'THE WOLF'
For those of you who haven't experienced this...
Transporting hundreds of inmates from Rikers (in Queens) to Soho is an experience that begins at 6 in the morning. It entails rounding up hundreds of prisoners, many groups going to other boroughs like Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Once we're corralled from or housings units then put in packed inside holding cells for 2 to 3 hours waiting on the buses to come to take us to court.
The holding cells are packed so tight that not everyone has a place to sit. Luckily, men work well together. It's impressive to witness aggression and attitudes being suppressed due to a common understanding of an unavoidable situation.
When the fleet of buses to court does finally come we all can't fit on the first wave.
The sign of the bus arriving is the sound of the pile of handcuffs being carried in by the guards. Then the C/O's call out names and and little by little the holding cell dwindles.
If not you won't reach the court house by 10, you'll more than likely gonna be one of the unlucky ones who will catch the courts lunch breach. From there, you will not see the judge until 2 pm. And not get back to 'The Island' until 6 or 7 o'clock at night. That's 12 hrs of moving from hail to jail, from cell to cell and waiting.
Once your name is called your cuffed to another prisoner for the entire 45 min. bumpy bus ride to the Manhattan courthouse. Once there were forced to wait a half hr. because they still haven't gotten the inmates who came before us off their buses.
At times there would be 2 or 3 buses ahead of us. so we'd spend another 45 minutes for the C/O's to empty the buses that came before us.
At Least the driver played the radio while we waited.
I was stuck on Rikers Island on some bullshit charge sitting in some bullshit cell wit some bullshit Public Defender. Stuck on one felony and a misdemeanor charge.
This trip was basically a waste of my time, because I was going to court on the lesser charge. But have also been charged with a much more serious crime.
When I arrive in the holding cell there was already one other dude. He was having a heated conversation with his lawyer and an interpreter. He was Mexican.
In his broken English I came to find out that him an I were in a similar circumstance. Both of us facing felonies but in this holding cell dealing with bull shit misdemeanors that was gonna get ran concurrently with whatever our sentence was gonna be as far as our felonies.
His lawyer was a short, thick Spanish bitch wit a fat ass. She was made more sexy by the tight silky flowery skirt she wore.
At the end of the trios conversation, in a heavy Spanish accent, the Mexican said "You bother me with this bullshit misdemeanor in the feds!"
The thick Spanish chick says, "Well, we still have to get this worked out so you won't have to come back."
Pointing in the direction of the courtroom door the Mexican yells, "Then go! Go! The two females then turned heel and walked inside the courthouse.
The Mexican then turned his attention to me. And again in his broken English repeats, "I'm in the feds! They bring me all the way here for this bullshit!?
Based on my knowledge of the penal system. Even if you've already been sentenced, and have an unresolved case. Fed or state time the DOC has to bring you back to the jurisdiction where the crime was committed. No-matter how far away it may be.
So this guy had to go through the same crap that I had to go through this morning. Getting up early, going from holding cell to holding cell then taking a long bus ride handcuffed to another inmate for hours. Only to go through the holding cell merry go round again until you finally see a judge.
I could tell he wasn't lying by the way he was dressed. from one inmate to another I could tell he had been 'down' for awhile. He wore a dark blue silk shirt, slack, and black tie. I didn't ask. But I guessed he was in for moving serious weight.
He repeated that he. was doing fed time and "Them bitches think I worried about this bullshit case? I ready to back upstate! They bring my all the way back here for this bullshit? That bitch told me she could get it taken care of today! I say fuck that! Then go! Go! Take care this so I can go back. The fed better than this! You hear me?! I'm a wolf!"
Without saying a word. In a split second I stuck out my hand to give him a five. And in return, a split second later, he slapped my hand. The bond was complete. No other words needed to be said. He took a piss. While doing so the court cop came and escorted me inside the courtroom.
Once I was done, the court officer didn't put me back in the cell 'The Wolf'. Instead I'm taken back upstairs to another lock up section of the jail. When I passed by the holding cell 'The Wolf' exchanged a quick head nod towards one another and that was it.
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