Visiting Hours
curar lo roto, Lucia Vidales
General population
But you’re not.
Not anymore
Now you are an inmate of the state of California
A transformation lauded as reformation
With eight numbers instead of a name
All objects except for a valid form of ID must be placed in the lockers*
Valid form of ID
Whose? Yours or mine? You only have a number now. Did the guards bother to ask you
who
you are/were/will/want to be?
Please proceed to area A
Proceed to area B
Last name, first name
Inmate number
Inmate number
I I I
N N N
M M M
A A A
T T T
E E E
N N N
U U U
M M M
B B B
E E E
R R R
Visitors and inmates are being monitored and recorded at all times
Visitor | inmate
Sit in area C and wait
Until Until Until UNTIL
Go through the doors and
walk through that oh-so-carefully constructed path. I wonder who built it? What
security measures had to
be planned be written be voted on be enacted
to build this path?
Look at it
it even c u r v e s through the
green, green grass around
One tree, empty of leaves, reaching up in the air
Past the concrete walls
WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALL
And the path coils around
You could almost but-not-quite forget that
Visitors and inmates are being monitored and recorded at all times
Almost
All visiting times are subject to change without notice.
Each visit will last thirty minutes
Visitors shall proceed to their assigned seat and remain there until the inmate
Arrives.
More walls separate
WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALLS WALL
Mother
Father
Brother
Sister
Nuclear family gone nuclear
Familial ties split by these walls
They call the penal code
We’re praying for you.
Dios sabe.
Hey, how are you?
Not-yet-mother
She smiles as she stands so you can see the growing curve that holds your child
But you won’t get to be with her
When she moves from not-yet to mother
Glass walls scream a reminder there is a division between
Visitor | inmate
Please don’t kiss the glass. You are not the only one.
B.R. loves C.L
Walls painted over. Again and again.
Because B.R loves C.L and C.L loves B.R. and B.R. will continue loving C.L.
despite/in spite
this glass
You can’t keep doing this, Mom doesn’t want to see you like this.
Did you get the money I put in your account?
Silence
Silence
He is still there. And will be there.
Today
And Tomorrow
And Tomorrow
dial tone
Visitors who are disruptive or interfere with the normal operations of the facility are subject to removal from the facility and/or arrest.
**Within five years of release, about three-quarters of released prisoners are rearrested.
dial tone
Wishbone
Publab Fellow 2022
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