04 HOPE FOR LISA?


"Still no letter from Lisa, Dad?"

"No, son. Your mother is so worried. It's been over a year since she wrote to say she had started her sentence and since then, nothing. I've written to the prison and the Foreign Office and my MP and to everyone I can think of and it's a brick wall. I know that she's alive and in good health. That much they will tell me, but they button up their lips when I ask why she writes no letters. There must be a pile of them we've sent her!"

George, Lisa's elder brother, was enjoying his summer vacation. Although 'enjoy' was not a word that Lisa's family had used much in the fourteen months since her arrest and never in the thirteen months she had been in prison. None of them liked to think how it would have affected the slim and beautiful girl, who had always been the cosseted baby of the family, indulged by her mother and brother and doted on by her father.

Both Mr Griffiths and George had flown out to the Asian resort when Lisa had been arrested and had even been allowed to see her in her holding cell. They had been encouraged by her cheerfulness and flown home in the knowledge that she was coping very well and showing a lot of bravery.

"I'm going back there, Dad. I've got until October before I go back to College. I can't just sit around here while my little sister is going through God knows what horrors. They probably don't speak English in that gaol!"

"I think she's in a wing for English speaking women, George. At least that's the impression I got. She was full of enthusiasm for a girl called Samantha. You remember - I showed you the letter."

George remembered every word of Lisa's first and only letter. He called to mind one sentence in particular. 'I like her so much, Daddy! With her as a friend I really don't mind spending three years here - and maybe it'll be less. I think they are very good about paroles and good conduct remissions and you know what a good girl I am. Pity the judge didn't think so, though! Keep smiling darling Mummy and Daddy and my love to clever old George!'. He felt, to his shame, a tear forming as he repeated these words to himself. She had certainly sounded happy enough in that letter, showing an admirable ability to seek out the good side of any situation.

George had to wait a week for  a visa and a further week to make the bookings. His father had arranged unlimited credit at the country's main bank ( as he had for Lisa a year ago) and all he had to do was find out what was happening to his sister. His first act on arrival was to seek an interview at the Department of Justice which oversaw the country's prison system. He was kept waiting for a week until he was asked to drop in. The Mr Hernandes who finally invited him to come round to see him was a fat and perspiring man who looked like a heart attack in waiting to the ever athletic and fit George.

"I am sorry, Mr Griffiths. I have the record of your sister's trial. The evidence was only photographic. Here is the incriminating photo taken by a security camera."

George looked closely at it. That was never Lisa! Never in a million years!

"That is not my sister, Mr Hernandes. How could you have identified her and convicted her on the basis of that?" He was seething with rage to think poor little Lisa had been fifteen months in custody on the basis of a blurred photo of a fair haired round-shouldered woman at least five years her senior.

"That woman is stooping, Mr Hernandes and Lisa - my sister - holds herself straight as a ramrod - always has. She'd never slouch like that!"

"She was the only blonde female in the hotel at the time and she was in possession of a lot of money when arrested."

"Of course she had money on her. She'd made a withdrawal from the bank that same day. I should know, we arranged the credit for her. She had all the money she wanted and had no need to steal."

"Perhaps she had overspent, Mr Griffiths and was afraid to tell her father."

"Rubbish. She'd never be afraid to own up - she's not that kind of girl and I should know, having experienced her total honesty for eighteen years! And anyway she can wrap Dad round her little finger and does on a regular basis, the little minx!"  He felt tears staring up again as he recalled Lisa's preposterous wheedling, effortlessly securing any and every favour out of a father who indulged her even as he treated his son so strictly. Not that George was complaining! He was entranced by his lovely younger sister as much as anyone else.

"But this is going over old ground. I want to know why we have not heard from her since her letter dated the eleventh of August last year and it is now the seventeenth of September, over a year later. She would never be so cruel as to keep us in the dark this long."

Mr Hernandes smiled. "I am not actually in charge of that prison. My colleague Mr Sanchez handles it as a rule. But he is away for another six weeks. I fear you will have to wait until then!"

His next call was at the Embassy and they were not too hopeful. They told him that consular access was rarely granted. But they did assure him that the prison in question was well run, but strict.

"My guess is that your sister committed a disciplinary offence and is under some kind of restriction of privileges." said Mr Fordyce "I'm sure you'll be hearing from her soon."

George left getting to doubt that his visit had achieved anything.

"Another spoilt brat getting into trouble and hoping her rich relations will dig her out!" said the harassed Fordyce to a junior colleague. "God, but I detest these rich bitches going off the rails and all the trouble they cause us! I say it will do her good to find out the world isn't here purely for her gratification. But we'd best look into it!  See to it will you? No hurry!"

Mr Potts, the junior official in question took a different line, happily for Lisa, and he pursued the case with an energy that even had the torpid Ministry of Justice responding. But even he had to wait until the vitally important Mr Sanches returned!

George came home in early October, still unaware that his sister was now in the sixtieth week of solitary confinement, and with sixty still to come. The matter of her menstruation had been resolved, with all penalties arising  cancelled. Unfortunately, Lisa had been ill for some weeks earlier in the summer and had fainted twice in ten minutes and twice soiled the floor at the same time. It had broken hatchet-face's heart as she adjusted the time switch, giving the poor young woman four more weeks. Two  times she had attacks of diarrhoea and soiled the floor, despite trying to make the short distance to the floor toilet, being obliged to wait four stinking days for the ten day hosing. Apart from that, though, she had incurred no extra weeks since the early part of her captivity and was quietly celebrating what she was sure was the half-way stage - unless she became ill again and there was no sign of that.

Lisa was half way through her second novel by this time. She had completed the first during her fifty second week in solitary, at about the time that a half-crazed Sandra had completed her punishment and been freed, bare-breasted and wild-eyed to rejoin a shocked Samantha. Her first novel had been a steamy romance and every word of it was committed to memory. Set partly in Revolutionary France and partly in the East Indies, it had covered the unlikely and colourful adventures of a young noblewoman who had endured prison, near execution and a shipwreck before being rescued by a dashing, swashbuckling pirate. Some of the love scenes had been so hot that as she stood still in the middle of her cell for hour after hour, going time and time again over every last gasp of passion and thrust of manly pirate penis into tight, dripping wet, hot and welcoming aristocratic vulva, that she had feared for her own bodily purity and prayed that signs of moistness in her own crotch were not too obvious to the vigilant staff.

"That girl's going off her head, if you ask me." said Hatchet-Face to the governor as they sat eating their sandwiches and sipping ice-cold beer with the sun streaming into the office. It was certainly a wonderful day. "She's not so much as moved for hours. She's gone balmy - and who can be surprised - poor girl She'll be like a zombie when she gets out - if she lives that long!"

"I disagree. Look how straight she still stands! That's not a defeated girl, like some we've seen. She's just lost in her own imagination. It's her way of escaping from the awful reality she is in. Now she has got over her food poisoning she will be fine."

Both the governor and Hatchet-Face had been stricken with the bug that had swept the prison. They had been in bed for a week. Lisa had been far worse affected, but had still remained upright until, the day before the infection finally cleared her by then shattered body, she had twice briefly passed out and twice slightly soiled her cell. It mattered not that she had forced herself back to her feet each time and almost made the distance to the toilet before her bowels cascaded her stinking flux into the hole and slightly spattered the floor. She had broken the rules and knew that it had cost her four more weeks in just a few short minutes!  Since then, the problem had been traced to the water supply, which was now deemed pure by the public health authorities.

"I really do hope you are right" said Hatchet Face. She looked for the millionth time at Lisa's ivory white skin, untouched by sunlight for so long and those firm breasts with their  pink nipples and small coral pink areolas and, above all, those flawless young buttocks and she lusted anew. She loved a good arse and Lisa's was the greatest! She had caressed its sweet roundness a zillion times and planted as many kisses on it. Occasionally she imagined giving passionate and painful love bites to that posterior, leaving her teeth marks on both cheeks, and that was when she came to some marvellous orgasms! But it was not merely lust that made her hope Lisa would come out alive and in her right mind. She had grown to admire as well as hunger for that girl, and apart from that, like the professional she was, she  would never dream of touching her for real. But it was good to look at that sweet flesh and dream!

The Governor was a married man with two daughters, one of whom was Lisa's age. He would sometimes have nightmares about his Carmen ending up in the same plight as Lisa. He thought of Lisa's parents, especially her father. The poor couple! And they knew nothing of what was being done to their so lovely daughter! Perhaps it was as well. He had authorised a letter to the British Embassy saying, truthfully, that she was alive and in good health. Her family would have to be satisfied with this titbit of information until Lisa came out in sixty weeks and was able to write and tell it in her own words.

But her family were not satisfied and were more determined than ever to find out why Lisa had been silent so long. George was back home to begin his final year and Mr Griffiths began to think of going out himself. He couldn't wait any longer. Then Mr Potts phoned him.

"Mr John Griffiths? Lisa's father? My name is Potts from the Embassy. My chief has asked me to look into your daughter's case. Poor girl! If ever anyone was framed it was she, but try getting that into these bastards' thick skulls! I have applied for the original evidence from the prosecutor's office so that we can satisfy ourselves as to its authenticity. That was two weeks ago and I bombard them with reminders - and nothing! Somebody is stalling and I'm getting a nasty feeling it's a high up person who's protecting the real culprit. I don't want to raise your hopes, sir, but things move slowly here, though they were quick enough to put her inside! By the time we clear her name, and I don't doubt we will, her sentence may well be complete - and that's another thing. With remission for good conduct and parole, she ought to have been freed by now, but she hasn't been. I've looked into the penal code and the reason she is still in prison must be that she committed a disciplinary offence of some kind."

"I find that hard to believe of her, but I agree that it sounds the likeliest explanation. Have you anything else for me?"

"Yes. I have obtained the names of all our nationals who have been imprisoned in the women's penitentiary and I've contacted the Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians and Yanks. I'm still waiting on the US Embassy but the others have let me have the names of any girl on their books who might have known Lisa. I suggest that she may have been out of circulation since just after she started her sentence. Whatever happened must have been in her first week before she wrote her permitted weekly letter home. So I further suggest we start with those who were around on the 11th to the 18th August. Most of them are still inside and we we'll never get permission to interview them. A couple get out in six months - sisters who got into trouble. Two others have been released for some time. One has vanished without trace, but the other, a Ms Marty Jefferson has returned to England. I have her address and you might feel like getting in touch with her."

"I will certainly do that, Mr Potts. I was coming out there to be on the spot for Lisa, but I'll postpone my flight until I've had a chat with Ms Jefferson. Thank you for being so helpful"

"Think nothing of it Mr Griffith! It's just me doing my job - and I have a daughter almost that age, at school in Scotland. Believe me - I do have some idea what you're going through."

Three days later, John Griffith was knocking on the door of the address Potts had given him. A slatternly woman, holding a baby, whose father must have been Chinese, from its appearance, answered the door.

"Ms Marty Jefferson?"

"No. She's not here. Daft cow. She gets back from doing a stretch in some Asian hell-hole and then gets herself three months for shoplifting! Stupid bitch!"

"Where is she imprisoned - Holloway?"

"Yeah. Visiting day is today, but you're too late."

A chat with a contact at the Home Office got him a visit to Ms Jefferson, but he had to wait three weeks. Visiting was restricted and Marty had used up her quota. No amount of persuasion could get them to bend their stupid rules. John was getting to hate officialdom, with the sole exception of Potts, who was a good egg. Finally, while Lisa continued to count the days and weeks, he got to chat to Marty Jefferson. The response was not too encouraging at first but he managed to draw out of her what had happened.

"She got into a fight on her second day, Mr Griffiths. That was fine and it was a good fight to watch! She has plenty of guts that daughter of yours! She just waded into Sandra and Sandra's a big girl and strong with it. She was getting well and truly thrashed but it made no difference. She's no coward, I'll say that much"

"You mean she is still being punished for that and refused permission to write letters?"

"It started to get complicated. I don't understand all the ins and outs, but when the warders separated them, one of them asked who started it."

"Oh dear! The golden rule is don't answer a question like that! I suppose Lisa did?"

Marty nodded.

"It started when Lisa was shoved and she shoved back and a fight started. But Lisa was right out of order. She was just a green kid and all that, but that made no difference. She was a leper after that. What made it worse was that the other girl had done time in solitary. One of the things they throw you in the hole for is fighting. But if they couldn't tell who started it, then they'd impose a lesser penalty - just a caning or some extra and nasty duties like cleaning out the latrines. But the guard believed Lisa when she said Sandra started it and since Sandra was not too badly marked and your Lisa was bleeding like a stuck pig, she got the blame and was shoved back in the hole."

"And what happened then?"

"It didn't take long for Lisa to realise she had to do something for Sandra. She hadn't seen her bare feet until too late. After being in solitary they take away your shoes for the duration. A second stretch in solitary works out at least three times the stretch for the first. It's complicated and that's the whole point."

"It is relevant to Lisa's case?"

"Very relevant, Mr Griffith. Next day I and a friend, Patsy tried to shove her into a puddle. But she was waiting for someone to attack her and was ready for us. She punched me and Patsy gave her a black eye. Then Lisa really gave Patsy a whopper in her eye and Patsy had had enough! We continued to fight for a bit and were rolling on the ground giving each other what for, when they separated us and asked who started it. Guess what Lisa did?"

"I hope you're going to tell me either that she took the blame or stayed silent!"

"She took the blame. Then she changed her story about the day before. They put us all back to work, including Lisa. Your girl was very popular after that. She did wrong and tried to put it right as soon as she could. But she was silly. She should have gone to the governor and changed her story. Anyway Sandra was let out and she and Lisa kissed and made up. Next day they took Lisa to face the Governor and that's the last any of us saw of her. I know her friend Samantha was getting more and more worried about her not getting back after eight weeks."

"Eight weeks?"

"Yes. That's the minimum. All punishments are in multiples of eight. A second offence gets you sixteen weeks, so Lisa thought she would get Sandra off her twenty four weeks and only serve eight herself."

"Pretty noble of her!"

"Balls, Sir! She had no choice and she knew it. But she was silly starting a second fight. My guess is that they gave her two separate sentences. That would keep her inside for thirty two weeks. They are very free with their penalties for infringing the solitary confinement rules, so I'd imagine she'd get about twelve weeks added on for this and that. Her being a raw newcomer wouldn't make any difference. They've no mercy, those bitches!"

Mr Griffiths went pale and even the tough and brassy Marty felt sorry for him. But he pulled himself together pretty fast.

"There must be more to it, than that, Marty. Even if she did get extra weeks she has been out of circulation for sixty four weeks. How could a second offence keep her in for so long? You spoke of sixteen weeks for a second offence."

"Yeah. But those sadistic swine make any woman sent to solitary serve her previous time all over again - then she starts her second sentence. Maybe they dreamt up a third rap wasting the governor's time by not telling the truth first time. Yes!! That would account for it. Her third session would be twenty four weeks. and she'd do the thirty two she'd already served all over. So that's sixty four weeks and a further twenty four. I make that eighty eight weeks, plus all the penalties. You're looking at two years. That's it. She thought she would do eight weeks to save Sandra from twenty four and finds herself buried alive for two fucking years. Fucking Hell! The evil bastards! No one ever got more than two spells in solitary before this and they were real hard cases. Poor little Lisa!"

"Do you know anything about the conditions she will be in?"

"I certainly do! But are you sure you want to know? Because you aren't going to like knowing what your little darling is suffering. Sure you want me to go on?"

He nodded, looking as if he were about to cry.

"Well, The first thing is they strip them completely and shave their heads and they wear nothing until they some out. One girl who had been there told me the cells are tiny. Maybe a liitle less that six by just under four feet. And once they go in through the cell door, it stays locked until they come out. It never gets opened. Can you bear for me to go on? You do look awful, you poor old sod!"

Griffiths indicated that he wanted to know all.

"They NEVER open that door until the sentence is over. So if they get ill, they either get over it or ...need I say more? And they must keep on their feet from breakfast until evening meal. They pass food, toiletries and things through a grille and she'll never see the woman who passes them to her - not even her hand! I think that's about fifteen hours they have to keep standing and if they can't and sink to the floor then that's another week they have to do! Believe you me, they pretty soon develop pretty strong leg muscles unless they want to stay there for their entire sentence. If she was ill and fainted they'd give her a week extra for that. If they don't keep the place tidy they get a week extra for that. If they oversleep, that's another week. If they play with themselves, they get a week extra. And they don't waste money on heating that place! She'd better get to like it nice and chilly!  They watch every move through a camera in the ceiling and it picks everything up. Nobody can touch her as long as she's there, so her virginity is safe - if she hadn't lost it already! But one of the solitary cell guards is rumoured to like perving on the inmates, especially the pretty young ones and Lisa is very pretty, as you know,  and just about the youngest prisoner there, so your little girl will have been providing that bitch with loads of night-time fantasies!"