Chapter 2: Lisa Punished

"Who started this" shouted a purple faced warder.

Unfortunately, Lisa's father had not had anything to say about prison codes of honour, so when it came to answering this question, Lisa was on her own, without parental wisdom to guide her. And the silly girl spoke the truth, which is a commodity always best doled out in small measures!

"She did, Ma'am. She kept pushing me and then she punched me!"

"Well! You sure got the worst of it. But you'll be Ok. Go and get cleaned up! No need to report sick. And I believe your story!" She seized the other woman, saying, " Come along, you! Back to solitary. Some women never learn! Let's see how you like it this time!"

This was when Lisa saw that her attacker was barefoot. If only she had known that this fracas was going to cost the girl twenty four weeks in solitary, she would have kept her mouth shut. She saw, now, that this was what she ought to have done in any case. At school what she had just done was called sneaking and would result in the guilty party being stripped and made to run a gauntlet of wet towels, having her body flicked until it was raw. She had no doubt that some colourful bit of prison chastisement would come her way after today's offence. At the very least, her name would be mud from now on. The worst part, though, was being so ahamed of herself.

That night Lisa was ostracised in the dormitory and the remorseful, distraught girl felt that she would be willing to do anything to redeem herself in the eyes of the others. Samantha was sympathetic, but reproachful.

"If the two of you had refused to answer, they would most likely have taken no action against either of you. The most you'd both have got would have been a few extra duties and maybe a bit of a caning on that delicious and womanly bottom. But Sandra is a tough girl. She will get through it and we'll have a topless girl on the block! She's got pretty good tits, really, so she won't mind showing them off!"

At work next day, Lisa was attacked again, this time by two girls, who shoved her from behind and called her a filthy little snitch. She was soon engaged in another fight. She fought pretty well, as she brushed off a punch to the eye by replying in kind, knocking the girl down and having just the other woman to deal with while the first slunk off. Neither of these two was as big as Sandra. But she was slightly shaken and bruised by the time they were separated. This time saw exactly what she must do to restore her standing with the others, to say nothing of her own self-esteem. This was her chance!

"Who started this!" said the same warder, looking at Lisa angrily. Fighting was getting to be a habit with this newcomer, who had looked to be relishing the encounter, even if she was getting thumped again. This was a just observation. Lisa was getting to like fighting back and had determined that she would not always be the loser! Her brother had often told her of the scraps he had been in and she had regretted being a girl at times. Now she was finding that she could be a girl AND get into fights. It was quite fun, despite her black eye from today and cut lip from yesterday!

"I did, Ma'am." said Lisa. "And I further admit to having started it yesterday. I was afraid of getting into trouble on my first day and I'm very sorry!"

Hell!, she thought. In eight weeks she would be back with her cell-mates and no longer a pariah. It would be two months in solitary very well spent. Despite this, Lisa had a distinctly queasy feeling in her stomach as she made her admission, but she was still pumped up with adrenalin after the fight. In any case, she knew she was doing the right thing - the only thing she could do. Nothing further happened that day, except that Lisa found herself suddenly very popular with the other girls.

"That was incredibly brave of you, Lisa." said Samantha. "I'd never have had the guts to do that! I just hope you know what you're letting yourself in for! I didn't tell you the half of it when I was talking about solitary yesterday. You'll find out soon enough, though! But you've saved Sandra twenty four weeks there and you'll only get eight and be barefoot for three years. She'll thank you for that when she comes back! I suppose you'd have soon enough got a spell in the cooler, though! Let's face it, Lisa, that fight would never have got so nasty if you'd not reacted like you did. You're quite a spitfire on the quiet!"

Sandra was sitting on her bed when they all trooped back from the yard and the first thing she did was shake Lisa's hand and then kiss her.

"Thanks a million, Lisa. After my first stretch there I was sure I'd never last twenty four weeks. My nerve had completely gone and I'd just about given up hope when they came and let me out. It took a few hours because they needed the governor to operate the door and he was in town for a meeting. I'm sorry about starting that incident. If I'd known you'd hit me back, I'd never have touched you! You've got quite a punch for a young one!"

"Nothing like yours Sandra!" said Lisa, rubbing her still swollen jaw. In the morning Lisa was ordered to accompany the guard.

Samantha, Sandra and the others whispered various bits of encouragement. "Best of luck, Lisa. See you in eight weeks! It'll pass in no time and we'll all be thinking about you. Just do as they tell you and keep all the silly rules and you'll soon enough be out, and we'll all have great times together!"

Samantha followed her to the door of the dormitory and added "Just remember, Lisa! No mattter how lonely you are you have plenty of friends up here thinking about you!"

Within minutes Lisa was in the Governor's office. The charge sheet was read out to him and he took off his glasses and looked sternly at her.

"This is a very poor start, young lady. I see you are a person of apparently good character -at least before committing the offence which brought you here, but the rules of this prison are quite clear. As I see it, you are guilty of three discrete offences and I shall deal with them as though they had been committed over a period of time rather than all at once. Firstly you started a fight yesterday and then another one today. And we have the third offence of lying about yesterday's incident. Our system of punishments is very simple. You serve eight weeks in isolation for a first offence of this gravity. For a second offence you serve sixteen weeks, and not only that, but you must re-serve the first sentence. For the third offence you serve twenty four weeks and must first serve all previous time again."

Lisa was quaking in her boots by this time. Her mind tried to work out just how long she would be immured in the dreaded solitary block, which none of the prisoners ever liked to be anywhere near - let alone in. Just what had her chivalrous and spurious admission of guilt got her? Eight plus sixteen plus eight... her head was spinning and she gave up! It was a hell of a long time, that was for sure! Perhaps the governor would explain just how many weeks she was going to serve for offences she had not committed. She thought of retracting her confession, but decided she was in too deep and would only make matters worse by not going through with it now. She would sooner die than lose face with Samantha and Sandra and didn't imagine she could get out of this even if she did change her story. The governor was obviously one of these men whose minds run on rails. She was for it, and there was no point even thinking about getting out of it!

She wished she had more idea about what to expect. She had seen a film once when a female prisoner was sent to "The Hole." It had been a rat-infested pit, awash with stagnant water. She guessed that this was the kind of spot she was to be thrown into to spend the next few months. As far as her total time in solitary was concerned, she had almost worked it out by now and it did nothing for her peace of mind. The governor confirmed her worst fears, but not quite.

"So the position is this. Your first offence of starting a brawl costs you eight weeks, your second of starting on two of your new comrades only hours after your first bit of aggression, sixteen, bringing your total to date to twenty four and you must serve the first eight weeks again. We are up to thirty two, already! This thirty two will be added to the twenty four for your third offence bringing your total time in solitary to fifty six weeks. I have also decided that you shall serve the sixteen weeks that your comrade would have served had you not owned up, although not the eight from her first sentence. That makes seventy two weeks in total. This will not be added to your sentence of three years, but you will lose all remission and serve the entirety of your sentence without any possibility of parole, which you would otherwise have been eligible for after only one year. Your punishment will date from the time the cell door closes on you! Do you accept that you are being fairly dealt with?"

"Yes, Sir.I see the logic of what you say and I accept my punishment as being according to the rules. But are your calculations correct, Sir? By your reasoning I must serve the first thirty two weeks again before I can start the final tweny four weeks. That's sixty four plus twenty four and then Sandra's sixteen added on top.I am in for one hundred and four weeks, I think you will find!"