Authors: Nikki Turner
When they first put her in population, she cried everyday.
Not because she was scared of being in jail, but simply because she wasn't used to jail life or the mentality. Having to eat what was chosen for her to consume, was hard enough and the food was disgusting so she wouldn't eat. She lost about twenty pounds in a four-month-time frame.
When she went into the jail population some of the girls knew her from the streets. Or, if they didn't know her personally, they had heard of her by tying her to Des, Rallo or Bengee.
Some gave her the utmost respect on the strength of Des or Bengee, but some of her fellow inmates were jealous of her.
They were especially envious of the way she lived out of jail as well as in confinement.
Sometimes when a person goes to jail, they are forgotten about. People on the outside world think, out of sight, out of mind. So, they forget all about the inmate. What they don't realize is unless a person was sentenced to death or has consecutive life sentences, and even so, convictions are overturned everyday, which means they are not going to be confined forever. And one day, they'll meet again.
This wasn't the total case for Yarni. First of all, she only told a selective few that she was in jail. The people she did inform showed her love. She got mail on a regular basis, and even though she didn't want any visits, Gloria visited every week.
Whenever she made a phone call, the charges were always accepted. She could call as much and talk as long as she wanted. Her inmate account was always stacked. She continued to get yellow money receipt slips even though she already had hundreds of dollars in her inmate account.
She also ran a store in her dayroom. In jail, inmates only get to go to the canteen once a week. At the end of the week, some of them may run out of certain products. So, an inmate would allow that person to get an item from them, providing when they go to the store, they give them two items back. It is called two for one. Yarni only provided one for one; whatever was gotten from her was just reversed with that item.
Most of the girls in jail were there because of some crime they committed for drugs. The majority of them were conniving on the streets and shiesty in jail. They may have done so much low down dirty stuff that when they got to jail, nobody thought enough of them to send money or any expressions of love. So, naturally, when they saw somebody like Yarni, one of two reac-tions happened: They either tried to befriend her to get whatever they could from her, or they just envied and hated her, and tried to give her a hard time. They'd send trouble her way anyway they could.
Yarni had never thought about breaking the law before in her life. The lifestyles of the men she dated caused her to know the hustles of the world, such as buying clothes hot from a booster, buying food stamps for half price, dudes getting robbed, people selling drugs, or whatever crime that's been committed. She was aware of all these offenses and personally knew people who did all of the above plus some but she never thought of ever committing a crime.
Overall, Yarni was a good person. She would help anybody.
Girls would come in going through withdrawals from heroine.
That was a sad sight. They would shake, sweat, and vomit, just be sick desiring chocolate to ease their urge. She would give them a couple of chocolate candy bars and some Ivory soap to help clean up the vomit, not looking for anything in return. Her heart was compassionate. She looked out for anybody in need, but don't get it twisted, Yarni was no fool or no lame for anybody.
The first two months were the hardest for Yarni to adjust to.
She stayed in some type of trouble. She got into two fights back to back with girls wanting to try her. She knew if she didn't straighten the situation out, things would go from bad to worse.
Yarni had picked up a lot of her jail survival skills from Des and unknowingly, her father. For instance, she told the deputy who processed her in, that she'd just gotten her ears pierced and was afraid if she'd removed her diamond studded earrings her ear may close or worse, get infected. The deputy allowed Yarni to keep her earrings, because the jail was awful when dealing with medical incidents. They hated the hassle and were short handed on medical staff.
Yarni also removed the under wire out of her bras so she wouldn't have to wear the county issued underwear. She was allowed to have eight T-shirts, soft bras, socks, and panties. She instructed Gloria to bring her all colors of T-shirts with socks to match, not any white, because she could buy white T-shirts and socks from the jail canteen. Her mother also brought her a Guess watch. These things were nothing to Yarni. She was only trying to make the best out of a horrible situation. Having these belongings made Yarni stand out, so there was a lot of jealousy surrounding her.
Although Yarni had a good heart, she wasn't going to let anybody take advantage of her by any means. This dirty, junkie girl, Key-Key, she knew from the street, was locked up too. She was light skinned, shoulder length curly hair and had a petite frame.
Pretty she wasn't, but her complexion, clothing, and cute shape attracted the men.
One day Key-Key walked over to Yarni when Yarni was leaving out of her cell to go play spades.
"Can I get a honey bun and a baby Ruth from you? I'll pay you when we go to canteen on Tuesday. I'm supposed to get a money slip on Monday," Key-Key asked.
"Hold up, Key-Key," Yarni said as she went back into her cell.
She returned with a honey bun and a Milky Way. "Here you can have this. Don't worry about giving it back to me when your money slip comes. Just get stocked up on your personals. O.K.?"
"Thank you, Yarni." Key-Key was more grateful than her stoic face would show.
Yarni went to the card table with three bags of potato chips in her hand. She had to use the chips to put up to bet in the spade game. She played spades for the next two hours. When the game was over, she ran up to her cell to get her a Baby Ruth she looked in her box where all her snacks were, but there were no chocolate bars left. She knew she should have had at least seven or eight left because she never gave them away, as they were her favorite. Yarni flipped out. She ran out of the cell.
"Who been in my cell?" Nobody said anything. "Well, if anybody saw anything, oh, I got a $10 reward out to know who been in my cell." Yarni knew money talked, even in "da clinker". She went back in her cell and took off her gym shorts and her tank top she'd been walking around in. She replaced it with her sweat suit and her tennis shoes, and went back to play cards.
A girl approached Yarni. The girl didn't want to get caught up in the hype, so she just passed Yarni a note. Yarni put the note in her pocket. Later that night, she read it. "Look in Key-Key's cell." Yarni waited until Key-Key went to take a shower. Yarni snuck into her cell, and there it was. Seven Baby Ruth's, dry Roman noodles, two Secret deodorant sticks and the Victoria Secret's underwear that Yarni had on the day before, that she had washed out by hand and had hanging up in her cell to dry. A Dirty Bitch. She had the nerve to steal my drawers! How trifling can you be? I gave to this broke down ho and she gonna steal from me. I can't believe this!
Yarni walked fast with her hands swinging by her side. She had a one-track mind and was in a trance trying to get over to the shower. She opened up that shower door and pulled Key-Key out, buck-naked. "Oh, you wanna steal from me?" Big, bad, bully Key-Key who had so much mouth, didn't try to fight back while slipping and sliding all around the dayroom. It only made Yarni madder, because she had to chase her around the dayroom. The deputies came in and broke up the fight, but they only locked the both of them in their cells for the rest of the night.
After the fight, Yarni didn't have anybody else trying her.
Thirty-eight days of her jail term was spent in the hole, in solitary confinement. Most people would have gone crazy having to be locked away twenty-four hours, seven days a week, but Yarni handled solitary well, better than the average inmate.
In the dungeon, the lights were very dim, and the female isolation was located over one of the male pods. Yarni kept hearing vague voices carrying on conversations. At first, she thought the solitary confinement was getting to her, but then she realized that wasn't the case. She wasn't losing it after all. While she laid on her cot, writing a letter to her father, she heard a voice that sounded like it was somewhere near.
"Hello, Hello, Hello. I'm talking to you down there in cell block two or three."
Yarni jumped up and ran to the door to respond through the slot in the door that the guards used to hand her mail or meal trays through. "Hello, back. Where are you? And who are you?" Yarni replied
"This is Zurri and I am down here in cell six. What's yo name?"
"Yarni," She was as happy as a kid in a candy shop to finally hear a friendly voice.
"What you doing in here? And didn't they just let you out a few days ago?"
"Yep. How you know?"
"Because I was back here then too."
"For real, well why you didn't say nothing then?" She asked suspiciously.
"I don't be fuckin wit these broke down chics in here. I don't be trying to make friends wit none of them. They all fake as hell.
These bitches in here is just like the hoes on the street: backstab-bing, throat cutting, larceny-jealous hearted, snitching bitches, who don't mean themselves no good, so how could they possibly mean me some good?"
"I feel you gurll! You ain't never lied!" Yarni felt a little comfort to finally be talking to someone who could actually feel her struggle.
"Too bad it caused me to come in here to figure that shit out." Zurri said.
"What are you in here for?"
"In jail period or back here in the dungeon?"
"Both? If you don't mind telling me, I know it's kind of personal." Yarni didn't mean to pry. She knew how she felt when people tried to inquire about her situation.
"I don't usually tell anybody, but for some reason, you seem cool. I am in for worthless checks. And back here in the dungeon for a variety of things, except for dyking, you name it. Cussing out a few deputies, arguing with these broke down chics, not following direct orders, blah, blah, blah, and the list goes on."
"Oh, O.K." Yarni smiled to herself because she could tell that Zurri was a bit ghetto, but cool.
"You got kids?" Zurri asked.
"Nope, thank God for that. You?"
"I got three."
"Oh, my God, who got them while you're in here?"
"My family."
"Well, that's good."
Zurri and Yarni talked all day and night. Zurri was impressed with Yarni, as Yarni was intrigued with Zurri. She learned all about Zurri's struggle as a single mother. When Zurri started thinking about her children, she got depressed and Yarni comforted her. She felt it was God who put them together because time really flew by. When she was released from isolation to go back into jail population, she was sad because she realized she wouldn't be able to talk to Zurri anymore. Zurri had to be in the dungeon for the rest of her time in the jail. She promised Zurri she would write her through the mail and they would always keep in touch, no matter what the storm in each other's life was.
Another issue that annoyed Yarni was the women guards.
They were so disrespectful. They thought that all females in jail either got high or were tricking when they were on the streets.
They tried their best to humiliate the women inmates as much as they could.
There was one female correctional officer who processed her the first day she'd turned herself in. Her name was Officer Rita Plenty. She recognized that Yarni was different from the other girls who'd came through the jail. She was certain that Yarni had been "caught up". Yarni's mannerisms, the clothes she wore in and the way she spoke, was confirmation. Once Yarni was removed from work release, Deputy Plenty would observe her actions. One day she accompanied Yarni to the nurse and they spoke briefly.
"Why were you removed from work release?" She interrogated Yarni.
"Before I was arrested, I was in the process of finishing my last year in undergrad school. I wanted to finish, so when I left the jail in the mornings I'd attend my classes." Yarni shrugged her shoulders and said in a nonchalant manner. "Somehow they found out."
"I am not mad at you. I would've done the same thing." Deputy Plenty said in a sincere tone.
Later that day, Deputy Plenty was escorting a male inmate, who was Castro's homeboy, to the nurse.
"Could you give a kite, (a note folded up real small, inmates usually throw them to the recipient) to Yarnise Pitman for me?"
"How you know Ms. Pitman?" She reached out her hand to get the kite from him.
"Yo, she's good peoples. She goes all out for the people she loves that's why she's in here now." He explained the lifestyle Yarni lived on the street and that Yarni was "real". He had only good things to say about Yarni. Deputy Plenty felt compassion for her plight and they became friends. She made Yarni's stay at the Henpeck County Jail a little more comfortable. She was concerned that Yarni had lost too much weight. She'd bring in food from home to Yarni. She'd pass messages between Yarni and Castro. Yarni never asked Deputy Plenty to do any favors for her.