prison break-in, part III

We went to work doing recon on the buildings. My companion is a much more diligent scout than I and she went deep into the buildings. I’m trying to learn to be a better explorer, but I’m so eager to start shooting I can barely contain myself. The main hall in which we found ourselves was filled with interesting things to photograph: a guard box was flanked by two low rows of visiting stools – the windows between the sides boarded up, seven or eight doors lead from the hall – at least three of them permanently locked, the others wide open, the mess hall faced the box, an observation room one floor up looked out on both rooms. I wanted to eat our lunch sandwiches in the mess hall, but it was too filthy – coated with dust, grime, and rust.

We stayed in the buildings for about five hours altogether. Stacks of file drawers filled with old records were piled by a window in the recreation hall. X-rays littered the infirmary wing. The kitchen freezers were marked supplies, milk box, juice box, and meat box. Too close to the end we discovered the main tiers in what was probably the oldest building on the campus. The cells were tiny, far too small to house a human being. I could reach out my arms and touch both walls, one floor had two beds to a cell. Much had been removed already from the prison, it was to be torn down. But much still remained. The sun moved across our canvas as we went from floor to floor.

More than once we felt as though we weren’t alone. Both of us were certain we heard footfalls and voices. We found a crowbar in the entry hall and carried it with us for a little while. Afterward we figured that whoever was in the building had heard us, thought we belonged, and fled before being discovered by us. On the way in through the dank tunnels, and in many other rooms, we’d seen a tag by someone named “phantom.” In the underground darkness he’d spray painted on an electrical cabinet “in here, you’re prey.” Neither of us mentioned until we were out and away how creepy it was, but we were both thinking of it as we strained to identify noises in the distance.