Juvenile Detention

By: Rick Masters
(© 2015-2016 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 25
The Check-up

After his return from breakfast, Officer Albert helped Josh to change into a clean overall and the two of them made their way to the car that would take them to the hospital for Josh's check-up. This time a driver would drop them off and return to collect them when Officer Albert phoned him.

At the end of an uneventful trip they entered the outpatient department. Josh could feel eyes turn towards him as people stared at this teen being escorted by a prison officer. He could almost feel them cringe away in case they got infected by something and this upset him. Officer Albert took him over to the automatic check-in screen and after they had checked in and found the zone they had to wait at, Officer Albert took Josh towards that zone's waiting area. As they passed a little kiosk, Albert asked Josh if he wanted anything, to which Josh replied that he had no money and no way to pay him back.

"I know that, Josh. This is my treat. Coke or coffee?"

"Thank you. I would like a coffee, I think. It has been a while since I had one."

"What type - flat white, latte, cappuccino, Americano ... ?"

"A latte would be great, thanks."

"One latte coming up." Officer Albert left Josh standing in the main thoroughfare, unguarded and not cuffed, while he stepped up to the counter and ordered two lattes. Once they were served he turned and signaled to Josh to join him while he put in sugar and stirred Josh's coffee for him and then did the same for his. Albert carried both cups as they went over to a relatively private corner of the waiting area and sat down.

"You seemed a bit upset when we were in the atrium."

"Yeah, I noticed how people stared at me and then shied away as if I had some disease that would infect them if they got too close. It upset me."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. It is a shame that people get a single idea of what constitutes a detention centre inmate. Then their prejudice paints all inmates with the same colour."

"But we are all different. Some of us are in there because of a silly mistake or something beyond our control. Look at Jas and what she has been through and yet she is still a nice girl. Andy and Chris are not bad sorts, and when they get out I doubt they will be back."

"Yes and you guys are in the majority, but it is the stereotypical bad guy who gets the press, and that is the picture that the general public has for criminals of any age."

"When I get out I am going to try and change that. Oh, I will get my name cleared first, but then I will set about giving interviews and telling people that we aren't all bad ones. Just people who made a mistake we will regret the rest of our lives."

"I wish you luck with that. And if you want to give a name for someone to be interviewed you can give them my name."

"Thank you. I think I will have to come up with a good slogan or catch phrase for it before I begin though."

"How about something along the lines of what is enough punishment. Like 'Is a custodial sentence enough - or should there be life-long punishment?'."

"You have already been thinking about this sort of thing haven't you?"

"Yes I have. I have seen the likes of Andy and Chris many times over and then seen how they struggled after their sentence because no one wanted to employ them or even be their friend. That is not right. If we are going to punish people like that then everyone should be punished like that, including ourselves because we all have done things that were wrong. Maybe not to the same degree but they were still wrong."

"Would you be willing to help me with it then?"

"Josh, in my job I have to be very careful. We are required to be a-political and cannot show any bias or preference towards anything connected with our work. So I can give an interview, but I can't campaign. I cannot reveal any personal data for any individual, so I can only speak in general terms. But what I can do is to arrange for you to interview different inmates to learn about them and see observations made about them by some of the officers. So yes I will help you, but it will have to be in the background. And there are a number of officers at the academy who will help you in the same way."

"Thanks, Officer Albert. I appreciate that."

Josh's name came up on the screen and the teen and his guard made their way into the consultation room.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Tolmers. I see you have still got the trust of the officers," the doctor said. He was the same doctor who had examined and treated Josh when he was first brought in with the injury. "I see from the records we did not do as good a job as we should have and you got some infection after all."

"It was not your fault. The guys used a fork that had been working horse shit," Josh replied.

"Thank you for your understanding. How is the arm now?"

"There is still quite a bit of pain and having this plaster on makes things quite awkward."

"Right. We will see what we can do about the plaster. What about your testicles? Any problems there?"

"No, they are fine."

"Good. Let's have a look at you then." The doctor got up from his seat and moved over to where Josh was sitting. He pulled back some of the dressing on the wound, which was healing rather well now that the infection had been sorted. "I am going to cut the plaster off and do an ultrasound examination to see if the muscles have fused together properly. I need you to make sure you do not straighten your elbow at all. Okay?"

"I will do my best."

"Good, let's go then. Officer, you can come too and help; that way we will not have to wait while we get a nurse to assist."

The three guys stood and Josh and Albert followed the doctor down the outpatients ward to a corridor where they turned right. After a short distance the doctor opened a door and indicated for the two to go in. Josh was guided to sit in a chair and rest his plastered arm on a table that could be adjusted in height. The doctor pumped the pedal on the floor and the table lifted a bit until Josh was sitting comfortably with his arm fully supported on the table.

"Officer, what I need you to do is to hold Mr. Tolmers' hand and shoulder so that when the plaster comes off he is not able to move his arm. You must be prepared for him to try because it is totally natural for him to try. His arm has been held in the same place for a week and initially Mr. Tolmers will not be able to stop himself from trying and so you must be his will power for those first few seconds."

"Okay, doc. I will do my best." Officer Albert moved around and stood at one end of the table where he could put his hand on Josh's shoulder and then lean forward to hold Josh's hand firmly on the table.

"That's good. Now what I am going to do is to cut up the inside of the plaster. Then you will need to hold Mr. Tolmers while I do a second cut up the outside and literally cut his plaster in half. I will then lift the top off and you must keep holding him until I say it is okay."

"Got it."

"Now, Mr. Tolmers, I need you to sit as still as you can. These shears are shaped to prevent cuts to the patient, but I still have to cut through an inside corner and that is not easy. I will do my best not to hurt you."

"And I will do my best to stay still and not cry."

"A good sense of humour helps you through a lot of troubles. Keep it up, boy."

The doctor got busy with the shears and the plaster came off. Albert held Josh firmly and could feel the momentary tug as Josh instinctively tried to straighten his arm.

"Right. Mr. Tolmers, I think you have got control now. Can you hold your arm still without the help of the officer?"

"I didn't believe you at first and was surprised. It was almost as if my arm was not a part of me and I could not stop myself from trying to move it. But, yes, thank you, I think I have got control now."

"Good. Officer, will you let go of his shoulder first, please." Albert released Josh's shoulder and Josh was able to stay perfectly still. "Well done. You can let go of Mr. Tolmers' hand as well now. Thank you for your assistance. Now we can take a look at what the muscle is doing inside there."

The doctor wheeled up an instrument stand and squirted some gel onto the sonar plate. He then put this against Josh's arm and the three of them looked at the 'V' shaped image that appeared on the monitor screen. The doctor clearly enjoyed his role and set about explaining to Josh and Albert what they were seeing. "That very light bit there is the bone, and this black line is the blood vessel and this grey striped bit is the muscle. That is how it looks when it is good, but let's now move down to where the injury is. You see how the pattern in the grey part goes silly. That is where the muscle was torn during the attack. But you can also see this line of slightly lighter shading around the damage zone. That is scar tissue and it tells me that this is healing very nicely but is not quite there yet. I am sorry, Mr. Tolmers, but we will have to put a new cast on for another week. I will make it a bit smaller this time, but it will still keep your elbow bent."

Half an hour later a rather happier inmate walked out of the outpatients department and waited with Officer Albert for the car to arrive to take them back.

"I am going to phone Officer Stuart and let him know to expect you so he can stop the other two making their way to the infirmary to collect you for lunch."

"I know this is going to sound weird, but I am kind of looking forward to being back in the cell."

"No, it is not weird. You have effectively been in hospital for a week. It is not strange to want to get back home. For you, right now, home is your cell."

"Thank you, Officer Albert, for helping me while I was in the infirmary. Will I get a chance to come back and thank Officer Simon, do you think?"

"Well, we still need to get that plaster cut off, so you have at least one more hospital visit. I should think Officer Simon will be on duty for that, but I will tell him that you say thank you, just in case."

"I appreciate that. Thank you."

The driver took a while to get to them, so it was nearly lunch time when Officer Albert led Josh back to the desk and handed him over to Officer Stuart with what was left of his course of antibiotics.

To be continued...

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Posted: 04/08/16