Will they knock out his front teeth so he doesn't bite down?

Why Showering in Prison Is Hell
�Step by step, I shuffle forward amid the mass of bodies, waiting to get
inside.� By Jason Wright

�Shower time, fellas!� yells a guard as I stand up from my bunk, which is
26 inches wide and made of hard steel.

I hate this bunk.

�J.W., you showering, man?� says a familiar voice. Looking up, I see
James
waving me toward the hallway. This article was published in collaboration
with BuzzFeed News.

James�now that�s a character. White guy with blond hair and green eyes;
rocks the Bible and a smile all day.

Walking toward him I wave half-assed. �You are always so cheerful, dude.
I hate you, you know.� Life Inside
Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system.
Sign up to receive �Life Inside� emailed to you every week.

�Hey, I hate you too, dude. Besides, the faster we get walking to the
showers of hell, the faster we get back.�

He�s right. As we start walking down the hall then step outside, the
smell
of shit from a nearby pig barn makes my stomach turn. It�s 105 degrees
today. Twenty yards later, we turn back inside, into a red-brick hallway,
where we walk along a yellow line.

The hallway is even hotter than the outside. I begin to sweat more. The
noise coming out of the prison units is deafening�people yelling and
slamming dominoes.

The line to the showers is 150-plus strong. We walk wearing only boxers
and shower shoes; those of us who have families on the outside to provide
for us are also carrying our own soap. The hall smells like week-old dead
bodies, and that�s putting it mildly.

We do this every day. I�ve been doing it for 15 years.

Step by step, I shuffle forward amid the mass of bodies, waiting to get
inside.

�Yo,� I say, �they need to put individual showers in the dorms; this shit
is nuts.�

�Yeah. It�s 2016�you�d think they would have come up with something
different by now.� In other words, PREA�the Prison Rape Elimination
Act�does not exist in here, and never will.

Opposite-sex guards can watch you dress and piss, and they make offensive
remarks, and it's taken for granted that sexual assault by staff is
covered up or ignored. It is the way it is.

�You two shut it and keep moving,� shouts a female guard as we walk by.

Now the sounds coursing out of the shower room are overwhelming. Guys
shouting to be heard by their friends standing just a few feet away. Sign
up to receive essays like this weekly. Sign Up
Email list managed by Mailchimp

�One towel, one soap, one towel, one soap!� shouts the guard manning the
process today.

He hands me a tan bath towel that�s 11 inches wide, and a thin sliver of
green soap. I�m shoved into the humidity of the showers.

Looking around, I can now see more than 300 people trying to bathe in a
100-man room. The press of the bodies is thick. It smells of sweat and
shit. I step on discarded boxers trying to make my way to the
showerheads.
Only two guards are in the area, talking by the door and ignoring most of
us.

�Ah, J.W., J.W.!� someone calls out from my left. I look down row two of
the showerheads and see R.G., a guy I attend school with. We take classes
through a local community college�business and culinary science, nine
hours a week. He�s half-black, half-Mexican, and a good dude to know.

As I pass more people on my way toward R.G., it is impossible not to bump
into them. Some of the showerheads are being used by three or more men. I
get slapped by wet rags as guys fling them over their shoulders to wash
their backs.

�Dude, they do this shit every time,� R.G. says when I step up next to
him, taking a turn under his showerhead.

�I know. Staff wants the showers done quick.� That�s why they jam us all
in here at once.

Turning around, I see still more people crowding in. Guys are standing
damn near butts to nuts.

�Watch it, J.W., Tevor just came in.� I look behind me again to see the
leader of a crew of tattooed gangbangers whom I recently had a run-in
with
near the weights area on the yard.

�I ain�t worried; he won�t fuck with me,� I say, hoping.

The heat in the shower area is worse than anywhere, at least 120 degrees.
After soaping up, I look down and see the gutter is clogged; leftover
soap
mashed into the floor, boxers, and other crap is floating around in the
water.

Suddenly, I hear a smack, a grunt, a call for help. We all fall silent as
a fight breaks out in the back corner of row five. Three white dudes and
two Latinos are kicking the crap out of a couple of other white guys.
What�s funny about it is they�re all naked. What�s not funny is the
victims are getting stomped, and nobody is going to help them.

The two guards walk out the door, ignoring the brawling. Everyone around
me looks away too, and like a coward, so do I. Opening Statement
Sign up for our daily newsletter covering the best in criminal justice
news.

Stepping away from the showerhead, we make our way into a long line to
get
clean clothes and boxers.

�J.W. how do you do it, man? How do you just walk away from that shit?�
my
friend asks me about the fight.

�You just gotta learn. Keep your head out of anyone�s business,� I say,
automatically.

Drying off is useless; you just start sweating again. Twenty-five minutes
later, we get clothes that are all a size too small or too big. Getting
dressed, I bump into everyone around me.

Finally, I head toward the exit, but am stopped there for another 10
minutes by the guards. I�m sweating even more now. The press of those
waiting to get out is all around me, the smell like a trash dump being
slowly heated.

The guard motions us out. We drop our towels as we leave.

�R.G. I�ll see you at school tonight, man,� I say.

�No you won�t; I have to go work in the kitchen again.�

�Oh.�

I walk on, listening to the crowd in the hall and the wings of the
prison.

It�s a long walk back to the dorm, back down the red-brick hallway from
the showers.

Jason Wright, 39, is incarcerated at the Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota,
Texas, where he is serving two simultaneous 20-year sentences for
aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

In a statement, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said that the
Pack Unit is fully compliant with the Prison Rape Elimination Act. An
April 2018 external audit noted that staff and inmates were aware of the
agency�s zero tolerance policy for violence or harassment, TDCJ said, and
that the facility had "made efforts to help ensure the elimination of
sexual abuse and sexual harassment in the prison.�

The statement also said that the agency has a grievance system intended
to
investigate allegations of misconduct and that the author has filed no
grievances of this nature. Our reporting has real impact on the criminal
justice system View All Impact
An illustration shows a person using a flashlight to shine light on a
security camera. Buildings and additional security cameras are featured
in
the background. Cleveland�s mayor promised to create an oversight
committee � and then actually got around to doing it � after we reported
on the lack of transparency in how police use surveillance equipment. A
Black man with a dark yellow beanie, an earring and a neck tattoo looks
to
the side. Our reporting on the number of driver�s license suspensions
issued in Ohio spurred community clinics and legislative efforts to help
residents get their licenses back. Months after our investigation, the
Department of Justice ordered agents with the U.S. Marshals to wear body
cameras when making a pre-planned arrest or executing a search warrant.

Our journalism establishes facts, exposes failures and examines solutions
for a criminal justice system in crisis. If you believe in what we do,
become a member today. Donate
Tags: ?Prisons ?Prison Life ?prison culture ?PREA ?Texas ?Prison Rape
Stay up to date on our reporting and analysis.
Subscribe

St. Paul police said the city is safer since officers have arrested a man in three stranger rapes that occurred at gunpoint, but they’re concerned there may be more victims who haven’t come forward.

Police arrested a 38-year-old man from Aitkin, Minn., on Tuesday in connection with three rapes that occurred between August and October. In each case, a man approached a woman at gunpoint late at night on Payne Avenue, threatened her with a handgun, forced her into his tan minivan and raped her at gunpoint.

Investigators linked the cases through DNA evidence in the last few days, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

“We were incredibly concerned,” Linders said. “That’s why we immediately put a full-time investigator on it, that’s why we dedicated hundreds of investigative hours to solving this case. … Stranger rapes are rare, but they’re frightening. It’s everybody’s worst nightmare.”

After police identified Larry Donnell Griffin as the suspect, they tracked him down and arrested him during a traffic stop about 1 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot at Hazel Park Preparatory Academy, Linders said. Griffin had “no connection or relation to the school,” according to a school district spokeswoman.

Two guns were found in Griffin’s possession, according to Linders.

Griffin was booked into the Ramsey County jail on suspicion of three counts of felony criminal sexual conduct. A charging decision is expected Thursday from the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

Police provided the following information about the cases that Griffin was arrested in:

A 31-year-old woman reported on Aug. 30 she’d been walking by the SuperAmerica on Payne Avenue, near Geranium Avenue, when a man approached her while driving a tan minivan. He asked if she needed a ride, forced her into the van and raped her at gunpoint.
On Sept. 22, officers found a 45-year-old woman walking in the area of Payne and Magnolia avenues. She was shirtless and, when officers asked her what happened, she told them she just been robbed and raped at gunpoint in the area.
On Oct. 25 about 11:45 p.m., officers on patrol saw a 41-year-old woman who was nude and running across a street. She was screaming and crying hysterically. She told police she was walking on Payne Avenue near Geranium Avenue when a minivan pulled up next to her and the driver asked if she needed a ride. She ignored him and continued walking, but the driver forced her at gunpoint into his vehicle, where he raped her.
Police are looking into whether Griffin is connected to other cases. The police department didn’t release Griffin’s mug shot because they’re using it for photo lineups.

“We’re asking anyone who may have been a victim to call us at 651-266-5685,” Linders said.

St. Paul investigators will also be contacting other law enforcement agencies around the state to see if Griffin could be a suspect in any unsolved sexual assaults.

Griffin’s criminal history includes a conviction for felony theft in a 2012 case, for which he remains on supervised probation in Crow Wing County.

He was charged with domestic assault in 2005, but that count was dismissed and he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. Griffin also was convicted of driving while impaired in 2004 and possession of cocaine in 1999.

https://www.twincities.com/2016/11/09/man-suspected-of-being-st-paul-serial-rapist-is-in-custody/