Clayton was very cheery today when meeting with his family and a friend for his daily visit. He'd received a letter from a friend the night before, and reading the letter had caused him to laugh so hard he nearly cried. He was also excited to report that the older man who he had feared died in the medivac emergency on March 5th didn't actually die, and was instead back in segregation.
Also contributing to Clayton's good humor, was the fact that tomorrow was commissary day. Due to an error on his account made by prison staff, this would be the first time that Clayton received any of his commissary orders since he was first remanded a month ago. He was looking forward to receiving paper, envelopes, stamps and other supplies necessary for writing return letters to friends and family. He planned to begin writing immediately.
Meanwhile, Clayton delivered his wife a message from Jones. “He says, Keep fighting! Way to go!” Clayton said. Jones apparently felt it was amazing to see someone's wife stand beside them, and attempt to battle a wrongful conviction from the outside.
Story From Seward
Jones had told Clayton a story today, however, which had saddened him and Clayton wondered how much truth there may be to it - but realized he would likely never know. Jones told him that once, while he had been serving time in the hole (isolation) in Seward, he'd learned his lesson to never do anything stupid enough to end up in long-term trouble with the prison staff. You could end up stuck with it for a very long time, and end up very miserable.
According to Jones, while sitting in his cell he could hear another man in isolation talking for days. The man sounded as if he were talking to his wife, but was instead talking to the walls around him. At some point many days later, the man attempted suicide. He had done so by stopping up the edges of his cell with towels and linens, and attempted to flood the room enough to drown using his own toilet and sink. The attempt was unsuccessful, but according to Jones the guards had chosen to leave the man to stand in the water for several days as punishment. He explained that he had been able to see the water come rushing out all over the floor when they finally opened it up to retrieve the man. He said the man never attempted to flood his cell again.
Bleeding Heart
Clayton explained that he still received all kinds of verbal abuse from the other inmates when being escorted to and from his cell for visits and showers each day, but that it was relatively easy to ignore. He also said it seemed obvious that the guards and prison staff were not used to dealing with an attitude like Clayton's.
"I'm a bleeding heart," he explained, "[The guards] in here are always telling me not to feel bad for these guys, but they're just so... sad."
Clayton's wife smiled as she remembered Clayton's own lawyers expressing their exasperation at him as he was commenting about how he felt so bad for the prosecutor on his own case; because of the kinds of lies the man was spewing out upon the jury during trial and his own foolish beliefs.
Clayton's guards also seemed to find Clayton's interactions with family odd, and had more recently been commenting to him about their surprise at how often he received visitors.
Also contributing to Clayton's good humor, was the fact that tomorrow was commissary day. Due to an error on his account made by prison staff, this would be the first time that Clayton received any of his commissary orders since he was first remanded a month ago. He was looking forward to receiving paper, envelopes, stamps and other supplies necessary for writing return letters to friends and family. He planned to begin writing immediately.
Meanwhile, Clayton delivered his wife a message from Jones. “He says, Keep fighting! Way to go!” Clayton said. Jones apparently felt it was amazing to see someone's wife stand beside them, and attempt to battle a wrongful conviction from the outside.
Story From Seward
Jones had told Clayton a story today, however, which had saddened him and Clayton wondered how much truth there may be to it - but realized he would likely never know. Jones told him that once, while he had been serving time in the hole (isolation) in Seward, he'd learned his lesson to never do anything stupid enough to end up in long-term trouble with the prison staff. You could end up stuck with it for a very long time, and end up very miserable.
According to Jones, while sitting in his cell he could hear another man in isolation talking for days. The man sounded as if he were talking to his wife, but was instead talking to the walls around him. At some point many days later, the man attempted suicide. He had done so by stopping up the edges of his cell with towels and linens, and attempted to flood the room enough to drown using his own toilet and sink. The attempt was unsuccessful, but according to Jones the guards had chosen to leave the man to stand in the water for several days as punishment. He explained that he had been able to see the water come rushing out all over the floor when they finally opened it up to retrieve the man. He said the man never attempted to flood his cell again.
Bleeding Heart
Clayton explained that he still received all kinds of verbal abuse from the other inmates when being escorted to and from his cell for visits and showers each day, but that it was relatively easy to ignore. He also said it seemed obvious that the guards and prison staff were not used to dealing with an attitude like Clayton's.
"I'm a bleeding heart," he explained, "[The guards] in here are always telling me not to feel bad for these guys, but they're just so... sad."
Clayton's wife smiled as she remembered Clayton's own lawyers expressing their exasperation at him as he was commenting about how he felt so bad for the prosecutor on his own case; because of the kinds of lies the man was spewing out upon the jury during trial and his own foolish beliefs.
Clayton's guards also seemed to find Clayton's interactions with family odd, and had more recently been commenting to him about their surprise at how often he received visitors.
In wrapping up their conversation, Clayton told his wife that he had three new verses he recommended that friends and family read: Psalms 102:18-28, Psalms 103:1-22, and Matthew 25:31-46. He also discussed different options for long-distance games he could play with his family, in addition to chess. When asked if he had access to dice through commissary, Clayton replied, "No, but back at MSPT I learned how people make prison dice." The family decided to wait on any games involving dice until Clayton could get access to a better commissary list after being moved out of segregation.
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