My Lockdown Chronicles

Incarcerated writer Rufus McFadden on adjusting to the harsh realities of Mississippi's prison system

The following essay is an excerpt from Unit 29: Writing from Parchman Prison, a collection of writings and illustrations from over thirty men who currently are or have been incarcerated in Parchman Prison’s notoriously brutal Unit 29.

Order a copy of Unit 29: Writing from Parchman Prison from Vox Press.

My lockdown chronicles began in November of 2004. I’d just been sentenced to serve Life in the Mississippi Department of Corruption (MDOC). I’d been moved from the county jail to Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (Rankin County) to a maximum-security section (6), cell 41. This was a lockdown unit. During this era, anyone sentenced to Life had to do the first five years in “The Hole.”

I had no idea what to expect. I was mentally and psychologically torn. I was only twenty-three years old. I’d already heard numerous stories about prison and was a nervous wreck.

It was approximately two p.m. when I stepped off the bus still wearing my “free world” clothing. The only thing I possessed…