Introduction - The Cell Next Door
By Dylan Tallman
Proverbs 23:23
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Blessings on top of blessings. Where were my blessings? I went from society to Dodge Correctional Institution in a matter of a month. They didn't even want to put me in the general population due to my past and who I was. So, they kept me in temporary lock (TLU) up until they could figure out what to do with me. Keep in mind I was in two mental institutions prior to coming to Dodge. The county jail couldn't handle me, so I was transferred to Winnebago Mental Health. While there, I ended up in a fight with multiple staff members, so I was strapped to a board, carried, and driven to Mendota Mental Health.
I couldn't handle being incarcerated again after 10 years in prison. I was ready to kill anyone and myself because I couldn't cope with the reality that I was going to be incarcerated again for a period of time. The reality of imprisonment was trying to sink in. However, I wasn't ready to accept my fate. I had been a fighter my whole life, and I was trying to fight the inevitable. I knew I was not out long enough at this time to establish any rural ties to the community. Two months free, and I was going back. No one except my mother would miss me. Worst feeling ever! Worse yet, I was housed in a prison and not yet a prisoner. So, the state of Wisconsin had me right where they wanted me. All I could hear from solitary confinement was yelling and people banging on their cell doors.
The Correction Officers (COs) were wheeling in an inmate that was strapped down in a strapdown chair and had a spit mask over his head. It was very demoralizing because they had him naked and kept his neck bent so far back that the man could hardly breathe. I knew how he felt. I had been in his shoes more than a few times. I could taste the OC spray. It was because someone was maced on the tier, so it went through the vents because the sergeant forgot to shut them off. I had no property, just in the cell and could do nothing.
What bothered me more than any of these afflictions was the fact that I would not see my family, perhaps for a couple more years. I would not be laid up with a woman again for perhaps a couple more years. The ones that chose to lay up with me would not remember me until it was too late for them, which was my release date. Typical females. No woman to hold me down that I could love on to take my mind off prison. I was going to do this time alone. I felt so alone and low. I was turned all the way up in segregation. Worse than any other inmates. I did six months like that before I was moved to the special management Unit 11. They put me in cell 13 on January 9, 2025, next to Chris, who was housed in cell 14.
THE CELL NEXT DOOR