American Criminal (12 page)

     I knew there was a reason I took core requirement courses like Art History in college,
he thought.

    Potted plants rested on antique tables spaced intermittently along the hallway. The guards led Ray down the finely decorated corridor until they reached a large wood paneled door at the end. They stood on either side of him while the suited man knocked twice on the door. A muffled voice shouted for them to enter. The suited man turned to the guards.

    “Gentlemen, the Warden and I would appreciate it if you could wait outside in this corridor while we interview the prisoner.”

    “But, sir! I told you he’s dangerous!” the sergeant exclaimed.

    “I appreciate your concern, sergeant, but as you can see he is handcuffed and the Warden and I are both armed. If we have any trouble with him, we’ll call you in. Understood?”

    “Yes, sir,” the sergeant replied.

    “Follow me,” the suited man said to Burnside as he opened the door.

    Burnside gave the sergeant a feral grin as he walked by. They entered a spacious office decorated with the same wood paneling as the outside corridor. More Classical paintings adorned the walls. Burnside didn’t recognize the artists, but some of them looked vaguely familiar. The Warden stood next to a large desk with his arms folded across his chest. He was a tall, stocky, middle-aged man wearing a gray suit. His salt and pepper hair was cut short in a military-style crew-cut.

    “Please have a seat, Mr. Burnside,” the Warden said, gesturing to an uncomfortable-looking folding metal chair placed in front of the desk.

    Burnside didn’t want to make waves, so he sat in the chair and leaned forward slightly so he didn’t crush his handcuffed wrists. The constant burning pain he felt in his ass became more noticeable when he sat down. He gritted his teeth and ignored it. The Warden remained in a standing position next to his desk with his large, muscular arms folded over his chest.

    Burnside was impressed. The guy looked and acted nothing like the weasel-like Deputy Warden. Ray thought he looked like he may have actually started out as a corrections officer and worked his way up to the top position.

    “The guards are waiting outside your office door,” the suited man informed the Warden in a low, confidential voice.

    “Really?” the Warden said, arching an eyebrow. “Then we’d better go to the conference room. Mr. Burnside, I’m sorry, but I need you to stand again. We’re moving this meeting into the back room.”

    “Sure, no problem,” Ray said, ignoring the pain as he stood.  

     “This way please,” the Warden said, gesturing to an open doorway behind the desk.  

    Burnside stepped through the doorway into a large room dominated by a long, narrow executive table surrounded on two sides by rows of chairs. Burnside chose the closest chair at the end of the table and sat down. The pain still continued to burn, but he ignored it. The Warden shut the door quietly and sat directly across from him. The other man sat next to the Warden.

    The Warden leaned forward and spoke in a deep, low voice that was almost a whisper.  

    “Mr. Burnside, I’m Steve Mackey, the manager of this facility. I must admit, you are something of an enigma to us. Due to your special circumstances, this meeting is considered completely confidential. Feel free to speak your mind. Nothing said in this meeting will ever leave this room.”

    “I appreciate that,” Burnside said, diplomatically, leaning forward in the comfortable office chair and listening intently.

    An almost euphoric feeling entered Ray’s mind at the thought of sitting across from a normal human being, having a heart-to-heart conversation. It seemed an extraordinary opportunity and he was going to use all his powers to utilize it to the fullest extent.

    “Let me introduce my associate,” the Warden continued in his near-whisper. “The gentleman sitting beside me is Matthew Johnson. He is in charge of our facility’s Internal Affairs department.”

    At the mention of his name, the young, suited man with the slicked-back black hair and horn rimmed glasses nodded almost imperceptibly at Burnside.

   
Now it all makes sense. These guys are doing an internal investigation of their own people.

    The Warden continued, “Mr. Burnside, as you may have surmised, Mr. Johnson and several other trusted personnel in his department are undertaking a rather painstaking and controversial investigation into alleged corruption within our facility.”

Chapter 15

The Plan

    The Warden paused to let the information sink in. Burnside stared back, choosing to remain silent until he obtained more information.

    “We are aware of your…..special status,” the Warden said. “It goes without saying that your former occupation makes you an atypical prisoner. I know about your trial and I know that you proclaimed your innocence,” he said, staring at him intensely. “If you are telling the truth, then a monumental injustice has been perpetrated. Personally, I’m not concerned if you are guilty or not. I’m more interested in the skills you acquired at your former job.”

    Warden Mackey finished his speech and turned to his colleague. Johnson picked up the cue. “Mr. Burnside, the bottom line is that we are willing to help you if you help us. Warden Mackey and I have connections that are not to be underestimated. If you help us, we can arrange to have you transferred to a medium, or even minimum, security facility. But you must understand, this is a confidential meeting. If you reveal any details of this meeting to anyone, no matter how trustworthy you may believe they are, we will consider our agreement null and void and you will return to your status as a typical prisoner,” he paused, glaring intensely at Burnside. “You know as well as we do what your chances of survival are if that happens.”

    “Yes, I do. Minimal,” Ray interrupted.

    “You just put two of the
Skinhead’s
best enforcers in the infirmary,” the Chief continued. “We’ll back you up as much as we can, but keep in mind that this operation is off the books. If any of our superiors find out what’s going on, we will deny any knowledge of it. Think about this, Mr. Burnside. If you have the will to help us out, we can drastically improve your status in our facility in the short run, and eventually have you transferred out in the long run. Are you interested in our proposal?”

    Burnside allowed a lopsided grin to cross over his impassive face.

    “I’m very interested, Mr. Johnson,” Ray said. “I agree with you that accepting your proposal is integral to my survival. I’m not sure how much you already know, but my current status here is…..tenuous at best.”

    The Warden and the Internal Affairs Chief glanced at each other briefly before returning their gaze to Burnside.

    “We are aware of some of your unfortunate circumstances, but we don’t know the full story,” Warden Mackey said. “If we are going to be of any help to you, and you to us, you may want to enlighten us.”

    “Certainly, Warden,” Ray agreed. “I’ll be honest with you. You and your colleague seem like stand-up guys. I consider the risk I’m taking trusting you to be far less than the risk I would be taking if I was on my own in this place. If nothing changes, I’m not going to last another week here,” he paused and flashed them another half-grin. “So that makes my situation very simple. Cooperate with you or die. As a rational being, my only choice is to cooperate. You have my word of honor that I will help you, confidentially, in whatever way I can.”

    The Warden and Internal Affairs Chief exchanged another glance. The Warden turned to face Ray. “We need to know what you have experienced so far. Then, we will tell you everything we know. Does that sound like a fair deal?”

    “Deal,” Ray stated with conviction. “As you probably already know, I didn’t waste any time getting into trouble in this place…..”

    Burnside related his entire story to the two officials, omitting nothing. The Warden looked shocked when he told them about the forcible rape in the shower. The Internal Affairs Chief’s face paled and he looked like he was about to throw up. Ray appreciated their stunned reaction and calmly continued his narrative. He ended with his meeting in the Deputy Warden’s office. When he finished talking, he calmly awaited a response from the prison officials.         

    “That’s absolutely horrific,” the Warden stated, gravely. “I personally apologize for the corruption in the facility, which led to your abuse at the hands of other inmates. I want you to know that Mr. Johnson and I will do everything we can to punish those responsible for the deed.”

    “I appreciate that, Warden,” Burnside replied, coolly.

    The Internal Affairs Chief picked up from there.

    “Mr., Burnside, as you know firsthand, the corruption in our prison is formidable. Warden Mackey inherited this system when he took over from the previous Warden two years ago. As you have probably already figured out, the gangs in our prison have an extraordinary influence over the other inmates and, worse yet, the guards. Warden Mackey shook up the organization as much as he could when he started. He was able to convince his superiors to give him permission to replace some of the guards, who we suspected of corruption, with some of his former associates from other facilities. But, he couldn’t replace them all. Some of the old guards have strong political connections and they’re not so easy to replace. Unfortunately, the Deputy Warden was one of them.”

    “Yeah, I picked up on that already.” Burnside interjected.

     “I’m sure you did,” the Internal Affairs Chief agreed, smiling grimly. “We now have indisputable evidence that the Deputy Warden has been showing extreme favoritism toward the inmates who are members of the prison gang known as the
Aryan Nation
or
Skinheads
. It has long been suspected, but never proved, that the Deputy Warden was a former member of another Midwestern white supremacist organization. His recorded statements to you today are the icing on the cake. By tomorrow, he’ll be looking for another job.”

    “Well, that’s a good start.” Burnside said.

    “Yes, it is. But, it’s only the first step of a much larger anti-corruption initiative. The
Aryan Nation
still has sympathetic guards working at every level in the prison. Our goal is to identify them, gather evidence against them, and eventually give them their walking papers.”   

    “Sounds perfect,” Burnside said.

    The Internal Affairs Chief ignored his comment and continued his monologue.

    “As you can probably guess, gathering evidence to implicate corrupt guards is a frustrating and time-consuming process. No one here wants to “rat out” their fellow officers for fear they won’t back them up when there’s trouble. In addition to our investigation into guard corruption, we want to strike at the heart of the
Aryan Nation.
That’s where you come in,” the Chief said, pausing briefly to gauge Burnside’s reaction. “We need you to infiltrate the
Aryan Nation.
”

     Burnside was surprised, but not shocked. He figured it would be something like this. He didn’t know how they intended to pull it off though. At the present, he wasn’t in very good esteem with the
Skinheads
after biting the nose off one of their elite enforcers.

    “I can see from your expression that you are skeptical about this idea,” Johnson said.

    “Well, it does seem rather challenging given my current situation,” Ray said.

    “Well, my friend, you’re not factoring in our secret weapon. We already have someone infiltrated into the gang. He’s one of the top guys in the
Aryan Nation
and he’ll make sure you get in. All you have to do is apply for a job, so to speak.”

    “You make it sound so easy,” Burnside commented, sardonically.

    “The bottom line, Mr. Burnside, is that you’ve already made an impression on the
Aryan Nation
hierarchy. Our inside man has convinced them that it was a mistake to go after you without knowing if you have sympathy for their cause. He suggested that the gang would be better off with you on their side, rather than fighting against them. You’ve been in this prison for a week and a half and you’ve already incapacitated three of their most reliable enforcers.” The Internal Affairs Chief leaned forward intently. “The guy whose nose you bit off will take months to recover, and when he finally does, he will have lost the respect of the gang. Not to mention being marked for life. Your other attacker suffered permanent brain damage caused by lack of oxygen. He’s also marked for life. When he gets out of the infirmary, he’ll be lucky if he can form a complete sentence.”

    At this point, the Warden stepped in, “Ray, the bottom line is the
Aryan Nation
hierarchy is trying to figure out a way to replace their losses. That’s where you come in. Our man has already put a bug in the
Skinhead
leaders’ ears, suggesting they can recoup their losses by recruiting you. You won’t even have to go to them. They’re going to come to you. The first thing they will do is feel you out to see if you’re sympathetic to their cause.”