Arizona State Prison for Women. Beginning September 24th, 1975, I would be calling this place home for the next several years having been sentenced to a mimimum of five, maximum of fifteen years imprisonment.
Oddly, in the brutal, violent, bigoted place, I disovered an almost indescribable bond among the women. I think perhaps, prison is like going to war. You have to fight for your life, stand together and try to come out intact. But some didn't. One woman, a marked 'snitch,' cut her own tongue out. Knowing someone had been ordered to do it, she decided to do it herself instead. Others hanged themselves. Some had objects forced inside them by angry mobs of young, no longer innocent women. Others took sleeping pills and tranguilizers to numb themselves and sleep their time away. Some crossed over to insanity years before anyone knew about mental illness. Some got to do plenty of drugs almost every day, especially pot. Others didn't. Some were taken behind buildings every day and beaten. Other delivered the beatings. All were changed.
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