Part Two of Revenge

by Jay Goodman

This is part two of the takeover of the United States Penitentiary, in Hazelton, West Virginia. The last several chapters I have written about a man from Kentucky, who came to prison with a 10-year sentence but now has over 28 years behind bars. Even though I allow myself to believe that I’ve seen it all, or heard it all, something comes along to show me different.

At the end of my last chapter, I explained how the crew KY run with and had plotted for months to take revenge against a guard who has stolen the drugs they have stashed. It has taken several months before their plan was able to happen. But finally, it all came together. Now they have the guard locked in a cell with the shot caller, and several of his loyal associates. KY finished telling me this morning about what happened, I noticed he went through a lot of different emotions. Like before, he was a real good in telling me a great detail how everything went down. But, unlike before, I saw he was in a good mood, almost smiling as he told me what had happened. So, I asked him, “you seem to enjoy the story,” I said. “Jay, do you have any idea how much I despise most of the people who work here?” “No,” I said. “The people who work here are truly the scum of the earth!” “Come on now, surely there has to be a few here that are okay?” “Jay, for the few here that are “okay,” as you said, to me, they are just as bad.” “Do you know why,” I asked. “Because they see what’s going on. They are well aware of how this place is run, and not lifted a finger to change things. To me, they are no different than the guards or the ranking officer in administration. What’s the difference in a person who is committing crimes, or the one standing around that have the power to stop it, yet do nothing?” I thought about what he said, and I could see his point.

Now I saw anger in his face, and I asked him what the problem was? He answered, “if someone working here would have had the guts to turn the criminals in who works here, I could’ve gone home decades ago. Jay, I came to prison with a 10-year sentence. I wasn’t a killer before I came here. These people turn me into a killer. I was just a young guy with a drug problem, I have never in my life hurt anyone before I step in prison. So to me, even the ones who work here that don’t commit crimes like the rest of them, I have no respect for them. Because they are just as guilty as the ones who do.” “So, were you happy this night when you all had taken this guard hostage?” “Yes, I was. I looked at the fear in his eyes, and I was glad. The guards usually stand around watching us kill people for them. They stand there with the smiles on their face while people get murdered or are screaming and begging for their lives. The way I looked at it was, now you will get to see how it feels, you will maybe understand how those people they’ve had us murder for themselves at the last minute or two of their lives.” “You must’ve really hated the person this place has turned you into,” I said. I could see him thinking about it. “For me, I had never in my life I thought about killing another human being. I was a kid who grew up in Kentucky. I had a good mom and dad and I had a lot of friends, and a pretty girlfriend. But, like so many other American kids, I got addicted to drugs, and I stole things to support my habit. I can’t say I hated them for turning me into a killer because it’s only by turning into a killer that has allowed me to live, and hopefully go home someday soon.” “Do you hate the system for what they allow to go on more than the ones who work here?” “Truthfully Jay, I hate all of them, because I know they both work hand-in-hand.” “Well, tell me. What happened that night,” I asked. “The shot caller did what he did best, plan everything out until we were able to execute it. We now have the guard locked in the cell with us, and when we checked through our cell window, our crew members had taken hostage the others who thought it was funny what this idiot did to us, and how he talked to our shot caller.” “No one from upfront seen what happening through the cameras?” “No.” he said. “Half of the time nobody is even watching. They only use the cameras when they need to rewind for something. Our shot caller started asking the guard, if he still thought it was funny? He answered back, “no.” “Why not? You did before.” The guard said, “listen, I know that I fucked up. But, if you give me the opportunity I’ll make it up to you.” “As I told you before, that’s not important to me. I don’t want your money or your help. The only thing that matters is respect.” KY said, “for once, I was actually happy with how our shot caller was dealing with this. In the past I only looked at him as a sociopath, but this evening I saw another side of him. The shot caller walked to our cell window and hand signed with our other crewmembers. They talked back-and-forth for a few minutes, and he told them to beat the guard. But, to not get carried away. They wanted him to live. He asked the guard, “do you have a family?” “The guard said, “yes, I have a wife and kids.” “How do you think they are going to feel when you don’t come home tonight?” I saw tears come to his eyes, and he got so choked up he wasn’t able to answer. Then the shot caller said, “tell me, since you can’t answer how your wife and children will feel, knowing we aren’t ever coming home?” “I imagine they’ll hurt too,” the guard answered. The shot caller said, “see now you are starting to understand our position. We made a mistake just like you did, a lot of people in this prison are sorry for what they did and I’ve asked for another chance to make it right. Just like you, ask me to give you a second chance. Then we come here and do whatever we can to hustle and make some money to help our families. And we help the people who work here make tons of money. But somewhere in your minds you start believing that we are less than you are. That we are just a bunch of criminals that you can believe deserve no mercy. But that’s a big mistake on your part, because once you started thinking this way, you have forgot one big important thing. Do you know what that is?” “No,” answer the guard. “You only get to go home at the end of the day because we allow you to go home.” The shot caller walked back to the cell window and started speaking in hand sign for a few minutes. He then had the guard come to the window to look at how bad the other two guards were beaten. “Well, there’s what happens when you think it’s funny to fuck over us.” He hand signed to our friends to ask the other two guards if they thought it was still funny how their fellow guard had stolen from us? Both answered “no.” Now the shot caller asked this idiot if he still thought it was funny? “No,” he answered. The shot caller said “I have a special surprise for you, sit back down.” KY told me, the shot caller took out his cell phone and dialed the number. When some lady answered it, he turns on the speaker, it was the guard’s wife. The shot called her told her that her husband was there with him, and that she wouldn’t see him ever again. “What, who is this?” The shot caller told the guard to explain to his wife what he had done. As he tried to tell her he broke down and started weeping. By the end they both were crying and begging him not to kill her husband.

By now our brother told us that the others were coming in to see where this idiot was. The shot caller took the phone away from him and hung up on his wife. Then he told the guard to pay close attention. Then he asked him, “do you want to live?” The guard was crying so bad by now he could hardly answer. “Yes, please!” He then told him that when the captain talked with him later, that he better tell him the exact truth to why this was happening. The guard promised on his children he would. He told all of us to hold the guard in the back of the cell with our shanks out. When the guard finally found all of us, they looked shocked to see what had happened. The shot caller told the guards, “If they try to open the cell door, his friend would kill the guard.” They asked “what do you want?” He said, “to speak with the captain.” The captain was there in 20 minutes. The captain opened the cell door alone and came inside. The shot caller told him, “I’m going to let this guard explain to you why this happened.” The guards spent the next hour telling the captain what all he had done. When he finished the captain asked our shot caller what he wanted? He said, “no retaliation against anyone in our crew.” The captain said “done.” “Thank you for not killing him or anyone else.” The captain pushed the cell door open and told him to leave. Then he told the shot caller, “next time just talk to me.” “If I had talked to you, we would’ve lost respect. Now, everyone who works here will remember this day forever. They will talk about it, think about it, and have nightmares about it. They will always fear us.” The captain smiled, shook his head and said to the shot caller, “I’ll see you tomorrow, and I’ll have something for you.” After the captain left, we all smiled at each other. Business would be great, and we would roll the prison like never before.