Chapter 4: Where Is She?

"I wonder why Lisa isn't back yet?" asked Samantha of nobody in particular at about this time. (Lisa's twelfth week away) She had been looking forward to having her friend back weeks ago.

"They've added some extra weeks to her punishment, Sam!" It was Sandra, that veteran of solitary, who answered her." It's so easy to slip up in your first days! And remember Lisa was new to prison life. By the time she'd learnt the ropes and come to appreciate just how strict things are here, she was bound to be looking at maybe four weeks more, just in her first day. If she'd been a bit more used to this life and then been sent down to solitary, she'd have done a whole lot better."

Sandra was going through one of her frequent guilty periods again. "Just her rotten luck to fall foul of an idiot like me on her first day. I could kick myself whenever I think about it. But she'll be out soon. I get the feeling she's no fool. She'll have taken herself in hand by now and we'll have her back in the next bed to you before too long!"

"I hope so!" said Samantha. She was a girl of Lisa's age and most of the others here were older than she. It had been like a breath of fresh air when the fresh and fragrant Lisa had plonked herself onto the next bed and smiled that sweet smile at her! Well, she'd be a little less fragrant now!

Six more weeks went by and Samantha was getting beside herself. But Sandra was unmoved.

"She could easily have incurred twelve weeks penalties in her first month, Samantha. I was an old hand when they slung me in there but I still got five more weeks. It takes time to adjust your thinking and sharpen up. Don't fret! It shouldn't be too long now. She'll be back in a month - maybe a lot sooner!"

Samantha nodded glumly. Sandra knew what she was talking about. Her time in solitary had indeed been lengthened and Lisa WAS very, very green and the guards would make absolutely no allowance for the girl's inexperience, coming down like a ton of bricks on the least infingement, callously adjusting the time switch whenever she did something wrong. She was just learning the hard way - like all the others. Except that the others weren't getting it anything remotely as hard as poor old Lisa!

Eight weeks after this, though, there was nobody in the dormitory who doubted that Lisa was in some kind of serious trouble. The general view was that she was ill. Sandra confirmed that prisoners in solitary received no medical treatment. They were isolated from all human contact for the duration - no matter what. Samantha plucked up the courage to ask to see the governor, since none of the regular guards seeemed to have a clue. She almost wet herself as she was ushered into his office, which she had never seen before. He asked her what was her problem.

"It's a girl I made friends with, Sir. Lisa is her name and she got into trouble on her first day and is in solitary. It's just that it's been twenty six weeks and she ought to have been out after eight for a first offence. I wondered if she has been taken ill. I'm sorry to disturb you, Sir. But I really liked her and I can't sleep at nights for worrying about her."

The Governor smiled in a kindly way. He liked Samantha, who would be out in less than three years, with all the remission she had earned by her exemplary behaviour. He went to a filing cabinet and looked at his records. When he looked back at Samantha his face was grim.

"Her offence was a triple one, Samantha. I'm sure you know what that means. And I decided that she should also serve the sixteen weeks that her lie almost cost Sandra. In her first month she committed a number of offences, each of which cost her an extra week's confinement. But she has learned to control herself by now and is becoming a model prisoner! All being well, she will be back with her comrades in ninety two weeks!"

Five minutes later, a concerned governor saw Samantha's eyes open. He looked relieved. He could be a stern man when it was called for, but it still came hard to him to have to be so strict with the fair sex!

"I am sorry to have made you faint. I had no idea that this prisoner could have had such an effect on you in so short a time. I am sorry you miss her, but the rules are the rules. If it makes it any easier for you, I will break a rule and show you your friend and you can see that she is in good health. Come along!"

The kindly governor took Samantha, sniffing and sobbing over the other side of his office and opened a sliding door. Behind the door were three TV monitors. Each showed a confined inmate standing naked in a tiny space. She recognised Lisa straight away.

"She looks very well, Sir. I was afraid she might have been taken ill. Her hair is lovely. It had been shaved off before she first came here and was only just starting to grow again. But she looks very healthy, although it's a little difficult to see much of her features from the angle the camera is trained on her."

Samantha gasped. Lisa had just turned her head up. She would frequently vary the monotony by looking up at the ceiling, guessing correctly that by so doing she would be looking directly into someone's eye! She was always careful to have no expression on her face. She feared that any sign of emotion might be interpreted as defiance and she was determined not to be defiant. She never lost sight of the fact that she was being justly punished for an act of weakness that disgusted her the more she thought about it.

She continued to look at the ceiling and Samantha continued to look down at her.

"Is she naked all the time, Sir? And she's having her period. It's awfully gruesome, leaving her like that at such a time. Couldn't you slip something through to her?"

The governor shook his head. Total nudity meant just that as far as he was concerned. But it was certainly a mess and he made a mental note to ask once of the women staff what she thought.

"I suppose it's quite warm in her cell, Sir" asked Samantha, getting braver all the time.

"Ten degrees. It's been that for twenty weeks and she looks fine on it, doesn't she. You said how healthy she looked."

"Yes, Sir. She is surviving. She must be really special. She looks so calm and serene. And more lovely than ever. I don't think any one has ever been in there as long as she has. I really admire her. I haven't any courage, Sir, and she has enough for an entire army!"

The governor indicated that the interview was over.

"So what did you learn Sam?" asked Sandra after work that evening. "You look pretty cut up! Bad news?"

"Just about as bad as it gets! She got the book thrown at her, Sandra. Nobody in the whole history of this prison has ever been awarded as long in the cooler as Lisa. You were right about her getting extra weeks. Every time she has her period they give her a week for messing up the marble floor of her nice clean little cell. I'd no idea those punishment cells were so tiny. It's inhuman! I don't blame you for not wanting to go back. I would kill myself sooner than go there! I got to see her on the monitor. She looks fine - more sweet than ever! And she is naked the whole time in that freezing cold!"

"How cold, Sam?"

"Ten degrees. How can she take that? But she seems to, all the same!"

Sandra looked grave.

"They're treating her a lot worse than they did me. Maybe the rules have been tightened up. Mind you, I was nude the whole time - that's the rule. But they kept the cell warm enough - say fifteen degrees. It wasn't exactly boiling in there, but you could take it! And I got issued tampons when I was there. Tell me everything, Sam!"

Samantha suppressed a sob and went on. "He said she will be back in ninety two weeks time. He said she's a model prisoner now after a difficult time to start with. She was given twelve extra weeks in her first nine weeks. But apart from the curse, she never gets awarded more weeks any more. It's so unfair, Sandra! She did a despicable thing blaming you for starting the fight, but she pretty soon made up for it! Maybe it was just to get the other women off her back, but I think it was more a matter of honour with her. She knew right away she'd done wrong.If only she'd discussed it with me first, I'm sure we could have worked out a better way of putting things right."