C.: Well, I have the day off from my job at The Kennel today, so I have time to reread the rest of chapter twenty in d.c. soct’s A FULL PARDON: A GRAYING OF THE LAW; THE MAGRUDER MYSTERIES PENUTLIMATE CHAPTER.
June 5; 2035: Columbia, Texas; Southeast Texas Cluster of Prisons; Hildebrand Unit.
The inmate looked at his KOP meds in disgust. “This blister pack only has thirty pills. How is this supposed to last me three months?”
“That’s what the provider ordered for you. Next!” As the inmate exited the pill window, he noticed three other inmates coming toward him. He threw up his hands to indicate that he wasn’t going to cause any trouble, but he slept with one eye open for the next three nights. He knew the reputation of the three inmates who were approaching him, and he knew he didn’t want any trouble with them.
This inmate was aware of who was the real power in prison. The one inmate who had thought he could cross the Certified Medication Aide and get away with it had been sadly mistaken. Raul Robinson was on his way home when he visited the infirmary to get his medications. He needed the thirty-day supply of his blood pressure medication, along with his insulin to control type two diabetes. He knew he wouldn’t be able to see a provider in the free world for two to three weeks from his previous experiences. This was his third time to be released from prison after serving a short sentence for possessing a controlled substance without a prescription. Raul knew what he was due when he was released.
Raul looked at his packet, and then at the med aide. “You didn’t pack all my pills,” he said, with contempt.
“That’s what was sent for you from Huntsville. If you have a problem, write to them. You know the address.” With that, Manuel Raymond influenced the soon-to-be released prisoner out of the infirmary. Robinson, though, thought that the problem was closer to him than the main pharmacy for inmates housed in Texas’ Region three of correctional facilities. He filed a complaint with the warden at the Hildebrand Unit. When that failed to yield any results, he filed a complaint with the main pharmacy in Huntsville, but his efforts proved to be futile.
Raul Robinson disappeared from his family’s vista fifteen days after he was released from the Hildebrand Correctional facility. His body was found two weeks later in the Brazos River, thirty miles from his home. The death was ruled a suicide and the case was never pursued to any extent by the coroner’s office, despite his family’s objections. The coroner theorized that Raul Robinson was so accustomed to the familiar surroundings of the Hildebrand facility that he became distraught upon his release, so he threw his body into a body of water with a concrete block tied to his left ankle.
This death, however, served as a warning to all of the prisoners housed in the Hildebrand Unit, as well as other inmates who would be shipped there from other facilities in region three and other regions of Texas. The inmates were well aware of who was the real power in the Texas prison system.
***
When he returned to his apartment from his organization’s quarterly business meeting, Manuel Raymond was pleased to see the ten thousand dollar deposit in his account from the head of the organization. The don was being generous, Manny thought, because he was very successful in keeping the peace. Manny was the recipient of a generous amount of money from a grateful don of his organization. The don was always generous to those that helped accomplish a goal. He decided to be as generous as well.
***
Upon checking his commissary account at the Hildebrand Correctional Facility at the Southeast Texas Cluster of Prisons, inmate number 24682, a.k.a Ken Black, was pleased to see the one-thousand dollar deposit in his account. Inmate # 25387 and #26938, also known as John Riggillio and Jason Jackson were equally pleased to see the same amount of money had been deposited into their accounts. All three decided to share the wealth with the hardworking inmate in the laundry who had kept them all from being suspects in an incident that had occurred the night before. Having fresh blood on an inmate’s scrubs would raise suspicion with the security staff. Having reliable friends in important places wasn’t a luxury, but a necessity to these three men.
The four men were rewarded again at the morning pill window. Each received an envelope with their Keep On Person medications. Each knew not to open the envelope until he was alone and not being observed by security. When the men opened their envelopes and put away their keep on person medications, they were pleased to see they contained something looking like rough tea leaves.
The four men decided that one packet of the tea leaves would yield enough for all four of them for one night. They could then enjoy Ayahuasca, and the euphoric feeling it gave them on four different nights that way. The powerful psychoactive drug gave them a temporary escape from their incarcerated existence.
Manuel Raymond also benefited from the men taking these trips frequently. If they were addicted to the powerful drug, they would offer little resistance to the warden and her staff who kept the peace on the Hildebrand unit. They needed their regular fix to keep them all from feeling defeated in their present situation. This was a blessing to the security staff and Manuel Raymond, and to Jodie Lambert by proxy.
These men may have been the peacekeepers of the prison, but they were far from the children of God.
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