'No offense, but I never want to come back here again. I sit up straight in my chair and direct my attention to each and every one of the committee members. 'How do we know you won't go on another drinking binge?' well, I'll be eating crappy food for another six months and continue rooming with convicts.īig Guy looks right at me. If they believe me, I stand a chance of getting released early. I don't know if I'm saying the wrong thing or right thing, which puts me on edge. Why I was drinking while underage, why I'd get into a car drunk, why I left the scene of the accident. They question me for another half hour and I spurt out answers. 'If I could turn back time, I swear I would. 'You guess?' another committee member asks. 'And you didn't get out of the car to see if your neigh�bor was hurt?' my neighbor.' I don't add she was my twin sister's best friend. When I realized I hit someone, I freaked and drove back to the party.' I drove home, but lost control of the car. Taking a deep breath, I say, 'I was drinking at a party. The one night in my life I want to erase from history. 'Tell me about the night of the accident.' We have a few ques�tions to ask before we make our decision.'īig Guy checks my file, flipping page after page. 'I'm ready to leave.'Ī big guy, who I can tell is going to play 'bad cop,' puts his hand up. 'As you know, we're here to evaluate your ability to leave here and begin your life as a free citizen.' Seven people sitting behind six-foot-long tables in front of one lone metal chair. 'Please sit down, Caleb,' orders a woman wearing glasses and a stern look on her face. Maybe I'm not so ready for this after all. But, to tell you the truth, how much can you trust guys who haven't gotten out themselves?Īs Jerry opens the door to the evaluation room, my muscles start to twitch and I'm getting all sweaty beneath my state-issued coveralls, state-issued socks, and yep, even my state-issued briefs. Sit up straight, look full of remorse, act polite, and all that stuff. I've been prepped by the other guys in my cell block. I take a deep breath and follow Jerry to the room where the review committee will evaluate me. 'Yes, sir.' I've been waiting three hundred and ten days for this. 'You ready, Caleb?' Jerry, the cell guard, asks. He tacked on an extra three months for that. It was a hit-and-run accident, too, which actually made the judge in my case royally pissed off. I was convicted of hitting a girl with my car while driving drunk. You might ask why I've been locked up for the past year.

The all male juve�nile division is tough, but it's not like the adult DOC. But there are no games here at the Illinois Department of Corrections- Juvenile complex or the DOC as we inmates call it. Sure, in the game of Monopoly you just have to roll the dice three times and wait for a double, or pay the fine and be free. It's not every day you get a chance to get out of jail. I've been waiting a year for this moment.

Leaving paradise by simone elkeles