Chapter 11: Room 318

The One Who Leaves—when Mom first found out her prison roommate was Susan Atkins from the Manson cult.

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The bus was long and white with “San Bernardino County Sheriff” written across the side in sand-colored block letters. Mom was being transported from West Valley to the California Institution for Women (CIW) for her first prison sentence. She looked down at her shackled feet. Metal cuffs rubbed her ankles raw with every pothole the transport vehicle pummeled over. She stared out the window across the I-15 South freeway. The windows had five horizontal iron bars across each one and they were tinted dark as tar so other drivers couldn’t see in.

She squinted through the bars as she arrived at CIW—one hundred and twenty acres surrounded by razor wire and guards with guns. A cop in a military-green uniform escorted Mom off the steps of the bus. The air punched her in the face with the ripe smell of cow shit.