We considered the possibility of getting into a fight together against someone in the cell block, ideally an informer, but there was no guarantee that they would press charges, so we realized we had to fight each other.
In order for us to be able to make a court case, one of us had to be injured, so we had to decide which of us it should be. We both felt that, as an American, I would have a better chance of being allowed to press charges against him since, even though my consulate was clearly not helping me, the prison administration still held them in awe and would probably want to show them that they cared about my rights and agree to let me make a case against Khalid.
About week before the fight, we staged a loud argument in the cell block so everyone believed there was hostility between us, and Khalid threatened me. During that week we communicated by tiny notes. Whenever I had a note for him, I would walk by his cell with my hands behind my back as a signal, and when he had a note for me, he would do the same.
We arranged to have the fight on a morning when the cell block guard was a man who generally liked me, to further improve my chance of pressing charges. Khalid had a small razorblade smuggled to him by a friend of his who worked in the prison carpentry section, so I used this to make a cut above my eye to ensure a good amount of blood. Khalid would ambush me as I came out of the bathroom, my supposed surprise and disorientation would explain why I could not defend myself properly.
As soon as I came out of the bathroom, Khalid started punching me. I shouted “Stop! Stop!” to get the attention of other prisoners, and took punch after punch in the face until a few inmates came to break up the fight. Blood was streaming down my face from the cut over my eye, and I acted dazed and disturbed. All in all, it was fairly convincing.
I was taken to the prison clinic and Khalid was taken to the main office. I insisted to press charges. It took a while before outside police came to question me about the incident and file a report, but eventually I was able to make a case against Khalid, and we waited for the court date. During the interim we continued to communicate by notes, trying to prepare our exact strategy once we were taken to court.
Every night the administration would announce the names of inmates who would be taken to court the next morning, so we waited every night for our names. Finally, one night they called Khalid’s name, but not mine. We thought that this must be for his regular trial, but it turned out to be for the case I made against him. Unlike in every other fight case, where they always call both parties to court, for some reason, they only took Khalid, and our plan was ruined!
We had to start all over again with a new plan.
#دروس_المعتقل
#Prison_Lessons