My Life Story

 Maybe you've noticed that I haven't said anything about beatings,  rapes, etc. in jail or prison.  That's because I never experienced or even saw anything like that.  It wasn't going to a dangerous Hell. It was just a completely different reality.  Yes, of course there were some fights,  but never anything serious.  The Dykes at Harris County and Goree did really like me but it was always an invitation,  not a demand or even anything disrespectful.  I saw some womwn who were couples but never unwilling partners.  There were women with full beards and hair on their chest,  I'd never seen that before! but I didn't know any of them personally.  No gang stuff either but that might be the decade I was there.  Sure,  there were gangs in the world but I never knew anything about "gang activity", cryps or  bloods. The only gangs I had heard of were motorcycle gangs like the Hells Angels in California and the Banditos in...

 It is absolutely terrifying to get booked into TDC. We were taken to the Walls Unit in Huntsville, which is a men's unit.  It's all kind of a blur. One thing stands out; when they were taking my information they had all of the names i have used and asked which one i wanted to be listed under in TDC. I changed my name back to Kiser after divorcing Jim but that was a choice so I chose Cooper. I think they didn't care because I would just be known by my TDC number to them.  From the Walls Unit we were taken to Goree. This would be the last year that Goree was a women's unit.  The feeling entering Goree has a heavy finality to it.  Six steel doors slammed and locked behind me as I was lead to quarantine.  Quarantine was a row of cells in the lowest level behind Death Row. We were taken to a room of showers,  stripped and hosed down with hot water. Then we were coated head to toe in camphor phonique to kill any parasites we might bring into the prison....