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incarceration
What does the first day of a 5+ year
prison sentence feel like?
Kenyatta Leal, inmate San Quentin State Prison
I remember my first day because it was my worst day. I was
sentenced to life in prison on September 25, 1995, and about
a week later was transferred from the San Diego County Jail
to RJ Donovan Prison for intake into the state prison system.
The morning of my transfer, a deputy came to my cell
and told me that I was “catching the chain” to the pen. I
had just made it to sleep as my cellmate and I had stayed
up late playing chess and talking. He was a nineteen-year-old
first-termer headed to the joint with a life sentence, and every
night he would ask me a gang of questions about prison life.
I felt compelled to answer his questions in as much detail as
possible, because I knew he didn't understand the danger he
was headed into and he needed all the help he could get.
As I got myself together, my cellmate sat up on his bunk,
wrapped his arms around his knees and watched me like a
child would watch a parent. My heart went out to the little
dude because he needed more guidance that I ever could give
him. I started to remind him of some of the things we had
talked about, but the deputy came back to get me. He told me
to state my name and booking number, then turn around and
cuff up. I complied and when I turned back around to cuff up,
my cellmate was sitting there crying. I will never forget that
look of hopelessness on his face, and I can only imagine the
look on mine. I told him to keep his head up, and I walked
down the stairs with the deputy. Right then I said a prayer for
that kid, because as bad as my situation was, he was someone
who had it far worse than me.
We got to the holding cell and there were about twenty
others waiting to catch the chain also. They call it catching
the chain because we're all chained together as we go to the
pen. The single file chain of men made its way outside, and it
felt good to walk around a bit and breathe in that crisp morning
air. As we loaded onto the bus, the deputies unchained
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