Arrival

Act 1

Scene 1 – Arrival:

Tuesday, 6pm, I arrived at Foothills Correctional Institution on the same day I was sentenced to twenty to twenty-five years. “I” wanted to leave Guilford County Juvenile Detention Center. It was a long drive from the court room and my lawyer brought me food, so my stomach was hurting on the road, and I had to use the bathroom bad!!

When I got to the entrance, it said “Morganton.” There was a prison beside the mountains, then there was a smaller prison for Honor Grade, green clothes.

The first thing I said when I passed the metal detector was, “Man, I gotta use the bathroom.” The guard pointed in the direction of an open porta potty looking restroom area. Man, I was so disgusted, but I had to go. I had no choice either here when he got tissue or when he had none in the block I was at.

After I used the bathroom, I got my stuff and carried it to my cell, where they put me in Lower D Unit North Wing on the Juvenile side. I was seventeen years old.

Scene 2:

Continued the next day of my first day of prison. Mr. Taylor, the Unit Manager, came and got me and took me into his office. The first thing he asked was do I gang bang and what I plan on doing while I’m here. I told him to rehabilitate myself and keep my head in books.

He was surprised because I was seventeen, talking like I was thirty, so he allowed me to read from his personal library.

I had to go through processing, so I couldn’t get a tablet, or I couldn’t get to the canteen. Later the same day, Mr. Taylor came and got me and set up my Global Tel Link so I could make a call. After I got the voice thing right and I made a four-digit pin, I called Ms. Amy Jackson. I love her so much; she is a blessing to my heart. I had good people in my life.

I could only call once, so I asked Taylor, “A, when can I get my tablet?”

“When you get your ID and when you finish processing, because right now, you have no Opus number.”

He then told me to go back to Lower D Unit and look back. We stayed in the room for twenty-three hours a day.

Scene 3:

Tuesday 8pm, I got to my cell. I was quiet for a couple of days. Being in Foothills, I only knew one person, but I didn’t want to bring back old friends that weren’t there for me when I was on the outside. I knew him because he used to pull up to my house all the time. My momma liked him out of all the friends I had. His name was Seth.

A C.O. came to my cell one day after me being there. I went to diagnostics where they did my fingerprints and pictures, then gave me a card. It said “Felon” on the bottom and the date I received it, when it goes old, and when I have to get a new one made. After I got that all done, I went through with the PREA tape and questions, then I was sent back to my cell. Man, I was devastated from the long bus ride and being in the courtroom in front of all those people.

I finally got to sleep and woke up to these two idiots yelling back and forth through the trap.

End of Act 1

Scene 4:

“A,” lil bruh, “A, twelve down, you up?”

I didn’t answer. Then Seth called me. “A, Tae Tae, you know who dis is right?”

I yelled back, “Naw, who dat?”

“This Seth. I used to come to yo house with Dfoe and his brother. Was good cuzz, oh wassup?”

He asked me how much time I got. I told him twenty to twenty-five years.

Someone yelled, “He coping.”

I yelled back, “Who are you and why are you talking to me?”

He didn’t say nothing back.

Seth asked, “What you in for again?”

“I’m locked up for murder, but I was charged with second degree murder.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I took an open plea bargain.”

Eventually, I got tired of talking and I told Seth I gotta make a call and tell my mom I’m in Foothills.

Seth said, “Tell yo mom I said hey.”

I told him, “Alright.”

I lied tho. I just didn’t want to talk.

Act II

Scene 5 – Turning Point:

Wednesday 8am.

After a few days of being in Foothills, people started to find out who I am and what charge I got. I woke up one day to a person screaming, “Tae, Tae.”

I said, “Yeah,” then he told me that his big homie told him that I killed his girlfriend’s cousin.

That caught my attention because first he said his first and last name and told me where it happened. Then he asked, “Why you kill that man?”

I didn’t answer him because I was still surprised that he knew about my case. He got mad and told me that they gone get me when I age out. Age out is when you turn eighteen and they move you upstairs.

I finally get money put on the phone by Amy. I told her that I was here with the victim’s cousin or family member.

Scene 6:

Mind me, I didn’t know it until I was told by an inmate. He asked me, “A, Tae, why you shoot that old man?”

I got up, put my book down and came to the vent.

I said, “What you say?”

He then said, “You know what I’m talking about. That dude you killed in his house.”

I knew what he was talking about. I just didn’t act as if I knew because, first, I was confused on how he knew about it and, second, that it happened in a house.

After sharing this with Amy, she got a little worried and told my lawyer, then my mom eventually found out, so she asked Amy to tell my lawyer to try and get me shipped out to a different prison. I didn’t want to leave because I was trying to finish school, but on my eighteenth birthday at twelve o’clock, they came and got me. I thought I was going to age out, but they took me to lock up.

Scene 7:

They took me to F Unit down the hall from Lower D Unit. They told me to be ready at 2 o’clock, I’m shipping out. When I get to the cell, the cell looked like a cave with a locked door with no key. It was miserable. I had to try to sleep. I found a piece of paper and wrote “Tae was here,” then I wrote the date, then my release date.

Somebody called me. They said, “A, you was over there with snake?”

I told him, “Yeah.”

He asked me, “What is your name?”

I said, “Tae.”

He instantly yelled, “Oh, you the one that killed my cousin!!”

I was stunned. I didn’t know what was going on, so I just listened to what he was saying, but of course, I still denied it.

I did just that until I heard the click of my door. A guard opened the cell and said, “A, Morrow, get your stuff, you leaving.”

Scene 8:

2am. It is early in the morning when they finally come and get me so they can transfer me to a different prison. I didn’t know where I was going, I just knew that I was shipping out.

I asked the officer in the passenger seat what prison will I go to and would I be close to home. He told me it was their job to keep me far from home and that he couldn’t tell me. I didn’t question him; I just was surprised by his comment. So, I just lay down and enjoyed the ride.

When we were on the highway, I started to think about my first novel I wrote but lost it when I sent it home to my mom. The highway reminded me of the title, swerving through lanes and that name was also the name of the first time thinking about writing a book.

Scene 9:

I stayed up the whole ride to the other prison I was going to.

When we got there, I realized I was locked up around the corner from Granville. The prison used to be Polk and I used to be locked up at CA Dillon, a juvenile detention center down the road from where I at.

We had to wait for a while outside the gates of the prison. The two officers got out and put their weapons in a locker. Then I saw a guard pull up in a transfer van. They went to talk to him while I sat in the back.

I was hungry, so I opened some chips which Foothills had put in my lunch bag, then I waited longer. After about 20 minutes, they cleared the count, and I had to go through the same process as Foothills. But it was kinda weird when they told me to drop my drawers, squat and cough, then lift up my other remainings. Then I was sent to C1 D Block. There were a lot of older guys in there at the time, so in my head, I’m like, “Yes”—I was ready to get away from people my age.

Scene 10:

When I went into the Block, I walked in with my head up, confused. An old head came up to me and said, “What room you lil ‘bruh’?”

I said, “I don’t know.” They asked the officer where will I sleep. They told me to go to D three-one-six. When I got up there, there was a big guy beside me in room three one seven. He was cleaning up. He asked me, was I new? I said, “Yeah, I came here this morning from Foothills.”

He then asked me where I’m from. I told him I was from Burlington. He told me there was somebody here from Burlington too. He called him. He was “A” Tone. Tone came out and the person beside me, I can’t remember his name, he told Tone that I was from Burlington. Tone asked me who my people were and who I hang around. The people I saying he didn’t know, then he realized that I was young.

He asked, “How old are you, you prolly know some of my nephews?”

I told him I was eighteen years old.

Scene 11:

My birthday was yesterday. I told him I came from Foothills. After we builded together, we parted. He told me, “Ima holla at you Lil Bruh.” In my head I’m like, why in the hell these people keep calling me Lil Bruh, now that I’ve been here seven months!? I don’t mind being called Lil Bruh because, being the youngest in the compound, I can do more stuff than other people, like EC classes. I could work and go to school, but I had just got there, and I wasn’t enrolled in school.

That kinda made my time feel like it was going in slow motion. The intercom beeped loud in the block. They said something, but I couldn’t hear it, so I asked the dude beside me what was that? He told me, “Oh, it’s count time, they gotta do their count, we’ll be back out in an hour.” I said, “Alright.” I already started to like it here. So far, I had no problems.

End of Act 11

After they cleared the count, they called rec call. I was kinda happy to hear that because at Foothills, they didn’t take us outside, we just went to the gym. When I got outside there were already people out there. The school block was out, playing a basketball game, so I sat down and watched.

I got to talking to this old coon. I said, “A, when can I get a tablet?” He told me to talk with the unit manager and just wait. The dude beside me in my block called me, he was walking the track on the yard. I went over to him, doped him up, “Wassup AKK?” He told me, “Don’t be talking to everybody.” Because the person I was talking to likes boys. In my head, I didn’t care about that. I just wanted a conversation and I was just curious. But mind me, this was my first time in prison.

We had to go back in the block for chow. I got my food and went to the third tier and sat down on the stairs and ate. A CO came in the block and told me I had to move from the stairs, so I went in my room to eat. The dude in the room beside me said, “A, Tae, I wasn’t tryna be rude out there, but you can’t just go up and talk to everybody.” I said, “Yeah, but I don’t judge people, that is for God to do.”

Next day at Granville, I met the Unit Manager. His name was Mr. Walker, white-looking guy. I really didn’t like him at first because of how long it took him to give me my tablet. I mean, it was right beside him. I know it wasn’t that much paperwork to do. Mr. Walker told me to go to the C2 connector. I didn’t know where that was, so I went back to my block C1 D and asked.

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This is a small portion of a book I’m working on. I am honored for anyone to hear my thoughts. Thank you