“No, sit down at the table and tell me when you have to urinate.”
“I just went, it could take hours.”
Imad handed him a Styrofoam cup and said, “Drink water.”
Dave Morgan held the cup and said, “Drink water?”
“Yes, sit down and stop arguing, or I’ll write you up.”
“What?”
“Sit down,” Imad said.
Sherwood Burke came up to Imad and said, “Yes.” Sherwood Burke stood there looking at Imad, his eyes were focused on Imad’s face. You could tell that he was thinking about ripping Imad’s face off. If Burke wanted to he could. He was six foot two and had a thick Scottish frame. I felt afraid of him.
Sherwood Burke sat down without question. He knew the procedure.
Imad said to me after they sat down and were out of hearing distance, “Stand here and watch them but don’t talk to them. If they have a question, tell them to ask me. If they try to engage you in conversation, don’t speak. If you allow them to speak to you they will try to manipulate you. Think of these assholes as manipulation machines. They aren’t like us. These assholes are the scum of the earth. If you don’t believe me, then read their Resident Profiles on the computer. I’m gonna go smoke and sign some documents.”
Imad left me with the two criminals. I wasn’t supposed to speak to them, only watch, make sure they didn’t go anywhere. Imad said this could take hours. That was my job for the day, to watch two men I had never met sit at a small round table, waiting for them to notify me that they needed to urinate, then I would tell Imad, and then they would each urinate into a cup.
I sat down at a computer and looked up their Resident Profiles.
Dave Morgan’s Resident Profile
Crimes: Had stolen an X-Box from Sears, he has not paid child support for the last year, once received stolen property, got caught with a handgun, when the police were trying to pull him over for going five miles over the speed limit he tried to get away. When the police found him he had a pound of marijuana in the car.
Education: He made it to the 8th grade and dropped out. He is attempting to get his GED inside NEOTAP.
Beliefs: He believes he is a hard worker and a quick learner. He does not have any religious beliefs, does not know why he is alive, does not care why he is alive, doesn’t show concern for his or anyone else’s life. He does not have the capability to murder, but will steal anyone’s money, even his own grandmother’s, if he is given the chance.
Children: He has two children he rarely ever sees. He works under the table or sells drugs so he does not have to pay child support. He never sees his children and shows little concern for them. He will state that he wants to see his children and take care of them, but shows no evidence of ever actually caring about them.
Special Things: He complains a lot, talks a lot, never listens, and does not care. NEOTAP must make him see himself as a person living amongst other persons, and that he is not just a collection of psychological feelings that Morgan wants to satisfy.
Sherwood Burke’s Resident Profile
Crimes: He has the habit of getting into bar fights. Even though he often wins these bar fights he has the intelligence to know when to stop before he kills the person he is fighting. He has stolen repeatedly from clothing stores. Last time he was caught stealing he had an ounce of marijuana on him. It can be assumed that he has stolen hundreds of times from clothing stores and never been caught. He states that he does not care about stealing from corporate clothing stores because corporations are harmful to society anyway.
Education: Sherwood Burke served four years in the Marines and has fought in Iraq. While in the military and for a short time after, he went to college, earning junior-level credits. He plans on returning to college eventually. He is above average intelligence but he is emotionally unstable, and does not concern himself with procedure.
Beliefs: Sherwood Burke believes that he does not matter. He states that his life has been nothing but trying to survive in a world that does not care about him. He has woken up every day of his life and been forced to figure out what other people want, forced to adapt their needs not his. He said that he started to commit crimes because it made him feel control over his life and to feel alive.
Children: None.
Special Things: He will behave normally and follow procedure for long periods of time but then when a certain mood takes over, he will act like a maniac. NEOTAP must make Burke recognize when the maniac feelings come over him, and get him to repress those feelings.
I read their Resident Profiles and then looked at them. They were both sitting there. I walked closer to them but did not talk, but stood close enough to hear them talk.
Dave Morgan said, “This is stupid, I didn’t do no drugs. Why they gotta bother me. This is stupid. How am I gonna do drugs, I ain’t got no drugs here. There ain’t no drugs anywhere in here.”
“It is procedure. They do this to everyone,” Burke said.
“Procedure, what the fuck is a procedure?”
“I think it is an old French word for control.”
“French, what the fuck is French? I don’t wanna sit here. I don’t have anything to do. I keep drinking water and I still don’t have to pee.”
Burke sat there, staring.
Morgan looked at me and said, “Why do we have to sit here? I ain’t got no drugs in here. There ain’t no drugs. I’m done with drugs. I’m improved. I don’t do drugs. Why are you still drug testing me?”
I stood there in silence.
Morgan said, “Why don’t you say something? I don’t have to pee. Why can’t I get a magazine from my room? You could follow me. I wouldn’t pee the whole time. I would be a good boy. You could follow me and watch. My room is like twenty feet away. I promise I won’t get any fake pee from here and there. You could follow me.”
“He won’t respond,” Burke said.
“Why?” Morgan asked.
Burke said, “Because he is a new hire. New hires aren’t allowed to talk to residents for two weeks.”
Morgan looked at me and said, “You aren’t allowed to talk.”
I said nothing. I felt like a Buckingham Palace guard. I imagined myself standing before Buckingham Palace wearing a scarlet tunic and a giant bearskin hat. Instead of guarding the queen and the 1,300-year-old monarchy of Britain, I was guarding these two grown men from urinating. I would use every fiber in my being to stop these men from illegally urinating or going to their rooms to get something to read. I was on guard. I was a man with a task to keep my country strong. I was contributing to society.
Burke said, “He isn’t even allowed to say no. No would imply you have power over him. He doesn’t have to say anything to us.”
“This is bullshit,” said Morgan.
“I was in the military. This is how it works. Hierarchy is everything,” Burke said.
“You weren’t in the fucking military.”
“I drove a tank in Baghdad. I conquered an ancient city. How many ancient cities have you conquered?”
“Fuck you, Burke.”
Burke looked at me. “How about you? You conquer any ancient cities?” he said. I could tell that everything he did was calculated. He was warming me up. He knew I had never been in corrections. He knew that I had just arrived from a local college. He knew that I was from the middle-class because NEOTAP didn’t hire poor people. He also knew that no self-respecting wealthy person would work in corrections. But he didn’t know if I was a power-tripping monster or just some guy looking for work. He wanted to test me. He wanted to see if I would break and speak with them. “I asked you a question,” he said.