ABSTRACT
Meri and Lucita were visiting Julio in Woodburne Prison when he told them he had a feeling that something bad was happening to Miguel (the prison grapevine?) and that they should go over to check. Sullivan was a ten-minute walk away, and when they arrived they were told Miguel was in the hospital. Over the phone, Meri told me:
We didn t know nothing. We got there and he was already in the hospital, there was no one there to help him. The guy [who did it] is a drug dealer, he's a big man over there. He pays the police [correctional officers] with the drugs. This man paid a person to do it, somebody from the 'avenue' [B?]. He's the man who put a contract on Julio's uncle. I don't dare to tell them because Miguel said that if he's not careful, they'll harm Lucita. He can't say who did it because then the rest of them think you're a "rat." Nobody in jail talks, Jagna, nobody, because they know they're gonna get killed—not even the person [who] got hurt, because they're gonna say "he's selling tickets" [informing]. How long has Richie been in jail? How many years, how many years has Julio? But they never got hurt because they're already used to doing time, but Miguel, he doesn't know how to defend himself. They wanted to damage his face—he looks like a Frankenstein. The CO [correctional officer] said he got this because he wasn't looking. They [prison officials] told Miguel they made a mistake. He belongs in a medium- not a maximum-security prison. They found out that Miguel wasn't supposed to even be there. It's a big criminal place.
