Elk’s eyes reactively glanced to the door as it closed shut behind him. I imagine that must've been the most frightening sound he'd ever heard. More than gunfire, more than screams, more than threats.
*click….
You're trapped in here now.
The man who closed it placed himself between Elk and the only way out of that room as the others inside rose from their seats. He couldn't hide his fear at this moment, knowing what came next. There were no words exchanged beyond Elk attempting, “guys, come on…”
They didn't let him out for almost an hour.
We once had an innocent man on my block. We’ll call him Elk.
Years ago, Elk was doing time in my prison for the murder of his mother-in-law and for the rape and assault of his wife's young niece. This man was doing Pedo time in my house and it was as bad as you could possibly imagine. You're going to want to take a seat for this one because I'm about to tell you something you've never heard before.
Elk started his time off in a medium security prison far from mine. Both in distance and in kind. The kind of prison we called a “retirement joint”, where the inmates had gardens and real libraries and even pets. Soft time. Easy time. Like a country club with three-hots and a cot. However, this middle aged man just kept getting into trouble over and over again. So much trouble that the State decided to raise his security.
However, that apparently wasn't enough to get Elk to act straight. They sent him to a nearby Close-security prison where he never hit the breaks and continued to cause problems. Finally the Ohio DRC said, "oh, ya want to keep actin’ up? 'ight, we got what you lookin’ for fam", and they shipped him to us, The 'Field, where rowdy boys learn what rowdy is.
We were notorious in that anyone causing the State too much headache eventually found their way to us. We were the “you gon’ learn’ joint. Even in Ohio's only Maximum security prison, Lucasville, if you kept poking the bear, the State would actually lower your security just to send you to us. Dante had a line for a place like ours.
That said, even after Elk had reached my joint, he kept up that destructive cycle. Getting into trouble, going to the Hole, then to a new block on the compound. Round and round until he eventually landed in mine. None of us paid any attention to this bizarre pattern and treated him just like any other diaper sniper unlucky enough to land there. Brutally.
Elk was a smallish, middle aged man with a slight build and mustache. I hate to say this, knowing what I know now, but he looked the part. I remember how he'd poke his head into the poker room asking for a cigarette and the fellas would get at him for having the nerve to speak. It was pedo common knowledge to not come into our spaces or do anything really to draw attention to himself. I remember looking up from my cards with a smirk thinking this one was a special kind of dumb.
Who could've imagined how wrong I was?
We'd catch him trying to sneak in to grab our leftover cigarette butts like one of those dope fiends you'd see going through ashtrays outside the gas station. Given we were like junkyard dogs when it came to child molesters, this was an unbelievably difficult heist to pull off. Elk got knocked around quite a lot and that doesn't even cover the greater terrors he was subjected to.
Then came the day that the guards and Highway patrol came to collect one of the guys in our lock. Some Skinhead nobody whose name I don't recall. I just remember he was some low level soldier that frankly didn't rise to the level of anyone I had to concern myself with. That in itself wasn't unusual. Those guys were getting grabbed up all the time. What stood out is they took this Pedo at the same time as him. That's noteworthy. We figured this skinhead had been raping him secretly and Elk had somehow managed to get word to someone who'd actually care.
We were wrong.
As details filtered down to us, this “Pedo” was placed into protective custody while the skinhead was taken to the county jail and charged with the identical set of crimes Elk had been serving all these years for. This captured everyone's attention. Stay with me, it's about to get wild.
You see, this Not-a-Pedo Elk had been in the county jail the same time as this skinhead years ago while fighting his case. The skinhead had just taken a plea to do 10 yrs for a series of robberies he'd committed. All of which were in Elk’s neighborhood in the same time period. What a strange coincidence?
Elk, with some research help from his wife on the outside, knew that was the guy who'd actually did it, however no one listened to him. The cops already had their guy and completely ignored this possible alternative suspect. So Elk decided he'd have to find a way to prove it himself. The problem was that he landed in the wrong joint. That said, it was common knowledge that that if you got into enough trouble in an Ohio prison, you'd eventually land in The ‘Field. Exactly where his target resided.
Elk began the long and painful process of doing whatever it took to get himself shipped to the absolutely worst prison he could possibly be in. A prison that was infamous for its treatment of those doing time for charges like his. The modern day equivalent to a slave volunteering to face the lions in the Roman coliseums. Once there, and in the correct lock, Elk went to work.
He wasn't bumming cigarettes because he was having a nic-fit. He was specifically trying to get one of the skinheads used butts. A Herculean task given he was liable to be attacked on sight.
However, Elk needed the DNA and it wasn't as if he could collect a hair sample from a skinhead. Finally he managed to get his hands on one and sent it out to his wife who'd been playing private investigator since the police ignored them. That DNA was a perfect match to DNA found at the crime scene. Evidence that the prosecutors had not only ignored but failed to share with the defense since it didn't match their suspect.
His charges were immediately overturned.
Elk went through Hell on Earth to not only prove his innocence but also caught the real culprit in the process. Everything that could have been stacked against him was in his way like steel crash gates. He had lost everything and lived through abuses you couldn't imagine. Some by my own hand I regret to say.
That is a degree of strength I do not know.
Today Elk is a very rich man after successfully suing the state. The skinhead, on the other hand, is now doing time for his new convictions. The State sent him back to the 'Field to enjoy extra portions of what Pedo's endure. The irony wasn't lost us as we waited outside the transport bus for him to work up the courage to exit. I don't regret to say what followed.
*Click
If anyone needs to see what a real stand-up guy is, look no further than Elk. DAMN.
Wow. Just wow.