The Marshall Project

I Had a Shitty Job in Prison

“Down in a wastewater-treatment pit, I kept furiously shoving the black liquid toward the pump, with a squeegee.”

My muscles were in agony, and getting too weak for the work. My shoulders were on fire. My back ached. “Keep pushing!” the city contractor yelled, from high up above. I was down in a wastewater-treatment pit in a central Georgia city, and kept furiously shoving the black liquid toward the pump, with a squeegee. We had been down there for hours, starting early in the morning and working through our lunch break, which would have been two hours ago if we had gotten it. My forearms screamed in

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Marshall Project

The Marshall Project8 min readPolitics
No-Show Prison Workers Cost Mississippi Taxpayers Millions
When Darrell Adams showed up for an overnight shift at the Marshall County Correctional Facility in rural Mississippi, he was one of six officers guarding about 1,000 prisoners. Adams said he thought that was normal; only half-a-dozen guards had been
The Marshall Project3 min readMedical
Should Prisoners Get Covid-19 Vaccines Early?
Now that shipments of Covid-19 vaccine are on the move and FDA approval on the fast track, the fight begins over who will get the scarce vaccine first. States have until Friday to finalize distribution plans and submit them to the federal government
The Marshall Project5 min readAmerican Government
Biden Will Try to Unmake Trump's Immigration Agenda. It Won't Be Easy
In one beating, the woman from El Salvador told the immigration judge, her boyfriend’s punches disfigured her jaw and knocked out two front teeth. After raping her, he forced her to have his name tattooed in jagged letters on her back, boasting that

Related Books & Audiobooks