CHAPTER 7
REDDING’S GAP STATE Prison was a monstrous grey scar on the landscape named after its nearest town. Even that was an hour away. The prison itself had been built on the site of an old copper mine in an area devoid of any civilisation. Virginia’s most dangerous inmates had only deer and squirrels for company.
Life in a seven-by-twelve cell, if that could be called life.
I called it a slow death.
Conditions at Redding’s Gap were reputed to be the harshest in the country. Segregated prisoners stayed in solitary confinement for twenty-three hours a day. Their cells contained only a steel slab with a thin mattress for a bed, a steel desk and shelf, and a steel toilet/basin combo. Meals were served through a slot in the door, and the cells were arranged so inmates couldn’t see any o
