speaking.
Rothing I say or do can totally prepare you boys for what youte gonna face inside Arizona Max, but I抣l give it my best shot. I guess the best way to start is by trying to give you an impression of the kind of kids who end up there.
Dick up any newspaper, or switch on the TV news, and you抣l see items about crimes that turn your stomach. Youte going to be sharing that cell with the kind of people who committed those crimes. It talking about the meanest, nastiest kids on the face of the earth. Dont underestimate what theyte capable of. Most of them have already killed someone and in a prison environment, violence and ruthless bullying only enhances their status.?
Cont they get punished??Dave interrupted.
慙ike how??Scott said, shaking his head. These guys have zero chance of ever being released from prison and theree no threat of the death sentence because the Supreme Court says you cant execute anyone under the age of eighteen. So, even if one of them kills you, the most we can do is move them into solitary confinement for a few months.
This hard-core of thugs makes up about a quarter of the population, and they make life thoroughly miserable for the remainder. The weaker inmates are mostly kids who went off the rails one time and got themselves in deep trouble: guys who stuck up convenience stores so they had money to splash out on their girlfriend, middle-class kids who thought they could make some easy cash dealing drugs, or who snapped and murdered relatives who beat them up. A lot of these guys didnt get many breaks in life and theyte usually a bit underpowered in the brains department. To be honest, I feel sorry for them.?
To whate the prison itself like??James asked.
inexpensive,?Scott answered abruptly.
The three kids all looked baffled, until Scott began to explain:
Twenty or thirty years ago, a maximum-security prison was made up of cells, with bars along the front and a sliding door, exactly like you see in the movies. Most of the time yout be locked up alone, perhaps with one other cellmate. But the prison population in America is exploding and cells are expensive: everyone needs their own walls and doors; their own locks, and washbasins and toilets, etcetera, etcetera. Once youte built all those expensive cells, you need lots of guards to make sure theree nothing naughty going on inside them.
To get around this, modern facilities like Arizona Max have dormitory cells. The cell you抣l be living in has two rows of eighteen single beds along the walls. Between each bed theree a waist-height partition, a small locker and just about enough room to swing out your legs. At one end of the cell theree a bathroom, with two toilets, three urinals and two shower stalls. A few metres above your heads is a metal gantry, from where hacks like me can look down and keep an eye on you.
The good thing about this arrangement is that it gives you twenty-four-hour access to Curtis Oxford. The bad news is that if one of your cellmates takes a dislike to you, he抣l have twenty-four-hour access to you.?
Now much violence is there??Dave asked.
in the three months Ite been on that cellblock, Ite only seen two stabbings, but there are regular fistfights and the weaker inmates get badly bullied. Young offenders?units are often nicknamed gladiator schools, because youte got no option but to learn to fight. Teenage boys are the most impulsive and dangerous section of the prison population.?
John interrupted. This is why we want you guys in and out of Arizona Max within two weeks.?
Cont the guards do anything to stop the violence??Lauren asked.
Scott shook his head. The guards ?or hacks as everyone on the inside calls them ?arent going to do you any favours. The prison is twenty per cent understaffed and pay isnt far above minimum wage, so dont expect them to risk their necks on your behalf.
in the daytime theree about one hack for every forty inmates, at night it drops to one for every hundred. Those kind of staffing levels mean youte on your own. If things get brutal, we might fire a couple of baton rounds down from the gantry to break up a fight and we抣l drag someone off to the prison hospital if theree a lot of blood sloshing around. Apart from that, youte got to fend for yourself.?
To whate the best way to deal with the violence??James asked.
Hou cant show any