "I'll take you for a physical examination in a while. Then I'll take a shower and assign you cells. I'll assign you work tomorrow morning. It's over." After the training, she was about to leave when a pale face stood beside Tracy. The girl said: "I'm sorry, can you..."

The female guard turned around abruptly, her face full of anger. "Shut your mouth. Don't speak until you're asked, do you hear? You stupid pigs have to follow this rule." The tone and wording shocked Tracy, and the female guard gestured to the two female guards behind her. "Take these stinky bitches away." Tracy was led out of the house with the others, and herded down a long corridor into a large room with a white tiled floor.An obese middle-aged man in a stained smock stood at the medical examination table. A female guard yelled "queuing up" and made the female prisoners line up in a long line.

The man in the smock said, "I'm Dr. Glass, ladies. Undress!" The female prisoners looked at each other.A female prisoner asked: "Where does it end..." "Don't you know how to take off your clothes? Just take off your clothes." The female prisoners began to take off their clothes slowly, some were shy, some were angry, and some looked numb.To Tracy's left was a woman in her forties or fifties, trembling all over; to her right was a pitifully thin girl, seventeen at most, covered in red bumps. The doctor gestured to the female prisoner at the head of the line. "Lie down on the examination table and put your feet in the stirrups."

The prisoner hesitated. "Hurry up, everyone is waiting for you." She carried out the doctor's orders.The doctor inserted a speculum into her lower body and asked, "Do you have an STD?" "No." "It will be found out immediately." The second female prisoner went to the medical examination table.The doctor was about to insert the same speculum when Tracy yelled, "Wait!" The doctor stopped and asked in surprise, "What's the matter?" All eyes were on Tracy.She said, "I...you didn't sterilize the speculum." Dr. Glasco smiled happily at Tracy. "Hey! There's a gynecologist here. Afraid of infection, aren't you? Go to the end of the line."

"what?" "Can't you understand people's language? Go to the back." Tracy was at the end of the line, still baffled. "Okay. If you don't mind," the doctor said, "we'll move on." He inserted the speculum into the female prisoner's genitals on the examination table, and it was only then that Tracy realized why she was last in line.He was going to examine all the female prisoners with the same unsterilized speculum, Tracy being the last.She felt a wave of anger rising.The doctor could have examined them individually, and there was no need to ask them to strip naked in public and deliberately humiliate them.The female prisoners allowed him to bully him like this.If everyone objected together—thinking of this, it's her turn.

"Climb up the stage, gynecologist." Tracy hesitated, but there was nothing else she could do.She climbed onto the examination table and closed her eyes.She felt that the doctor opened her legs, and the cold instrument was inserted in, hard and deep, which hurt her very much.He did it on purpose.Tracy gritted her teeth. "Have you got syphilis or gonorrhea?" asked the doctor. "No." She didn't want to tell him about the pregnancy.Can't tell this demon.She's going to talk to the warden. She felt the doctor violently withdraw the instrument.Dr. Glasco put on a pair of rubber gloves. "Okay," he said, "stand in line, bend over, time to check your little assholes."

Tracy couldn't help but blurted out, "Why?" Dr. Glasco stared at her hard. "Listen, gynecologist, because the asshole is a good place to hide things. I have a lot of marijuana and cocaine in my place, just from girls like you. Now, bend over!" He followed the female prisoner, Insert your fingers into their anuses one by one.Tracy felt nauseous, sour water gushing from her throat.She started to gag. "If you spit here, I'll put your head in there." He turned to the guards inside. "Take them to the shower, they all stink!" The naked female prisoners took their clothes and were escorted through another passage into a large concrete room with more than a dozen shower cubicles with open doors.

"Put the clothes in the corner," ordered the female guard, "and then go take a shower. Wash me well from head to toe with antiseptic soap. Wash my hair, too." Tracy stepped into the bathroom from the rough concrete floor.The sprayed water is cool.She scrubbed her body vigorously, thinking: I can't wash it clean anymore, who are these people, why do they abuse others like that?After fifteen years of suffering like this, how can I survive it! A guard yelled at her: "Hey you! It's time, come out!" Tracy stepped out of the bathroom and another prisoner walked in.Someone handed Tracy a thin, torn towel, and she was only half-dry.

After the last inmate had finished washing, they were taken to a storage room where racks of clothes were guarded by a Hispanic prisoner.Every time a prisoner passed by, the Latin American first looked at her figure, and then handed her a gray prison uniform.Like everyone else, Tracy received two prison uniforms, two pairs of trousers, two pairs of bras, two pairs of shoes, two nightgowns, a sanitary belt, a comb, and a laundry bag for dirty clothes.The female guards watched as the female prisoners dressed.Once dressed, they were escorted into another room, where a trusted prisoner waited with a large camera set up.

"Stand against the wall." Tracy walked towards the wall. "front." She stares at the camera.click. "Turn head to right." I did it, click. "Turn to the left." Click. "Come to the table." There is a device for taking fingerprints on the table.Someone squeezed Tracy's finger and stuck it to the ink pad, then pressed it to a white card. "Left hand. Right hand. Wipe your hands with that, and it's over." She's right, Tracy thought silently.I'm done, I'm a number.Neither a name nor a personality. A guard pointed at Tracy: "Is your name Whitney? The warden wants to see you. Come with me."

Tracy's heart lit up.Charles finally did not leave her alone!Of course he couldn't leave Tracy, just as Tracy couldn't leave him.Charles did that because he was frightened by the sudden turn of events.Now he had ample time to reflect on the past, and finally realized that he still loved Tracy.Charles asked the warden to clarify this ridiculous misunderstanding.She will be free soon. She was escorted out another corridor, through two heavily guarded gates manned by male and female guards.When she was put into the second gate, she was almost knocked down by a female prisoner.It was a giant, the size of a woman Tracy had never seen—well over six feet tall and always weighed three hundred pounds.She had a flat, pockmarked face, and a pair of yellow eyes that were fierce and savage.She grabbed Tracy's arm to steady herself, and pressed her arm against Tracy's chest. "Hey!" the woman said to the guard. "Here's a fresh fish. Bring it to me!" She had a thick Swedish accent. "I beg your pardon, but the place is allotted to her, Bertha." The woman touched Tracy's face, and Tracy turned away, and the big woman smiled. "Don't be afraid, little girl. My big Bertha is seeing you. We've got plenty of time, and you ain't going nowhere." They went to the warden's office.Tracy was hopeful, excited, and nervous.Will Charles be here?Maybe he sent his lawyer? The warden's secretary nodded to the guard. "See her right away. Wait here." Warden George Brannigan sits at a scarred desk reviewing documents.He was about forty-five, thin and worried, with a sensitive face and deep-set hazel eyes. Warden Brannigan has run the South Louisiana Women's Prison for five years.At the beginning, he came to this prison with the qualifications of a criminal management scientist and the enthusiasm of an idealist, and wanted to make drastic reforms.But the prison finally conquered him, as had conquered his predecessors. When the prison was built, it was originally planned to hold two prisoners per cell, but now each cell holds four to six people.He knew that everywhere was like this.Prisons are the same all over the country: overcrowded and understaffed.Thousands of prisoners were locked in cells like livestock day and night.These people are bored, accumulating hatred and plotting revenge all day long.This is really a stupid and barbaric system, but this is reality, and no one can do anything about it. He rang the bell to notify the secretary. "Bring her in." The guard opened the door to the inner room, and Tracy walked in. Warden Brannigan looked up at the woman standing before him.Tracy Whitney was charming despite her drab prison uniform and tired face.How long, Brannigan wondered, would she last in prison with the candor and sincerity of her lovable face?He was particularly interested in this prisoner because he had read about her case in the newspaper and had seen her file.She is a first-time offender and has never killed anyone. Fifteen years in prison is too heavy a sentence.It was Joseph Romano who was litigating against her, which added to the suspicion that the case had been unfairly judged.However, the duty of the warden is only to look after the prisoners.He cannot stand against the whole system.He himself is part of the system. "Sit down, please," he said. Tracy sat down gratefully, her legs giving way.The warden was about to speak to her about Charles and tell her when he would let her out. "I've seen your files," said the warden. Charles would certainly let him do it. "You're going to be with us for a long time, and your sentence is fifteen years." It took Tracy a long time to understand what he said.Something must have gone wrong. "Did you—you didn't—talk to Charles?" she stammered nervously. He looked at her blankly: "Charles?" Tracy got it.She couldn't tell what it was like. "Listen," she said, "I have done nothing wrong. I should not have come here." How many times has he heard this sentence?A hundred times, or a thousand times?I did not commit a crime. The warden said: "The court has convicted you. I can only advise you to serve your sentence in a decent manner. As long as you obey the sentence, life will be much easier. There is no clock in the prison, only a calendar." Tracy thought desperately, I can't be locked up here for fifteen years.I want to die.God, please grant me death.But I'm afraid I can't die, because if I die, the baby won't live.The baby is yours too, Charles, why don't you come and rescue me?From that moment on, Tracy hated him. "If you're in any trouble," said Warden Brannigan, "I mean, you can come to me if I can help you."She is young and beautiful, and she is a newcomer, and those wild and lustful female prisoners will pounce on this lamb like hungry wolves.The warden could hardly think of a cell where she could hide safely.Almost every cell has a leader. On more than one occasion, Brannigan heard rumors of nightly rapes in showers, toilets or hallways.It was all just rumours, as the victims always kept silent afterwards.Otherwise, it will die quietly. Warden Brannigan comforted her and said, "As long as you play by the rules, maybe you only need to stay in twelve years or so..." "No!" Tracy cried in despair.She felt the walls shrink around her, squeezing her between them.She stood there, uttering a terrible wail.The guards came and grabbed her arms. "Easy," Warden Brannigan ordered. He sat there, helpless, watching Tracy be taken away. Tracy was escorted through aisles and cells filled with prisoners of all kinds. The prisoners were divided into black, white, brown, and yellow. When Tracy walked by, they stared at each other. She, yelling at her in a dozen accents, Tracy couldn't make out what they were yelling. "The rookie has arrived..." "The spices have arrived..." "The fresh grapefruit has arrived..." Walking to the section where her cell was located, Tracy realized what the female prisoners shouted in unison: "The fresh meat is here."