Forbes and Hall

I met Forbes and Hall in South Charlie. They were in lockdown together because, I am told, they tended to have fights with others in all the other pods. The first day I noted that they tended not to cooperate. They both dropped their pills and they both turned to the side so that I could not see them swallow. This is incredibly important in Jail Medicine as some meds are used as poker chips and some are actually snorted. They trade them for various things within the pods.

Inmates have money in their accounts which their family and friends send to them from the outside. It is used to buy a visit with the doctor or a toothbrush at the jail commissary. At an incredibly inflated price I might add. Pills are quite valuable in the economy of jail. Psyche meds are free and probably the most valuable of all. Crazy inmates get medicated regardless of their ability to pay. Otherwise, a standard drug like tylenol costs ten bucks a month...a small fortune to an inmate.

Forbes and Hall are black men. I cannot describe what it must mean to be black in a Southeastern Arizona jail. They are the extreme minority there whereas in other areas of the country or even the state, they would most likely be in the majority. Not that it matters all that much because once you are in jail, you are in jail. All things are relatively equal. The old and the young, the male and the female, the junkie and the murderer....all live in the same way i.e. in a hellish condition.

On Tuesday I arrived to South Charlie and barked out the usual, "Meds, bring water!" and noted that Forbes was outside of his and Hall's room and sitting downstairs on the concrete picnic tables that are de rigueur in jail. He was smiling and I greeted him with a salaam wa alaikum.

He said, "What?"

I said, "I am a muslim. Salaam wa alaikum."

Forbes' face lit up like a plastic tree at Christmas. He said, "Hall is a muslim!" By then he was standing and looked quite excited. I imagine that I did too. It isn't any secret but many black men find Islam when they are incarcerated and I was banking on that possibility when I greeted Forbes. He told me, "Hall doesn't want his medication."

I began to climb the stairs and Forbes kept pace behind the guard and myself. He was quite animated and was saying some things that he often heard Hall say like in'sha'allah. I knocked on the narrow window and said, "Hall! Salaam wa alaikum Hall!"

Hall was, as is his usual, laying underneath the gray woolen blanket with his face to the wall. When he heard me, he shot up in the cot like a bullet. And he smiled. It was the first time I'd seen Hall smile. Usually he is withdrawn, angry and never utters a single word. I saw his teeth for the first time. He was shocked. I wasn't. I was however happy at this discovery albeit not happy that a muslim is in jail.

The next day I went to Hall's room with the same female guard who had related to me the story of her wayward cousin whom she hadn't heard from since her Arab husband had taken her "over there". She was excited as well..that Hall was a muslim and wanted to be in on the action between myself and Hall. She is the guard with a God Given smile. There are all types of prison guards you know...some of them are fabulously kind. Some are not. Some are sadistic as hell but I'd have to say the kind outnumber the sadists and keep them in check at the County Jail.

Hall came to the door and greeted me as is the custom and I returned the greeting. I asked him to show me his Quran. Although Hall had been refusing his meds for a couple of weeks, now he wouldn't dream of missing the opportunity to greet me. I felt the same way and looked forward to each interaction.

He went to his cot and brought out the Quran which he kept wrapped in a clean white towel. He presented it to me and I noted it was the Barnes and Noble variety which is often the only type of Quran a person can find in the United States. I mean to say, most do not know where to go to purchase a "real" Quran.

A "real" Quran must have in it the actual Arabic text alongside of the translation. This Quran that he showed to me is mass produced in the United States and is translated...how to say it? Loosely. It is presented as one would present a paperback novel and as if the Quran could be read in the same manner as one reads a "story". Which is not the case with the Quran.

I asked the guard if Hall could have visitors and Hall immediately replied "I don't have any visitors but I can have them." I said I would try to find a way to visit him and bring him a Quran that has Arabic text beside the English translation. I still have a few extra copies from the class I taught over a year ago.

I asked the guard about the Chaplain and whether or not he was employed by the jail. Apparently, that is a luxury that jails don't provide. Chaplains must raise their own funds and do not get paid for their services within jails.

I ran into the Chaplain just yesterday. I will have to admit, I'd seen him a few times before that and something about him didn't sit well with me. I cannot say what it is that bothers me about him but something does. I introduced myself and asked him about getting a real copy of the Quran to Hall. He said that Hall already had a Quran. A Quran that the chaplain had brought to him as he (the chaplain) serves the needs of "all" the denominations found in the jail. Or, he said, he finds muslim or jewish members of the community who can address the needs of special members in the jail population.

Now. Trying to explain something about Islam to a fundamentalist Christian...well. It is not very easy because truth be told, I am not allowed to insult a Christian in any way nor am I allowed to try to make him believe what I believe, understand what I understand. Of course most people know that fundamentalist Christians do not practice the same policy. They are out to convert anyone and everyone. I explained to the chaplain that for a Quran to be a valid Quran, it has to have the actual Arabic text in it.

The chaplain said to me, "But Hall can't read Arabic."

I said I know he can't. That isn't the point. Christians...most of them anyway...simply do not understand the gravity of translation of sacred texts and the printing of the same. It's a matter of policy to muslims. Not all of course but it is for those who understand the literal nature of the Quran, it absolutely is.

The chaplain told me that if I wanted to pass a book along to Hall that he would have to evaluate it prior to giving it to him.

I said to myself...oh brother! And if I could, I would have said to the chaplain:

And you are?

...to be continued.