Behind the handsome face of this young man lies a dangerous character. He plotted a murder for money but was uncovered before he could carry out the crime.
Still, after visits from his lawyer in the local jail, he was convinced he would get away with it. After all, at the time of the crime, he was still a minor.
For the first hearing, he dressed himself neatly and presented an impeccable appearance. Who would want to punish him? But the judge decided to protect society from further harm at the hands of this young criminal.
At his next court appearance, the young criminal had to face the judge in his prison-issue pajamas, barefoot, with sweaty feet in foul-smelling plastic slides. In the local jail, he had been unable to care for his feet. His toenails had grown too long, and a fungal infection he contracted in the communal showers caused his feet to stink of sour, cheesy decay.
Realizing his chances were slipping away, the young inmate threatened the judge. But the shackles on his bare ankles kept him from standing up.
The verdict: 30 years in a maximum-security prison. As a disciplinary measure, he was sentenced to solitary confinement for the entirety of his sentence—30 years spent 24/7 in a small metal cell with no daylight, deprived of any form of recreation. He was forbidden books or other distractions, left with only himself and endless time.
Screaming, he was removed from the courtroom. Guards restrained him by his hands and sweaty feet and escorted him on a long drive to his next place of incarceration. During the transport, he threatened the guards and made repeated attempts to escape. When his attempts failed, he resorted to frustration tactics, urinating and defecating on himself as a form of torment for the guards.
Upon arriving at the prison—after a five-hour drive, half of it spent in unbearable stench—he was hosed down with cold water and given his uniform: yellow scrubs. The color symbolizes his high-profile status as an inmate. Shoes and socks were deemed unnecessary, as he was not allowed to leave his cell, except once every two weeks for a cold shower.
Even during his sentence, he continued to rebel. On one occasion, he stripped off his uniform and, when the guard entered his cell, pulled the sweat-soaked garment over the guard’s face before running naked down the hallway. Of course, he was quickly apprehended. Such disobedience was harshly punished. In such cases, the young prisoner was restrained naked to his bed for two weeks. His desperate escape attempts clearly demonstrated that solitary confinement was driving him to madness.
In this photo, we see the young man 15 years later, halfway through his sentence. The isolation had drained all emotion from his face. For the first time in all those years, he was allowed to leave the maximum-security prison for a parole hearing. For his court appearance, he wore a khaki jumpsuit, a uniform given to all convicts for transport. Would the judge set him free and show leniency this time?