My First Year in Prison Ch. 22

I stood up, trembling.

The main auditor tried to talk to me again but I could barely hear him. My mind was a blank. I was having a panic attack. I almost fainted on my bench next to Ralph.

I truly thought my life was over.

I was wrong though.

Because, my dear reader. This story, is one where the good guys won and the bad guys end up in prison!

"Mister Foster, please take the stand."

The young guard, or rather former guard, walked to sit where I was only a few minutes before. Foster looked at me with his piercing blue eyes. I had not seen him in the room but he was there, the whole time, in a corner. And now, he had decided to speak up.

"Mister Foster, do you understand that anything you will say on this stand will be under oath and any lie or misconstruction of the truth might lead to prosecution?"

The auditor asked him.

"I do."

"Mister Foster, can you confirm you were present in the cafeteria on December 12th during lunch time?"

"I was. And I have some statements to make."

"Go ahead." The auditor said, clearly worried another incident might happen.

"Is it possible for me to make my statement and respond to any question afterwards? I would feel much more comfortable that way."

Foster had several pieces of paper in his hands which were slightly shaking but his voice was firm, clear.

"Please do, but you have only a few minutes."

"Thank you, Sir." He started to read his papers and his voice soothed my anxiety.

He did not take only a few minutes, Foster talked for nearly 20 minutes straight.

"I was hired to work in California State Prison a year ago. Quickly, I understood that the methods there had nothing to do with what we were taught in school. (...)

I have witnessed countless of instances where inmates were abused by the staff, and by Guard Falcon and Warden Deen in particular. (...)

My regret is immense for not speaking sooner as my inaction has cost seven lives. Seven human lives. Sure, those people have been convicted and deserved their sentence, but prison should give people a sense of what is wrong and what is right and it only blurs the lines further when the administration encourages corruption, humiliation and all sorts of abuse. (...)

In the strongest terms, I want to say that I fully concur with Tyler Braxton's testimony. Warden Deen, helped by his right-hand, Guard Falcon, had put a system in place based on unfair treatment, harassment and abuse. (...)

From the moment the inmates are being brought in the facility, the guards are encouraged, I, personally, have been encouraged, to humiliate them. (...)

It starts with the initial check at the arrival in the prison. Falcon quickly told me that it was ok, and that I should, play with the inmates, mock them, humiliate them. When Tyler Braxton got in the prison, he was sexually assaulted as Falcon unnecessarily proceed to finger his anus violently. (...)

Warden Deen had made his policy to refuse to address any recommendation letter for early release for any inmate who would not take his dick in the ass, sorry for my language, Sir, those were his words. (...)"

The auditors wanted concrete examples and evidence: Foster had come prepared. He had dozens of them and as his account continued, the entire audience listened. The warden was crying now. Kooper was dead silent. The journalists were eating this testimony up.

I cried too.

And let me tell you, that was not pretty. It was not the beautiful single tear sliding down my cheek like in one of those movies. I was a full mess.

I cannot remember any other instance in my life where I have cried that much. I was more or less falling from the bench on the Court's floor, shaking uncontrollably and bawling my eyes out. Ralph had to hold me. Somehow, at one point, Ryan was behind me and was holding me too.

"Everything is gonna be okay, Ty". Ryan whispered to me. He truly was my comfort zone. My rock. My ally since the moment I was born.

I was feeling so many emotions at the same time, it was difficult to pinpoint what exactly was going on in my brain.

Was it that I had heard, told by someone else, the list of the abuse that I had, as well as most of the inmates, gone through? We had been sexually assaulted, manipulated, humiliated. But maybe, because I had messed up in my life before, in a way, I had let it happen, as if it was ok, as if I deserved it.

I did not. We deserved our sentence, at least most of us did, but not the abuse.

Funny enough, I did not break down as Kooper was confronting me, telling the whole world how untrustworthy I was, how much of a sexual pervert I was, how much of an awful person I was, but I broke down when Foster corrected the lies, when he confirmed my truth. The truth.

The atmosphere in the Court room was impossible to describe at that point. The warden had been escorted out, some other people had come in. The press was hysterical. A boring hearing had turned into a show with all the perfect ingredients: a sex scandal, the downfall of an authority figure, the shocking revelations.

My testimony had been messy, unclear, badly presented but Foster had been perfect with the way he had gone about it. I was immensely grateful that he had managed to say what I could not. Kooper looked defeated. That bitch!

What would happen now? They could not ignore Foster's testimony. Crying on my brother's shoulder, I hoped so bad for this afternoon to have an impact, to worth something.

They did not ignore Foster's testimony, nor mine for that matter.

As hard it was to believe at first, we had effectively turned the tables.

The California Sate conducted an enquiry on the prison's administration, an actual one. It did not take more than a couple of days to prove everything that I had said was right, and more. The camera footage combined with our testimonies were quite telling. Ralph was heard in private too; he finally said the truth.

Thankfully, that did not prevent him from getting his early release, on the contrary!

Since the day after the hearing, a lawyer had been accompanying us at every step of the way. A great guy, handsome as well! A young hot shot, barely older than me, a black guy, broad shoulders, well dressed, his name was Benjamin Parker. It helped us before he became notorious.

Parker had seen the hearing on the television and had made it his mission to help us, partly because he was genuinely concerned for us, partly because he wanted to make this case his claim to fame. I did not mind his motives as long as I could finally have a competent legal counsel by my side.

He made sure that we would provide useful and relevant testimonies, he encouraged us to specify in detail the different abuse we had been subject to, and he managed to negotiate a deal with the administration's new top executive. Warden Deen and Guard Falcon were long gone.

For once in my damn life, I had made the right decision. Telling my truth. My affair with my patient or with my professor nine years before were not making the headlines, Deen was making them, and a nation-wide conversation on the prison system was now ongoing.

Sadly, that conversation did not go very far. Fighting for the rights of inmates was still an uphill battle when they were so many other pressing issues to tackle for the "good guys". But at least, and at our level, we had made a change, Falcon was soon to be convicted and this was in itself a sufficient reason to celebrate.

As planned, I would be released a few days later with Ralph, but a few other inmates which had been refused early release on unfair motives were also authorized to get out. Justice!

Among them, there was a particular inmate I was rooting for. We got the news as were hanging out with Kurtis and Ralph in my cell. Guard Davis, who had survived the purge, came with an official paper in his hand and a huge smile on his face.

"Jensen, I think that's for you." He said, handing the piece of paper.

Kurtis read the document and almost immediately broke down in my arms.

"I'm free, Ty." He simply stated.

I kissed him on the lips. First time we did that in public. It just felt so natural.

"You deserve that, Kurtis."

"You did that, Ty. You got me out of here."

I had never felt prouder. We would leave the prison together.

But wait... What did that mean for us? He kissed me again.

*******

I hope you enjoyed this somewhat *dramatic* chapter. Don't worry, sex is coming back for the two last installments of the story! Please share your comments and feedback!