Chapter 47 - The Warden's Ledger
The Federal Correctional Complex at Florence, Colorado, sat beneath an empty, cold sapphire sky eighty miles south of Denver, surrounded by three perimeters of razor wire, motion sensors, and concrete guard towers.
Inside the administrative intake building of the ADMAX high-security unit, Warden Robert Vance sat behind his metal desk, reviewing an eight-inch-thick file bound in red legal tape:
SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES – HOUSING UNIT G. Inmate 1: Adrian Thomas Garrison (DOC #44812-094). Inmate 2: Dominic Charles Garrison (DOC #99412-094). Inmate 3: Lucien Edward Garrison (DOC #11412-094).
A correctional lieutenant stood before the desk, holding a clipboard with the daily recreation manifests.
"Any incidents during the morning exercise period, Lieutenant?" the warden asked without looking up.
"No, sir," the officer replied. "The three Garrison inmates were placed in separate outdoor exercise pens at seven hundred hours. Inmate Adrian Garrison requested access to the commercial news library to review the maritime trade journals."
"And your response?"
"Request denied under Section Fourteen of the federal receivership order," the lieutenant answered flatly. "All outside corporate financial correspondence is permanently restricted by order of the United States District Court."
The warden signed the bottom of the manifest with a sharp stroke of his pen.
"How did the inmate react?"
The lieutenant hesitated, looking out through the reinforced window toward the bleak exercise yards where the snow lay hard against the chain-link fences.
"He stood by the concrete wall for twenty minutes, Warden. Watching the commercial freight trains pass on the southern spur two miles away. Then he sat on the iron bench, buried his face in his hands, and didn't speak another word."
Warden Vance closed the red file with a dull thud.
"File the manifest, Lieutenant.
The court’s orders are absolute.
May you like
They built their own cage.
Now they can live in it."
