Behind Bars

Alora POV Today is the day I start my new job. it has been hard work getting to where I am today. I've always known I wanted to be there for people, listen, and help them where I can. I got my degree in psychology 4 months ago, and you can say it has been tough trying to get a placement somewhere. today, I start at blackworth Prison. it's not exactly where I pictured. My first job would be, but you have to start somewhere . sitting in my old beat-up buggy car I brought when I was 16, I can feel my nerves kicking in. I look up at the big black sign with the writing of Blackworth spread across it. tall metal fencing stood all around the main building along with sharp barbwire and cameras. Blackworth is a male correction prison centre. to say the least, I was so nervous taking the job at blackworth, like come on, it's a prison, for gods sake, who wouldn't be nervous. I looked at my reflection in my tiny mirror on the car. I only put on light makeup this morning, my blonde hair hung just over my shoulders letting my soft curls bounce freely. When my legs finally gave me the courage to get out of my car, I walked to the front gate towards the front building scanning My card I was given a few days prior.I was greeted by a gard. "You must be the new Psychologist the gard said "Yep, that's me. Hi, I'm Alora," I could feel him looking at me from head toe. Judging me like how can this little girl come work in a male prison. Once he was did his scanning over me, he gave me a side head nod telling me to process forward, so I did. My legs carried me all the way to the doors. Then I was greeted by two officers at a desk. One was an older man who kinda reminded me of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. The other was a lady. It was good to know that there were other women working in a male prison and I won't be the only one. When she saw me her Face lit up like a child in a candy store. She had beautiful dark skin big brown eyes. Her hair was pulled all the way back into a tight bun She wore black suit pants and white button up shirt with a name tag saying Chevy her small baby bump sticking out. she must be about 4 to 6 months along. " Hi i'm Alora, I'm meant to start work here today" "girl I know who you are And let me just say it's about time. They got some girls in here. This place could use a little bit of glitter" The older guy behind the desk just grunted, rolling His eyes like he wasn't impressed by her comment. I let out a little giggle. "I'm Chevy, and that's Frank, don't worry about him, he's about to retire," "Nice to meet you," I said Chevy came out from behind the desk "The warden has given me the duty of showing you around today" she said with a smile. "great" I replied Chevy buzzed a door open with her own swipe card she has attached to her hip, leading me through a hallway. the smell of cleaning chemicals hit my nose the floors must have been just mopped. everything was well lit nothing what I thought what a prison would look like, it wasn't dark and gloomy like you see in the movies. "so over here we have the staff kitchen and the lounge, same as anyother workplace kitchen just put your name on your lunch or it might go missing" she said I nodded my head listening to her as she showed me around. "there are 4 blocks of cells. A block B block C block and D Block, A,B and C blocks are all Gen pop and D block is solitary" she explained we went through several doors showing me all the blocks "down the hall there are inmate showers and laundry rooms" all the blocks looked the same a massive living area with tables and chairs a TV couches. along the walls stood small 3 x 3 cells with big sliding mettle bars as doors, must of been about 20 cells per block. it was really quiet in the cell blocks not an inmate insight they must be all outside or something. "is it always this quiet?" I asked Chevy let out a chuckle whist opening another door with her card " gurl it's breakfast time and French toast day. All the inmates are no doubt stuffing their gobs right now," she replied "Oh" I said "I'll take you to the Cafeteria to meet the gang" she walked me through a few more hallways and to a big set of doors when we entered there were about 100 inmates sitting at metal tables shoving food into there mouths. some were talking to eachother others where eating in silence. every inmate wore grey swet pants with a white shirt, some wore grey sweaters. there were a few gards walking long side of every wall watching the boys in grey. by the looks they didn't carry guns on their belt, just a hard plastic bat and tazor gun. I almost jumped out of my skin when Chevy yelled to the top of her lungs next to me " Oi listen up you ugly baboons, this is Miss Baker she is here to be your new therapist, I expect you all treat her with the out most respect while she's here do I make myself clear!" I suddenly felt a sinking feeling happening in my belly having hundreds of eyes on me at once, all the inmates nodded their heads and said yes miss Chevy. I was amazed how much control she had on them. you would think having a pregnant gard would be outrageous but studdies have shown 99% of men would never hurt a pregnant woman. Chevy looked at me if I wanted to say anything to them, I cleared my throat trying to make my voice stern but in a fair tone " good morning, gentlemen. im Alora please feel free to come seek me out for a chat, my door will always be open to new faces". I could tell what inmates were in their certain gang groups. alot of the men were covered in tattoos some had gang tattoos others didn't. once Chevy finished introducing me to the inmates she steered me to my new office, it was an Reasonable size room. dark grey wallpaper stuck to the walls a desk and chair pushed against the wall. at the back of the room layed a 2 seater couch with a small round coffee table and one single seat couch. it looks like anyother therapist room. "well this is you, the last guy was kinda a clean freak and liked everything in a certain spot but you'll make it into your own" she said "yeah" I replied "it's perfect" "is there anything I can get you" Chevy asked "um did the last guy leave any files on the inmates behind at all?" I asked "yeah I think he did they might be in the staff office ill get someone to bring them to you" she replied "thanks, I'd love to go through them see what I'm working with" " once breakfast is over the men go to their work station for a few hours then it's yard time. most of them roam the halls or go to the library or stay in their blocks" she explained " she pulled out a peice of paper with a time table of daily activities on it. " here this will help" she said while leave me to it I took the paper and took a long look around my new office. I took a long steady breath to calm my nerves and told myself this will be good.