The cell's occupant is a boy who has repeatedly cut himself and is under 24-hour watch. Recently, he has been biting into his arm to rip his veins out with his teeth. The irreducible impulse to make a life, whatever the conditions, is sometimes not irreducible at all. I never came even close to this, but there was a point when the earth seemed to give way beneath my feet, when I seemed to be sinking slowly to the bottom of the sea and the air was being pressed from my lungs. I ask Twinn if we can go to B Seg, the punishment block.
Summer turns to autumn and the cold winds start again to whistle through the wire.
I am on a conveyor belt like everyone else, just waiting my turn before the judges. I am tense and angry and frustrated. I bridle at rules I have until now managed to negotiate, and, inevitably, I end up in B Seg. The punishment block now has only six cells in use, but 20 years ago it had double that. It was a busier and more brutal place then.