25th Sept 04

Penguin the sausage-dog snatcher


Last week, David was notified that he was about to be moved to a regular prison. As this is his first imprisonment, he was nervous. Perhaps it was the added stress that caused his usual peculiar behaviour to become more bizarre. He would approach the toilet (about five feet from my bunk), drop his boxer shorts so that his behind was facing me, clench his cheeks so he could manipulate his behind crack as if it were a mouth, and say over and over again in a woman's voice, “I love you.”

His wind became so loud it would wake me up in the middle of the night. Even the residents of the upstairs run complained about it. On Tuesday, after a little verbal resistance, the guards extracted a terrified David from our cell.

It seems David was suffering from PTSD due to all of the deaths in his family. Before his departure from SMU he revealed more details of how his father, Jeff, had been murdered. Jeff had been a member of the Hells Angels. In the 80s the Hells Angels had became involved in a dispute with a rival biker gang called the Dirty Dozen. Jeff, in his truck, had driven over a number of Harley Davidsons that were parked outside of a Dirty Dozen bar in Sunnyslope ( in north-central Phoenix). Unfortunately, his truck got caught on one of the bikes, and as Jeff was trying to free his vehicle, a large number of Dirty Dozen members surrounded him and shot him to death. There were no murder convictions because the defence successfully argued that Jeff’s truck had been used as a deadly weapon. The incident was on the national news.

The inmates are calling my new cellmate Penguin, because he resembles the Batman comic-book character. Penguin is 32-years old and he has a pentagram tattooed on his forehead. In the last two months, I have been housed with two inmates both with pentagrams tattooed on their foreheads. At least Penguin is not a blood drinker, like Loney, my first pentagrammed cellmate.

Penguin is mentally and physically handicapped. His ailments include acid reflux, diabetes and high blood pressure. He has suffered seven head traumas and his IQ is 72. He was sentenced to two years for burglarizing a sausage dog. Some young lads goaded Penguin into rescuing a supposedly abused dog. Penguin inspected the thin canine in a neighbour’s yard and determined it was a worthy cause. Unbeknownst to Penguin however, the dog was naturally decrepit from old age. The youths had played a prank on Penguin. Penguin rescued the dog. He was then charged with burglary in the third degree, and held on a $1530 bond.

I was told that I will be moved to a medium-security prison in two to three months time. I am reading, writing and studying as much as possible while I am still locked down. The vegetarian diet is the best chow I have tasted since being arrested. I rank it just below Denny's food. I am slowly but surely gaining back my weight. I’ve had a smile on my face since the Guardian article, due to the continued letters of support I am receiving from all over the world. Your letters have eased my woes. Thank you all, ever so much!