RISE, A Modern Guide for the Purpose Driven Woman Spring 2014 | Page 51

keep the cup or carton so you
can use it as a cup to drink the
sink water because you only get
a drink at about 5am, 11am and
4:30pm. You have to be careful doing this however because
the sink and toilet in your cell
is attached to the cell next to
you. So anytime they flush you
need to flush your toilet as some
of their waste comes up on your
side. If you happen to be sitting
on the toilet when you hear them
flush, you better jump up. You
probably don’t want someone
else’s waste splashing up on your
naked backside. Most people
learn this the hard way. I learned
it from my bunkies...because
everyone I met, no matter how
sick or angry or sad, seemed innately compelled to HELP me
avoid more pain or more disgust. Of course, if you are lucky
enough to keep a carton or cup
or spoon, you will inevitably lose
it during “shakedown”. This is a
once a week “toss” of everything
in your cell. You are frisked and
put against the wall as your mat
is tossed and sheet and blanket
thrown on the floor. Anything
found is taken. This includes
a styrofoam cup, spoon or that
gorgeous underwear hairtie that
took you two hours to make. I
am the jailhouse Martha Stewart.
Sometime after lunch, one piece
of fake bologna with a package of
mustard and two pieces of white
bread, I began to really lose it. I
asked the guard picking up our
trays to please take me to the
Sergeant. Now, I was a newbie
and I have no idea if the planets
aligned or what but I can tell
you that type of request is always
100% ignored. For some reason,
this guard came back and took
me to the Sergeant on duty. I
Continued on page

The Top 5 Facts About Women
in Our Criminal Justice System
1. The number of women incarcerated has grown by more than 800 percent over the last three decades and women of color are locked up far more
often.
There are now more than 200,000 women behind bars and more than 1
million on probation. Two-thirds are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses,
many of these drug-related crimes. Women of color are disproportionately
affected: African American women are three times more likely than white
women to be incarcerated, while Hispanic women are 69 percent more
likely than white women to be incarcerated.
2. Many women enter the criminal justice system with a disturbing history
of emotional