[locked out and then locked in]

[Locked Out and then Locked In]Author(s): Steve KatzSource: boundary 2, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Winter, 1980), pp. 256-263Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/302850 .

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locked out and then locked in

twixt gross brick turrets of this brute fortress

fantasy clept Napanoch Correctional

Facility

lasciate ogni speranza the instructor voi ch'entrate be led

to metal detector and frisking

from gate to gate past inmates

"who is this dude"

to the row of locked classrooms Black Studies taught

to the right of him and social change through works

of Chairman Mao by the small woman

on the left

and there in his room are the men

watching him with the intimidating

power of undivided attention

256



the director of this prison program explains that most of the people who take

these classes are convicted murderers rapists some drug raps mostly men who

commit crimes of passion and find them- selves in prison thieves don't need

schooling they have already chosen their profession they consider

prison an occupational hazard

for an offense so petty he wont say what Mr. Michael Colden was confined

to "the box" for fourteen days and let out just to attend this class

a tall, slick black man, a heavy rapper, sent up for some crime,

has finally relaxed, so he don't wear his teeth no more, he tells

the instructor, "I'm trying, you see, to broaden your viewpoint so you

can get an education before you leave here, so you know the truth." which

truth the instructor asks "There is only one truth," says Mr. Colden

with absolute authority

257



hey, that you are capable of

killing a man

and I'm a man capable

of death

doesn't mean our intentions

are queer enough to marry

once in a fit of blind pride and anger

outside a bar in Queens Mr. Haskins killed a man

who burned him on a deal

the man tried to split with the money and Haskins

said that when he caught him he didn't even see him

didn't know he'd shot him

and Mr. Haskins did not believe given his reality, his intelligence

his humanity and ability to reason that this could ever happen differently

258



Mr. Williams is a model prisoner, released each week to the community college where he studies business.

"I get B's and A's in all my other courses. How come I always get a C from you?"

I think you wrote this too quickly says the instructor

"I wrote it ten minutes before class," he grins. He's got all the intensity of Mickey Rivers leading off, bottom of the ninth, Yankees behind by one.

Even from his seat he looks at you down his nose

leading with the jaw

"I been here two weeks and haven't learned shit. You should give us a course outline with twelve topics boom boom boom so we can use the books and prepare."

The books we ordered never got to the prison, the instructor sidesteps.

Mr. Alonso approaches, "For me you got to be real basic. I never took a college course before."

"You just wastin' my time," says Mr. Williams. "I serve it. You waste it."

259



they relate to the poems of Victor Hernandez Cruz, right

off the streets, and the instructor notices they are sliding

their chairs closer to his desk. "Don't get scared," says

Mr. Billups. "I'm not scared," says the instructor who is always

scared. "I believe the closer you're getting the more you're liking me."

"I ain't in here because I'm a nice guy," says Mr. Billups

"I guess I'd have to say that I am," replies the instructor.

per man it takes more than a ton of

macho to make this house a home

260



the inmates call him 'The Professor'

his sunken eyes dimmed by smoke from

an Optimo cigar

lean and wired he charges the room with madness

so all the cons shut up when he rises to extemporize

on cosmic issues "The

universe" he offers "The universe divides and

plus" "I have trouble

catching your drift" says the instructor and a sound

like everyone laughing relaxes the room because nobody

ever gets what Matott is saying that's why they call him

The Professor "Give me your

address" he says "I'll be released in three months

and then I'll come by and explain everything"

"Don't do it," say the voices of reason and experience in the room

261



the argument is about smoking in the room

Perez wants the window open. "I can't help it if

I'm allergic to the smoke," he whines. He sits up front

across the room from the other inmates "Yeah, well

I'm allergic to the cold," Alonzo Green closes the window

"I see the room filling with smoke." Perez walks out

"He's lucky he don't have a busted jaw," whispers Mr. Green

262



Perez would like to be the teacher's pet he explains how nice he is unlike the rest of them he was a cab-driver busted for carrying a gun

you need one if you drive a cab

,he'd been held up twice already his wife said he should carry a gun he smiles at the guard

I'm a good prisoner not like them isn't that right

it'll be right the guard smiles back if you don't make your lock-up it'll be right in solitary

263



[locked out and then locked in]

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