“ Whoever is after me ain’ t gone have no dry time because my clothes need to dry!”
A Slice of Prison Life
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF“ ME”
Aminah Dorsey # X34913
512-11 – 03 Up Central California Women’ s Facility P. O. 1508 Chowchilla, CA 93610
“ Whoever is after me ain’ t gone have no dry time because my clothes need to dry!”
In this prison there are four yards, each with a housing unit. In general population, each building is made up of 32 rooms that house 8 women in each. Each building has a washroom with three washing machines and three dryers. Every Monday morning at 6:30 a. m., I am scheduled to wash. Well, until yesterday I never had a problem in the washroom and believe me when I tell you the washroom can get very ugly. It has been the scene of many, many vicious fights over folks not getting their allotted 45 minutes washing and drying time, or for those that just plain and simply want to fight out of eyeshot of the guard’ s view. The unit is recalled every night at 8:45 p. m. and at that time certain folks of“ privilege” throw an extra load into the washer and dryer and leave it overnight, until 6:30 the next morning. So, when I went out to put my clothes into the washing machine, this big ugly, D-Bo looking bitch gone say“ Whoever is after me ain’ t gone have no dry time because my clothes need to dry!” I didn’ t bite the bait, I was still processing her statement, and I wanted to be certain that it was me that was after her.
Not even a minute passed before she repeated herself and I said,“ Excuse me? What are you saying, my clothes need to dry, too. Humph!” I proceeded to add my clothes and detergent into the washer without arguing. In my mind, I was thinking, NO, this BITCH is NOT trying to punk me out of my dryer time!! I’ m about to have to scrap this BITCH in this washroom because she got me fu #* ed UP!! It has been over 100 degrees out the last few days and I need all my shit washed and dried! God, Help me out here.
But, when 7:15 a. m. rolled around, she pleasantly remarked to me that she was getting her things out of the dryer, and that everything had worked out after all. Thank you God for that blessing, because you know I don’ t need to get into another fight. One fight can be the difference between freedom or continued prison stay.
Moving right along- I had been growing my hair out so that I can get it braided, plus it’ s too damn hot to be flat ironing and styling it. I paid $ 50.00 for human hair and $ 20.00 to have it braided. Yesterday at 10:00 a. m., my off day, I went to get it braided. You know that single individual braids take time to complete- precious time that is not promised to inmates, especially if you guys don’ t live in the same room together. 11:45 a. m. rolls around and the C. O. announces that the dayroom will be closed for an hour because one of the staff has to leave. There goes a couple of rows of braids I could’ ve had. At 1:00 p. m., the dayroom re-opens and I continue to get my hair braided. The dayroom was recalled at 3:45 p. m., at which time I returned to my room and started applying Marcel Wax to my braids to keep them from unraveling. I was a little tried, so I put the braids in a bun before donning a scarf and taking a short nap.
I did not go to dinner because my hair wasn’ t done, nor did I go to my first day of Domestic Violence class for the same reason. I’ m not going anywhere looking like a pickaninny. The dayroom normally reopens at 5:30 p. m. but just my luck it didn’ t open until 7:00 p. m. There went another row of braids that I could’ ve gotten. At 7:00 p. m., I continued to get my hair done until recall at 8:30 p. m.
I returned to my room, set about waxing up the newly in place braids and then I tried to take the bun out but it wasn’ t budging. I must have stood there for a good 3 minutes trying to discreetly work it free, but then I started sweating and getting pissed. Finally, one of my roommates came over and started looking at my hair, which further irritated me because I was embarrassed, so I went ahead and asked her if it looked like it was in a knot. She said,“ HELL yeah,” then called her woman to come over and have a look. I was devastated at this point. In summary, after a half of bottle of conditioner, water, and eight different hands attempting to get what was believed to be a knot out, I thanked them all for their time and help before getting a razor and cutting the ball of dreaded hair out. The wax I had added to the hair created one big dreadlock. I couldn’ t do anything but cry and kick myself in the ass.
Another day in the life of me!
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