The Wait
Time went by and got a visit from several of my
family members, telling me how could I and what about your children, Then next
finding out that my family had called CPS to take my children away from my
in-laws, who at that time were doing what they could with the children, not
knowing what was going to happen next.
After about 72 hours was able to meet with my court
appointed lawyer, who by the way I do not think even knew what he was doing.
Him telling me that I was looking at staying locked away for the next 5-10
years and being told that my boyfriend, now my husband, was not from the US and
probably would be deported back to Mexico. Me not even knowing this before and
not being able to speak to him to confirm if true or not.
Over the next few months waiting for a final court
date. Here where I am from, the federal court system wait to get a trial or
court date is about 6 months or more, depending on the severity of your crime.
So during the next six months there are many things
that happen. One thing in particular that sticks to memory is when this young
girl comes in from Mexico. She is young girl, about nineteen, pregnant and
without money. She is put into our room or tank, as they call it, of five other
girls. All was well until she joined us. She wrote a letter to the Lieutenant
telling her that I was stealing from her and she had also managed to turn some
of the girls against talking to me or having anything to do with me. Well push
comes to shove and one of the senior guards comes in to take care of the
situation after my complaint against her as well.
This person not having anything from the time she
came in until the time that this happened. Well things got heated and everyone
decided that I needed to be moved, so they moved me right about two weeks before
I was to go to court, after being with the same people for the longest time. This
person ended up getting put into the whole after causing a fight in the tank
some weeks later.
Day of Final Court
The day that I went to
court my father, mother, and my in-laws showed up. My in-laws being my support
throughout the whole six months that I waited for this day. I got to see my boyfriend,
now husband, that day in the courtroom. Again being told by my attorney that my
boyfriend was not from here and probably would be deported. Still not
understanding and telling myself he must be talking about the other guy
involved in our case. But I found out during the hearing that it was him. But
something happened during our sentencing. I felt a great calm come over me as
he was up there being sentenced, which was telling me that everything was going
to be fine. He got sentenced to three years. I got sentenced to one year and
one day.
Then we got to ride the
bus back together to our location. The guards allowing us to be able to talk
while on the ride back, which was usually not allowed. This made my day,
knowing that we both would be ok, not looking at the time that our lawyers had
told us. My husband was looking at 7-10 years due to his history through the
state legal system. And even then we could not figure out how the judge managed
to get confused and only sentence him to 3 years, knowing that he should have
gotten a lot more time.
The Move
Now it was time to be moved now that we had been
sentenced. Still not quite understanding the system, and not knowing where I
was going to be moved to. That day came when I was told at 4 am to pack up my
things and it was time to be moved. First I was sent to one location, then
about a month after being there I was sent to my final destination. This final
location was somewhere that from the beginning was not agreeing with me.
Some months passed, when I should have been given my
daily medication with meds roll call and the guards were not complying so I filed
a grievance against them. Again not knowing completely how the system worked, I
got myself put into the whole during a four day holiday weekend. Scare of
already being locked in small spaces since a young child, and even worse not
having anyone that I could call to help me out of this jam that I was in. I
finally got out of the whole and put into a tank that was non English speaking.
I finally learn that I just need to stick to myself
until my time is out. That is the best thing to do while in a state or a
federal prison system. You can only protect and care for yourself and no one
else. You have to learn to be alone and learn to deal with things that happen
calmly and patiently. But the most important thing when on the inside in any
type of facility is to respect anyone that comes within your path.
The Release
I was released a few days earlier than planned. So
luckily one of the other girls that was being released was a local and I was
able to stay with her until my ride came to get me. I was out and the only
thing that I wanted to do was to be with my family.
I was picked up by my uncle and got to stay for
three days with my littlest son, at the time who was going to be 8 years old
that year. I had decided that the best thing for him at that time was for him
to stay with my uncle. He had already been there for one year. So he was
staying and I was leaving, hard to do when you know that it is the right thing
to do.
I left a few days later on the bus headed home to
live with in-laws until my husband would be released almost two years later and
deported back to Mexico. Today, we now live in Mexico and it has almost been
three years since going from bad to worse to the best we have ever been.
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