Prison Transfer Leaves Prisoners Sore and Exhausted

 On August 18th, I was transferred to another prison facility. I knew this transfer was coming, though it didn't turn out how I expected. I was supposed to go to one prison, to help the fledgling college program started there. Instead, I was sent to a level one prison, where corrections programming, college courses, and other programs have been up and running for a while now. 

Still, the transfer itself was quite an experience. 

At about 6:30 in the morning, after a night locked down because of a very bad assault in my housing unit, I was sent to the control center to ride out. I had packed my property the night before and sent it to the property room for my transfer. 

After the next hour being shackled and handcuffed to belly chains with several other prisoners, I proceeded, with the same two officers escorting me, through no less than four checkpoints, stopping to give my name and prison number at each checkpoint. Then, I piled into the transport van with the other prisoners and started our journey. 

We stopped at several other prisons along the way to pick up other prisoners, each one loading on the transport bus with us. As the bus filled up, we were forced to double up in the too small seats, one prisoner leaning towards the aisle while the other leaned towards the window. The discomfort of the too small seats was magnified many fold by our inability to adjust our arms, which were secured inches from our hips. Have you ever noticed how much your nose itches when you can't scratch it? 

After numerous stops along the way, including at some prisons that were to be final destinations for some of the bus occupants, we arrived at a central hub in St. Louis, Michigan. It was nearly eleven-thirty by the time we arrived. We were escorted off the bus and directed to holding cages. The cages sat inside a concrete floored garage, each cage bare, except for benches to sit upon. 

For the next hour and a half, we sat in the cages as more and more prisoners were offloaded from other buses and escorted into the pens. We were given a bathroom break, still in shackles and belly chains, shortly after arriving. 

Finally, the cage I was in was opened, and we prisoners were herded onto another, older and more rattly bus. As we climbed aboard, we were handed a bagged lunch--consisting of a cheese sandwich, a peanut butter sandwich, an apple, and a nasty "lemonade" drink. It's very difficult, but not impossible, to eat anything while in belly chains. 

After another two hours of driving and stopping, I soon arrived at my destination. It was not the prison I had expected to be transferred to. (Thankfully, it sounds like this mistake will soon be corrected.) Upon arrival, I and two other prisoners offloaded and went through processing (strip searched, medical "evaluation," and lots more waiting) before arriving at our assigned housing unit in the late afternoon. It was an exhausting experience. More on this experience next post.