From Harold Written April 6:

"The morning of March 22 I was awakened with orders to pack up all of my property in 15 min. to take to the gulag's Property Room because I was on the chain bus to Special Needs that morning.  After an all-day affair in handcuffs locked in a cage on the bus, I made it to Special Needs where I was locked in a cell without TV, radio, tobacco, coffee, commissary or reading material for a week, then enjoyed the same hellish bus ride without toilet facility use for 7-8 hours back here on 29 March. 

"The day after arriving at Special Needs, the 23rd, I was taken for hand x-rays and in the afternoon was the doctor's appointment with, I assume, the orthopaedic surgeon--he did not bother to introduce himself.  The appointment took under 10 minutes.  He examined the x-rays and my hand, then dropped the bombshell news on me that there was nothing he could do to fix the finger that won't straighten nor bend at the joint above the nail.  The bump exhibiting itself in the palm of my hand, feeling like a broken bone and looking to outward appearances like one that has healed askew, is not a bone at all.  It is the torn tendon from the fingertip that has snapped through the finger and come to rest in my palm!  He volunteered that he could have fixed/reattached the tendon if I had been brought to him within a reasonable time after the hand was injured, but since so much time had passed, there was nothing he could do but perhaps reattach the tendon to the joint above the nail so the finger would bend at the nail joint permanently so I could make a fist but not use the finger with full function.--basically cosmetic surgery with the finger permanently disabled.  The delayed treatment cost me use of my finger, clear and simple, so now will have to come a lawsuit to seek compensation and perhaps make a reasonable effort toward it not happening again to another prisoner, victim of an assault, being denied treatment resulting in permanent injury.  The 5 months or more, it cost me the full use of the hand/finger.  It makes me sick/angry to even think about it after hearing what the dr said.  He said something else that puzzles me too.  It was that I did not have to make up my mind now about whether I wanted the tendon attached to the joint; I had "3 years" to make up my mind about that!  I am not certain if he was making a snide remark about my probable mortality or was serious.  Still nothing for the ache in the hand given me either."

 

"Being rushed to pack up to 'go in 15 min.' was impossible, so I had to leave some of my property with my cell partner to hold, and he proved himself to be trustworthy, as he took care of everything I left with him until I came back.  I am in the same cell I left from, and the old story of something always getting broken when moving proved true, but it was only one paintbrush I seldom use, so I came out lucky.  At least I know I can trust my cellie in my absence, which is good and always a concern in here until proven."