11/29/2023 0 Comments Conjugal visitIf I was convicted, he said, he recommended I put an ad on one of those prisoner dating websites (Prison Pen Pals, Write a Prisoner), find a woman, fall in love, make it official, then head for the trailers. Close family members were also eligible, of course, and this was really the objective of these visits: to build and maintain better family ties. There was a hitch: Your partner had to be your legal spouse. An incentive to stay out of trouble in the hope of experiencing a touch of love. It was, the fella in the next bunk told me, an opportunity for good times, good eating, and good sex. The trailers at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, forty miles north of New York City. Outside there was a picnic table, a barbecue pit, and a children’s play area. Glass containers weren’t allowed neither was alcohol, not even as a makeup ingredient. His wife would bring clothes, cosmetics, and groceries: milk, eggs, pork chops, shelled shrimp. A wire bolted to the counter next to the sink was connected to the handle of the kitchen knife. He described the units: two, sometimes three bedrooms-the prison supplied pillows, bed linens, towels, and washcloths-a living room, a bathroom, and a full kitchen stocked with pots and pans, a coffee maker, a blender, and utensils. They weren’t trailers, not anymore, but modular homes. Most of New York’s maximum-security prisons had them. It was forty-eight hours of freedom, or close to it. Still, he loved her, and he loved telling me about going on conjugals with her up in Auburn, a maximum-security prison. The bunkmate had just finished a dime-a ten-year sentence-for assault and was now in on a parole violation for breaking curfew, caught on a tip called in by his wife. The guy the next bunk over in the communal dorm knew I was facing a lot of time, even if I didn’t know that. It was 2002, I was twenty-four, and I was awaiting trial on murder charges. I first heard about the trailers, prison vernacular for conjugal visits, on Rikers Island.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |