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Marion was the bottom of the barrel, the very worst prison the Feds had to offer. En route, when tagged a Marion prisoner, you are kept away from all other prisoners, state and federal. The trip can take weeks. At one stop-over, St. Claire County Prison, East St. Louis, I was kept in a diamond-plate, boxcar cell for two weeks. On the second day, the single light bulb blew out. My yells after days . . . turned into screams. Total darkness is an evil jailer.
I arrived at Marion on Thanksgiving eve. The prison was under an illegal lockdown ordered as a result of the killing of two guards. You could cut the tension with a shank. Everyone wanted to do harm on first sight, everyone. Even the guards. Especially the son of one of the slain guards, a guard himself, who was caught trying to poison the cell block where the killings took place.
I was the very first non-violent first offender to ever be sent to Marion directly from federal court. Chained together at the waist and ankles with two other prisoners, we waited in front of 20 club carrying guards. I alone was refused entry by the warden. I sat in the car for almost two hours while the federal marshals tried to get county jails in the area to accept me temporarily. But no county jail wanted a prisoner destined for Marion. Finally, after discussions with the federal prosecutor in Philly, I was escorted into the tomb.
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