Today I left my solitary cell and was told that I would be heading to the Reception & Diagnostic Unit (RDU) today. I figured that it would be pretty easy, but first I was put into hand and ankle restraints again, and then taken down the to the property room where I was left for about 45 minutes. Just sitting there with no one and nothing to do. I remember counting blocks on the wall because there was simply nothing else to keep my attention and I was too cold and anxious to close my eyes and try to sleep. Finally after getting my property taken care of, I was escorted with two sheriff deputies to the transport van. I was loaded up and then we left, heading out of Olathe and towards New Century.
On the ride to New Century, I tried to make simple conversation with the deputies about the snow coming down, but neither of them even acknowledged my existence. When we arrived at the New Century facility, still in hand and ankle restraints, I was placed into another holding cell. This one had a toilet, so I took advantage and relieved myself while I was alone and had the time.
The door to the holding cell opened and I was met by another five inmates who were all being sent to RDU. I ended up with a younger guy next to me (we’ll call him Bob) and we loaded up into the van last. The road down to El Dorado was mostly highway and we couldn’t see a whole lot, but if was cloudy and cold with some snow flurries so it wasn’t all that interesting. I recall that my knees were to one side because I simply did not fit in the front row of seats. After about two hours we arrived at the gates to the El Dorado facility.
First thing we did once we got into the intake was to get our shackles removed. First the hands and waist and then the ankles. Wearing those was such an awful experience. We then waited to be called and were stripped out, given a red jumpsuit, shirt and underwear to change into. From there, I met with a medial intake worker who asked about any medical conditions such as my sleep apnea. I also spoke with a mental heath individual who I thought I was going to be able to get some assistance from, by dropping a name that I thought might mean something. It did not. From my time in therapy, I was told to ask for some support from an individual who was previously working alongside my counselor and that she might be able to help me in some way.
We were placed back into another holding cell and then I was called out to sign my registration paperwork since my address was changing, and was able to have my ring cut off since that was the reason I was in “segregation” in Johnson County. The last thing before being shown to our lovely new living quarters was a shave and photograph for KASPER (Kansas Adult Supervised Population Electronic Repository). I haven’t shaved in almost 20 years except for one surgical procedure to have my Inspire implant put in under my chin. Being clean shaven was a new thing for me and I was not a fan, but who cares, right? Just the photo that’ll live on a public website for however long.