|
Postcards From Prison
By Norma Jean Almodovar© |
These are from a series of cartoons created by Norma Jean for her husband while she was incarcerated at the California Institute for Women. They will be available, along with other sex worker art, as a set of notecards from the gift emporium. |
 
"Say, you know what I just heard? LA District Attorney Ira Reiner is asking for the death penalty in Almodovar's case 'cause she still won't stop writing that book, "Cop to Call Girl!" |
I met the most interesting people
in here. . . and so many of them looked like the nicest
women. . . I couldn't imagine that they had actually killed
someone. . . in some cases, several
someones!
"You don't like your haircut? Oh, too bad! Do you know why I am in here, honey? I kilt my last 5 husbands by stabbing 'em to death with a pair of scissors! Yep, kilt 'em dead, I did!" |
|
|
|
One of the most embarrassing aspects of being in prison was the lack of respect that my "crime" commanded from my hardcore criminal friends. At that time, it was almost unheard of for someone to be incarcerated on such a charge who had never been in trouble with the law before. The other women just didn't believe me when I told them I was in prison for trying to help my 'friend' Penny fulfill her sex fantasy... but they sure did believe that the then District Attorney would throw me in the pen for writing a book about the LAPD! |
The Ball and Chain- my logo while in the "joint." |
||
|
|
Lunch Buddies- just like gradeschool. It was important to become part of a group from your dorm so you didn't have to eat alone and be labeled a 'loser.' Of course, how seriously can you take such a label when it is bestowed upon you by a murderer or bank robber? Eating at the "Village Cafeteria" (or 'V.C' for short) was an experience to be missed if possible, but unfortunately without a "food girl" it was unavoidable! |
Laundry Night at CIW Unless you had friends who worked in the prison dry cleaners and laundry, you had to wash out your clothes in your cell's sink and hang them to dry all over the room on clotheslines made of shoestrings tied together. In the summer, clothes dried overnight, but in the cooler weather, it sometimes took a week to dry a pair of jeans. No problem- wear them wet! |
|
Good food days: only when the Feds came to visit. The only time we got edible food was when the Federal or State Agents came to visit the prison. Then we got the food that was on the daily menu- otherwise we were never certain what would be the substitute meal! The food that the tax payers paid for went home with the guards or other prison personnel! |
|
||
|
|
|||
|
The State of California (and presumably other states) receives money from the Federal Government for each bed that is occupied by an inmate with a drug related charge. Is it any wonder that the State has NO interest in preventing- through 'rehabilitation' -repeat visits? |
Whale Beach- sunning ourselves on Sundays was a real treat. We called it "Whale Beach" and "Shamoo Shores" because many of us gained a lot of weight in our first few months of incarceration and looked like beached whales! When the women first talked about going to the beach, I actually thought the guards took us on a bus to a beach somewhere! Silly me! |
My nightmare came true- just like so
many other women who gained weight in prison, I gained
nearly fifty pounds. And, because we had to drink water with
lead in it, I started losing my hair! What a terrible deal
for my husband to have his wife come home from prison fat
and bald! |
|
|
|
 |
|
"There are evil demons running
amok on the earth who make us do bad things! The White Light
technique can help you. . ." |
Although the prison is a state run facility, and therefore should be held to the same constitutional standards regarding the separation of church and state- there was no question that many of the staff tried to impose personally held religious beliefs on the inmates. This was especially annoying when it was clear that I did not hold these beliefs, and was not allowed to question the "facts" as given to us by department psychologists. |
|
|---|---|---|
FOOD SMUGGLING 101 I learned no other
skill in prison except how to smuggle food from the village
cafeteria. No matter that women were searched upon leaving,
we managed to smuggle out the most interesting things in our
bras. Not that the food was worth eating later- it was just
the thrill of learning how to get around the rules of the
day. Of course, the most difficult food of all to smuggle
out were sloppy joes! We had them at least once a week- and,
come to think of it, they weren't any worse than I had at
summer camp as a child!
|
|
|
|
"I know your story and you better WATCH it!" One disastrous morning I awakened to find that I had been transferred into Ms. Bird's word processing class from my job working in th art studio. I was in shock! Ms. Bird refused to believe that I had not asked to be in her class, and had the nerve to want to transfer back to the art studio. She had no idea that I wasn't ashamed of my background, so she threatened to tellthe other inmates who I was if I didn't behave and not speak unless spoken to! Imagine her shock when the "60 Minute" interview aired and everyone learned I was a whore! |
|
when the "60 Minute" interview aired and everyone learned |
when the "60 Minute" interview aired and everyone learned |
How do you tell a bureaucrat they've got the wrong inmate? |
One had to go to
"classification" several times throughout one's
incarceration. My first experience with a counselor made me
realize how vulnerable I was behind bars. Unlike the real
world, where you can eventually get a bureaucrat to correct
false information- in prison, mistakes were routine, and
never corrected! Ms. Van Duval at first had the wrong file,
but even after she found mine- the file had my name was
misspelled, and the information from court said I was
unmarried and ten years younger then I was! When your level
of security depends on these statistics, having the correct
ones is extremely important! |
|
|
this |
|
||
|
|
||||
