A visitor's guide

From waiting room to visiting room, navigating behind prison walls | Andrée Seu

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

The thing you need to know about visiting an inmate is that you probably will not be successful the first time around. But since there must always be a first time in order for a second time, you must sweat that out. On your initial visit you will have violated some rule, even if you did the homework. You will have on the wrong shoes, or the wrong shirt, or an underwire bra that sets off the metal detector. You may hope that there is a Job Lot nearby where you can purchase acceptable replacements cheaply.

The prison waiting room, earthly analog of Purgatory, is a showcase of the mean and kind extremes of human nature. Mean is the delight taken by the desk guard watching the nervous first-timer feel like a fool trying to figure out the locker. Kind is the visitor who discretely approaches and says, "Push up on the lever a little."