"I've been sent to the wrong facility," Fiona said. "I should have been sent to a women's prison."
Warden Cole looked at the stack of papers on his desk. When he looked up at Fiona, there was something dark and dangerous in his gaze that made her uncomfortable. This was a man used to dealing with the very worst kinds of men, violent, deadly, unrestrained by any morality. Fiona shuddered even thinking about the type of hardened men that were only a cement wall away.
"Have you done any time yet at all, Miss Driscoll?" Cole asked.
Fiona shook her head, "No, just a few days in a local jail during trial. I've never been I jail before and never been in any trouble."
"But the jury found you guilty of..." Cole looked back at his stack of papers.
"Dealing drugs... which is ridiculous... I've never even smoked a joint."
Cole reviewed the sentencing documents, "And that was for... A hundred fentanyl tablets? You planned to roofie the entire state?"
"Those weren't mine. They were planted..." Fiona saw the dubious look in Cole's eyes. "I know you probably hear this all the time, but I swear..."
"Jury said otherwise."
"It just isn't fair, none of this makes any sense," she sobbed. She wanted to cry, but in the last few weeks, she'd cried out everything. There simply were no more tears left.
Cole leaned back in the battered chair, looking across his cheap metal desk. There were no knick-knacks on it, nothing to fill the flat plateau of its surface. The only things on the desk were Fiona's packet containing all the details of her arrest, trial and incarceration plans.
"So the cops just came into your house and planted drugs?"
"No... It was Judge Roland..." she started, but was interrupted.
"Who you filed a motion to recuse on during the trial?"
"Yes! He propositioned me before all this. He knew my parents, and he knew me since I was a little girl. Just turned out to be a gross old man. He told me a month ago the day would come when I'd be happy to suck his cock."
"So, this is all a conspiracy?" Cole said as he stood up and started cleaning his glasses.
Fiona didn't say anything. She knew how absurd it all sounded. Things like this didn't happen in the US. Defeated, she asked, "What does any of this have to do with me being at the wrong prison? I need to go to Laurel Hendrix Rehabilitation Center..."
The heavy wooden door behind her banged open. Turning, Fiona watched as three rough men in prison overalls sauntered in. They looked as if they were used to having free rein. Worse still, they looked frightening, like the violent type of men who wouldn't think twice about shooting or cutting someone. She turned back to the Warden, her eyes wide with alarm.
"Prisoner Driscoll, Fiona if you prefer... I'd like you to meet some of the trustees of this prison. And you're right, it is a prison for men."
"What's..." was all that Fiona could get out when she felt three sets of rough hands grab her.
Instinctively, she jumped and tried to get away, but these were men used to fights, used to violence, and very much used to hurting others. Hand-like steel cuffs grabbed her limbs, pulling her apart and throwing her down across the desk. She gasped as they quickly flipped her around so that she was on her back. With each effort to scream or cry out, someone hit her in the sides, back, and stomach, knocking her voice and breath away.
The trustees fanned out around the desk, dragging her with them. She was pulled like a wishbone, hands gripping wrists and ankles. One of the trustees had thick calloused fingers wrapped around her throat, making it impossible to draw breath or speak at all. The warden watched all this from the corner as he put his glasses back on.