Here it is, guys; the chapter you've all been waiting for! As always, I love hearing from you guys, whether its in the comment section or via private feedback emails; reader-theories, constructive critiques, or simply saying Hi!
Also, my high-IQ audience already knows this but I'll say it anyways: consent is necessary in real life
It was six in the morning when the buzzer sounded, and all of the inmates roused themselves out of bed. They all had five minutes to use the restroom before the breakfast service started. Ellie Deville stepped gingerly out of her bunk, and used the restroom in her cell. She tiredly shuffled along to the cafeteria and stood in line with the other inmates. The line dragged on for what seemed like an eternity, thus giving Ellie time to reflect on how she wound up at McArthur's Women's Detention Center.
Her trial received a lot of media coverage, as it was a story that the local news channels found too delicious to resist. After all, it wasn't everyday that a trusted teacher intentionally bilked the system for her own personal gain. Understandably, Ellie became a pariah in the community. Protestors had started showing up at her home and engaged in acts of light vandalism; using weed killer to write hateful messages on the lawn, throwing eggs at the window, toilet-papering the house, et cetera. Not that had any immediate impact, as Ellie was in custody at the county jailhouse.
Ellie looked back on her trial as she inched ever so closer to her morning slop of prison food. Her trial was three weeks long though absolutely brutal. The evidence compiled against her was overwhelming. It was much of the same evidence that Agent Howitzer displayed when he first arrested her, along with the school's actual financial statements to compare against Ellie's doctored ones. They also displayed many luxury items that were seized from Ellie's home, such as expensive handbags, her luxury SUV, designer blouses and other such material objects that were far outside of the price range of a typical high school physics teacher.
Furthermore, the prosecutors brought in character testimonies. The character testimonies were mostly just character assassinations, as the District Attorney brought out male students/alumni and fellow teachers. Nearly all of them testified on how overly flirtatious she was, and how she operated knowing that she would get away with it. Tales told of her classroom outfits, most too spicy for a classroom, and her tendency to have her blouse unbuttoned far too low and to lean into anxious students were used against her in court.
"
Does this sound like an honest woman to you?
"
The prosecutor said to the jurors, to great effect.
Stories were brought up on the stand about how she'd openly joke about using her position of tenure to doctor grades or dole out uneven punishments to students. The prosecutors also brought in several recent alumni of the
Women in STEM
student club that she oversaw; nearly all of them testified about how fruitless the organization really was. There were few activities that the club ever ran, nor did Ellie dispense any career-related advice to the aspiring female scientists, despite her firsthand expertise.
And then there was her legal defense. Ellie's destitute finances, despite her cushy job, meant that she could not afford her own attorney. Ellie wanted to put her house up for sale in a last-ditch effort to raise the money needed, however it was technically a crime scene and under police control. Besides, the real estate market was cold anyways; the population decline drove down housing demand. Thus, Ellie had no choice but to rely on a public defender.
Her lawyer knew that she was essentially dead to rights, so the legal strategy started off by cross examining Agent Howitzer, the school administrators, and the auditing firm to ensure that proper procedure was followed. To the public defender's credit, he left no stone unturned in the defense of his clearly-guilty client. However, all of the evidence was gained legally: some of the evidence was even submitted by Ellie herself!
When his cross-examination failed, Ellie's lawyer tried a different tactic; he used the necessity defense. He argued that Ellie had no choice but to swindle money from the district because the divorce settlement she won from her ex-husband years earlier had ran out. Furthermore, Brian, Ellie's ex-husband, had no more financial commitment to her after that lump sum payment, thus her public-school teacher salary was not enough to make ends meet. Ellie had no family that lived nearby that she could rely on; no couch to sleep on when times got tough. Thus, Ellie had no choice but to dip her hands in the proverbial cookie jar. The disapproving looks on the juror's faces had shown that they weren't buying that defense. The DA objected, stating that Ellie could've easily just found a second job as a private tutor if she needed the money that badly; as private tutoring could net an experienced teacher upwards of $100 per hour, and there was plenty of demand. The judge sustained this objection, effectively tossing out the necessity defense argument altogether.
Dismayed, Ellie's lawyer pivoted his strategy for a final time. Now, it was purely damage control. He knew that the jury would find his client guilty, so he merely tried to appeal to the judge and disregarded the jury altogether. He passionately argued that Ellie had no criminal record, and that given her age, forty-seven, she was highly unlikely to become violent or to be a repeat offender. He argued that this was the only crime that she had ever committed and she was remorseful for her actions. Immediately, the DA objected, stating that the public defender's argument essentially boiled down to
it was a one-time thing
, when the evidence clearly showed that this had gone on for multiple years. The judge had once again sustained this objection, unofficially making it clear that Ellie would not receive, nor deserve, a light sentence.
The judge dismissed the jury to the backroom to deliberate their final verdict on the charges brought against her. Ellie had become a nervous wreck at this point. She knew that she was going to prison, the only question was for how long. Her mind raced about the horrors of prison life. She tried to eat lunch with her lawyer, though her stomach was in knots as the stress had completely taken hold. Their meal together was interrupted, the judge had summoned everyone back to the courtroom. The jury took only forty-five minutes to deliberate and reach a verdict. With all parties involved back in the courtroom, the jury delivered their verdict: Guilty on all counts. There was no surprise there, though all focus was on the judge.
"First, with the financial damages, I order that your home, vehicle and material assets be put up for auction, as a means of financial restitution to the state. Next, I hereby sentence you to twenty years in prison, without the possibility of parole." The judged banged his gavel down, thus sealing Ellie's fate.
Ellie collapsed into an absolute emotional wreck, tears raining down her cheek like mighty waterfalls as she slumped in her chair. The bailiffs needed to carry her out of the courtroom, and off to her new life.
Her trial ended three weeks ago. As she was next in line for breakfast, she remarked at how suddenly her life changed. In the course of six weeks she went from awaiting trial to serving a twenty year prison sentence, with no home to go back to nor a penny to her name. Her commissary account was empty, so she immediately began to work as a math teacher in her prison's remedial education program. It paid little, but it was enough to buy soap and other toiletries.
Ellie had gotten her prison slop breakfast, slightly burnt oatmeal with something resembling raisins in it, a protein bar with who-knows-what for ingredients and a carton of milk. She sat down at the end of a long cafeteria table, nobody within several feet of her. Despite the entire prison population being present, she had some space.
Prisons had emptied in the decades since female slavery laws had been passed. This is because crime has always correlated with youth. Thus, as women under the age of thirty-five broke the law and were convicted, they were almost always sold as sex slaves. State governors loved how much money they were saving on inmate housing costs. It costs up to a median annual income to feed, provide basic medical care for, and house a single inmate. Thus, there was a clear incentive to sell female inmates to brothels, strip clubs, porn studios and the like. This also had a second-order impact of crime deterrence among women; far fewer women stepped out of bounds legally, since they knew the inmate-to-slave pipeline was an efficient one. Thus, police districts, municipal courts, and public defenders all benefited. The streets were safer and thus the courts and public defenders had far lighter caseloads.
Democrats in Washington stood atop their soapboxes and preached about how heinous the practice of female enslavement was, though they didn't have a counter argument when the Republican supermajority claimed that the Democrats got their wish of a drastically lower inmate population granted. Besides, their districts saved so much money because of the practice that introducing a bill to repeal the female slavery laws was career suicide; their voters wouldn't want the higher tax burden, and given the Republican supermajority, the bill would essentially be dead on arrival.
Ellie had finished her breakfast and had placed the tray onto the collection pile at the end of the table for one of the inmates employed by the prison to collect. Ellie was laying out the plan for her day; she was going to head back to her cell, grab her lesson plans for today's algebra class and then head to the in-prison classroom to prep for the lesson. Before she knew it, she was back at her cell, and she had started to rifle through what little belongings she had left.
A prison guard approached her cell. Ellie at first thought nothing of it and had merely assumed that he was there to escort her to the classroom. She grabbed her papers and approached the bars of her cell.
"I'm ready to go to the classroom" she told the guard.
"Actually, you're going to the front of the house" the guard explained. "Leave your personal belongings in your cell."
"
Front of the house
?" Ellie inquired. "What for?"
"You've got a visitor" the guard replied curtly. "Now set your papers on your bunk and get moving."
Ellie nodded, telling by the muscular guard's demeanor that he wasn't going to be forthcoming with any further explanation. She followed the guard's instructions and then approached the front of her cell again. The guard unlocked the door to let her out.
"Follow me" she obliged.
During the long walk to the
front of the house,
slang for the visitor's room, Ellie wondered about who might be visiting her. It was unlikely to be her lawyer. After all, he's a public defender who had a seemingly endless caseload. She also ruled out anyone from the DA's office; she had acted alone in her crime and hence didn't have any special knowledge that could help them in other cases. Ellie's mind flipped through her mental rolodex, though the searched returned no hits.
