Where oh where?

The following is an excerpt from part one:

Sid’s segregation ordeal begins on the day of our previously scheduled Family Court appearance. He and I complete the pilgrimage from chow to the final holding cell location before proceeding through the metal detector. Roll call to the buses is alphabetical by mod: A mod, last name A through Z; then B mod, last name A through Z. Because of our mod locations, we are assigned to different buses.

I watch for him all day in the holding cells at the courthouse. He doesn’t show. I never make it up into court, but that is a common enough occurrence. (I have made many more trips to court for nothing than for anything else.) When we return from court, Sid is still not around. I check in with Leo. He is a dining room porter from the same mod as Sid and regularly relays messages for us. Leo has no idea either. He is under the impression that Sid was at court for the day.

The following day I call my sister Marie. She hasn’t heard anything but says she will try to find out. I call her the next day and she tells me that Sid is in seg. That is the only information available. I know instinctively that he has been set up but I can’t possibly imagine the details. He would not have initiated an altercation or fought back with an inmate. There has to be some cruddy C/O or messed-up marshal behind the plot.

At the hospital the next day, Sid is being led out as I approach the entrance. He is wearing the orange seg jumpsuit and looks like he has been put through the wringer. He pauses briefly to explain, “I wanted to go to court but—” The C/O tugs him through the entrance to the seg mods and they disappear.

I remain in the dark for the next two weeks. During that period, my mind often slips into worry mode. I instantly redirect it elsewhere. I am certain that Sid is undergoing a nasty time but there is no sense in both of us enduring it. It is not until we go to court again that I finally get to speak to him. He tells me the painful details of the ordeal.