Jailhouse Rock
We just got back from a long and windy road that led to Memphis and then outside of the city to the prison that holds my brother captive. He said they are unreasonable there, and well, let me just tell you that is only the half of it. I showed up and got turned away because Tin had sandals on and my sundress was sleeveless. We flew like banshees to WalMart and did a James Brown turnaround and returned only to be turned away because I had chosen khaki colored capris and was not allowed to wear that color. We flew like banshees back to WalMart and returned in a white peasant skirt down to my ankles. Of course this was on a few hours sleep as we got up at the crack of dawn to drive the hour to get there before 7 am because my sister-in-law had told us at a delicious barbecue dinner the night we arrived that we had to get their super early or we might not get in.
The good news – I spent time with my brother who has been there for ten years and much to my surprise seemed bent but not broken himself. He still had his sense of humor, his intellectual curiosity, and aside from the bald spot growing in the front of his hairline, he looked remarkably fit and well (except a little pale). He said the place makes him pale despite the fact that he does spend times outdoors.
My brother could have gotten out earlier if he had pled guilty but he refused stubbornly to give into their desire for him to plea bargain. He teaches the Hispanic inmates ESL and goes about his shrunken life in there waiting to get out, filing appeal after appeal to get out, and it seems it is no use because he has pissed off the people who get to hold their petty power over him.
The prison population has swollen recently he said, it is supposed to hold 1400 inmates, but instead they have 2,000. Not all of them can have jobs like him so most are just loafing away the days. The make-up is a third white, a third black, and a third Hispanic. About 90% are in there for drugs and the rest like my brother have done some sort of white collar crime.
It was a challenging day, from the stress of not knowing if I could get in after making this trip to leaving my brother behind as I was escorted back out. The good was that seeing my brother in person reminded me of the special relationship I have always had with him and why. He’s smart and charming, despite his rigidity. And the best is he got to meet Tin for the first time – who was not interested at first, since there were other kids there to play with, but soon even he succumbed to my brother’s charms.
Saturday evening when we had arrived we had delicious barbecue with my sister-in-law who has managed with great care and grace to navigate the decade aftermath of the ordeal with my brother.Later we took a quick tour of the Civil Rights Museum in the Lorraine Hotel, and then stayed up in our room for a picnic on the floor of pizza for Tin and a chopped salad for me and Tatjana. Today we toured the Peabody Hotel arriving just in time for the march of the ducks and then Beale Street where Tin got to groove out with a blues guitarist before leaving to drive home again.
Time goes by so swiftly, wasn’t it ten years ago that Miracle Baby was having her bat mitzvah, and then next thing you know, my brother had to report to prison, all of that seems to have happened yesterday, in a dreamlike nightmare, and I am hard placed to comprehend the time that has passed, so fast. So soon.
June 2nd, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Time does go by quickly, but I’ll bet it drags for your brother! This prison sounds horrible. That runaround about the clothes, is there anyway to bring that to someone’s attention–like 60 minutes journalists or anywhere it might help. That really is bit over the edge! I doubt people outside really know things like that go on there.
June 3rd, 2011 at 8:38 am
I spoke to a number of people waiting in line who agreed that every time they come to visit there is a hassle. I do believe it is the people who have they control of petty power who love to enforce that nonsense. Open toe shoes on a two year old – how utterly ridiculous. More ridiculous is that they have made all the prisoners have a count at 10 at night – so for those who go to sleep early now everyone has to stand up for a count even though there has never been an escape from that prison. Further, one woman said to me it is good your brother has the support he does, and I said well sometimes i want to wring his neck and she said, oh so do I, so do I about her own brother in there.