His daughter, though a teetotaler, functioned as a dry drunk and an enabler. She lacked confidence and any idea how to relate to men in general, and a husband in particular. She attracted, and was only attracted to, alcoholics. I knew. I had married her.

“I believe you know our chaplain, John Jordan,” Stone said.

“Yeah, I know him,” Daniels said without as much as a glance in my direction.

“As I am sure you’re already aware, he will be assisting you. He grew up here and knows many of the employees of the institution.”

I had been away for so long it felt like I didn’t know nearly as many people as I used to, and many of those employed by the prison commuted from other communities.

“I’ve been told I don’t have a say in the matter,” Daniels said irritably.

“So has he,” Stone said.

Daniels cut his cold, dull eyes in my direction and smirked. “What about the institutional inspector?”

“He’ll help too, but you are to limit his knowledge and access.”

“You better have a damn good reason for that,” Daniels said.

“I do.”

When he didn’t explain, Daniels said, “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“A good reason.”

“No. I mean what’s the reason?”

Stone smiled. “You have copies of all the files and reports that I have. You know as much about it as I do. So I’m going to let you brief Chaplain Jordan. At the end of the day, report back to me. Both of you.”

Stone then stood and left without another word.

“Before we even begin this little exercise in futility,” Daniels began, “I want to get a few things straight. I don’t like you. I’ve never seen a more hypocritical sight in all my life than you in a clerical collar, ’cept maybe it makes you look like the little candy-ass faggot you really are. This is my investigation and you better stay the hell out of my way. I’ll be watching you—waiting for you to fuck up. When you do, and I know you will, I will personally bury your ass. Deep.”

4

Dostoevsky said the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.

I often thought about that as I entered PCI each day.

At times I believed the condition of our prisons spoke well of our civilization. In some ways we as a country take great care of those we incarcerate—of course whether most of them should be incarcerated in the first place is another matter.

The fact that convicted felons don’t lose their freedom of religion. The fact that I was employed by the state to ensure the guarantee of that right. The fact that I was here to counsel inmates and help them deal with crises—both inside prison and back at home. All spoke well of our approach to imprisonment.