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crimes from petty theft to murder, who saw me either
as an enemy or as fresh meat, depending upon my reaction. Adult supervisors
closely watched the facility, and I was able to narrowly avoid a fight here
or a sexual advance there, but I lost a lot of sleep and my weight began
to drop again..
On the flip side, some of the inmates genuinely liked
me and protected me as best they could. They nicknamed me “Gloria”
because of my long hair and girlish looks, and I didn’t really take
offense, thinking a little bit of camaraderie and protection was worth it
as long as I didn’t display any overt signs of homosexuality and made
a joke of it myself. Being able to do this probably saved my life.
On my last day in the facility, I was accompanied to
the airport by one of the supervisors, who made sure I got on the plane
before he released me. I was a considered a minimal flight risk, and so
on my first airplane flight ever I was content to wait out the six hours
— there were no layovers — knowing at the end
