Escape From Prison

It was another dull day at the All Women’s Penitentiary for Jasmine. Captured in her early 20s for being involved in a huge drug trafficking operation, Jasmine was closing in on 30 now and only just halfway through her sentence. The sheer thought of being in here for another 8 years depressed her. Often Jasmine dreamed of escape, but she could never find a loophole in the tight security. She sat in the outer courtyard wishing another day away. The inmates were allowed outside daily, and on Thursdays the majority of them usually played basketball. However, Jasmine wasn’t keen on basketball and would spend her “outdoor time” away from the courts.

“Hey prisoner, over there please” said one of the prison guards, interrupting Jasmine’s thoughts. “Need to shut this gate, garbage collection is here”. The dumpsters were in the courtyard, but they were fenced off with a locked gate most of the time. A further gate was used to close off part of the courtyard during collection time to protect the driver and to deny any escape attempts. This part of the courtyard was also used for deliveries, prisoner transfers and for visitors to enter through so it was normality to be ushered away from this area. Jasmine obeyed and moved away, allowing the gates to close off the access.

Jasmine heard the noise of an engine approach, and she watched as the garbage truck entered the courtyard. She continued to watch as the truck emptied the three dumpsters in the gated area, gaining a brief view of the many black trash bags that fell into the truck’s body.

The garbage truck soon vacated, and Jasmine watched as it left the vicinity. She thought to herself how she wished she was on that side of the gates too, free to do as she pleased.

One week later, she was back to her usual Thursday routine of avoiding the basketball courts, dreaming of escape. She looked around, wishing she could find one little mistake that could aid her exit. Nothing. No gaping holes in the fence. No part of the fencing that was missing barbed wire. She had hoped that the gang she was involved in would break her out at some point, but over time that hope faltered. It wasn’t worth the gang losing everything risking a breakout attempt. After all, she was just one of many pawns doing the dirty work for those at the top, the real money makers in the organisation didn’t have to get their hands dirty. Sigh....

Then she looked over to the dumpsters that were fenced off. But wait... the gates at the dumpsters weren’t locked? Whoever had been doing the trash run has left them open... Jasmine thought to herself for a moment...

Jasmine walked back to her cell, trying to avoid suspicion. She made it all the way back to her cell block, passing the male guard who was often stationed there.

“Morning Miss Harris, not fancy it outside?” asked the guard.

Trying to act calm, Jasmine replied “Just heading back out in a minute Officer Pellman, need to go to my cell.”

When Jasmine returned to her cell, she stripped off from her orange prison jumpsuit. She threw on a black vest top, her black leather trousers and her black leather jacket. Then Jasmine quickly straightened her black hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. Finally she put the orange jumpsuit back on.

Jasmine made her way back to the courtyard, passing Officer Pellman with a quick smile and glance. The officer noticed her hair was looking different, and her clothing was more bulked up. Instead of confronting Jasmine, he thought he would keep an eye out instead and see what she was up to. He dialled 147 into his walkie-talkie.

“Hello, this is Officer Garrick, what’s up?” said a male voice.

“Hello, Officer Pellman here. Can you cover me on Cell Block C? Keeping an eye on a prisoner.”

“Will be right there Officer Pellman” replied Officer Garrick.

Jasmine slowly made her way over to the dumpsters. With most of the prisoners at the basketball courts, Jasmine was out of sight from anyone and free to enter the gated dumpster zone. Thankfully the gates were still open.

“This is it, this is my way out” she said, staring at one of the dumpsters. She opened the lid up. It was completely filled to the top with black garbage bags. “Hmm, I’ll try another one” said Jasmine. The second dumpster was quite full, but not to the same extent as the first one. Reluctantly, Jasmine climbed into the dumpster. The smell wasn’t exactly welcoming. Jasmine placed herself onto the black garbage bags inside. She allowed the lid to close on her, and darkness took over. What she didn’t know was that Officer Pellman seen the whole thing.

Carefully, Jasmine stripped the orange jumpsuit off. She felt around the dumpster, trying to find a garbage bag which didn’t feel too full. Eventually she managed to find a bag that suited her needs, and using her touch she found the knot that had tied it. She undid the knot and placed the orange jumpsuit inside the trash bag. Jasmine managed to re-tie the bag in the darkness. Now all she needed to do was bury herself amongst the waste. Jasmine pulled and pushed the trash bags out of the way as she tried to make a path for herself to hide deeper down in the dumpster.

But all of a sudden, she heard someone outside. Very quickly she undone her ponytail, hoping her long black hair would cover her face. Now she just had to hope the leather clothing would blend her in well enough with the black trash bags. The lids opened and a hint of daylight was visible. Please don’t see me.... next thing she knew, she was hit full pelt with a trash bag. She nearly let out a sound of shock but luckily she managed to hold it in. More trash bags followed and before long the dumpster was completely full.

“Bloody garbage truck better hurry up, struggling to get any more trash inside these dumpsters!” said the woman who had been disposing of the trash bags. “And I need to remember to lock the bloody gates!” She closed the lids over and plunged Jasmine back into darkness.

This was perfect for Jasmine as she was completely buried in amongst the garbage now. Her choice of dark, shiny clothing definitely must have helped to blend her in amongst the black bags. Hiding the bright orange jumpsuit in a trash bag was key. “I am a genius!” she said to herself. It would have been the perfect getaway if not for one thing...

“We have an attempted escapee Ma’am” said Officer Pellman.

“Who would that be, and why haven’t you sounded the alarms?” said General Foster angrily, with a hint of panic. “You know the protocol here Officer Pellman!”

“She hasn’t escaped yet Ma’am” said Officer Pellman. “It’s Jasmine Harris from Cell Block C.”

“How do you mean, hasn’t escaped yet?”

“The gates to the dumpsters in the courtyard were left unlocked. Miss Harris sensed an opportunity, and she has placed herself inside one of the containers.”

Surprise took over General Foster’s face. “You mean to tell me, Miss Harris has climbed into a dumpster? That’s her escape plan?”

“I can confirm I did see Miss Harris climb into a dumpster” said Officer Pellman.

General Foster’s anger and fear turned into laughter. “So, Miss Harris is planning to escape inside a garbage truck? Brave girl I say! I wouldn’t want to be trying that one out!”

“Shall we retrieve Miss Harris from the dumpster?” asked Officer Pellman.

“Do you fancy dumpster diving Officer Pellman?” replied General Foster.

“I’d prefer not to Ma’am” said Officer Pellman.

“Well then...” General Foster thought to herself for a moment. “Right. I say we leave Miss Harris in the trash. She clearly doesn’t know much about garbage trucks and how they operate. She will be in for a torrid time. Let her enjoy the journey she’s forced on herself, and we will re-arrest her when the garbage truck dumps it’s load.”

“Are you sure about this General?” queried Officer Pellman.

“Yes, definitely” she replied. “She’s put herself in this position, let her suffer the consequences! She doesn’t know what she’s in for. Those garbage trucks continually compact the trash all day long! Miss Harris will be mixed in and squashed with food waste, nappies, condoms, lots of disgusting things. It will be a very bad day for Miss Harris. She hasn’t thought this through very well at all! I will contact another Officer to follow the garbage truck to begin with, just in the off chance she does escape, or shouts for help from the driver. Once the truck has cleared another few dumpsters, she should be heavily entrenched in the waste and we can be pretty sure she’ll end up at the transfer station, covered in smelly, rotting garbage!”

The plan was in place. Jasmine was in the dumpster. Soon she would be getting collected by the garbage truck. Once inside, she would try and climb back out. If that failed, she would allow for a couple more dumpsters to be emptied. Then she would start shouting for help, claiming she had been dumped in because she was homeless, as to not appear as if she had came in through the prison dumpsters. Jasmine lay in wait amongst the black trash bags. The smell wasn’t the nicest, but it was worth it for escape from this hellhole.

And then the sound she wanted to hear. The garbage truck had arrived. She could hear it targeting the dumpster on the left, the first one she had aimed to climb into. Jasmine listened as she heard the contents of the first dumpster crash into the garbage truck. The dumpster was lowered and placed back on the ground. The truck reversed. This is it... the truck drove forward and the forks slid into the middle dumpster’s sides. “Escape, here I come!” said Jasmine.

A mixture of excitement and fear took over Jasmine. The dumpster was heaved into the air. “Brace yourself!” Jasmine said. Up and over the dumpster went, and the garbage fell towards the truck’s body. Jasmine felt the trash above her moving away, and she slid alongside the waste towards the mouth of the truck. Then she fell head first and landed with a thud into a pile of garbage bags, and very quickly felt huge weight on top of her as the rest of the trash arrived inside. This was it... she was escaping! Albeit in disgusting fashion.

She gave herself a moment to compose herself for her next move. Unfortunately she forgot there was one more dumpster to be cleared, and without warning loads more garbage fell inside, much of it on top of the trash pile Jasmine was currently in. “Shit!” she said to herself. She tried hard to shift the trash but the weight was immense. “Fuck fuck fuck!” She couldn’t scream for help yet because it would then be obvious she had used the prison dumpsters to escape. She’d just have to settle for now and work her escape after more dumpsters were cleared. The garbage truck drove off, and while sandwiched inbetween lots of trash bags, Jasmine had succeeded. The escape was on, and she was out of the prison walls. “Now, just to try and free myself from this pile of trash, don’t want to be in here any longer than I need to!” said Jasmine. But then...

“Umm, what’s that noise?”

A loud creaking sound had started up. Jasmine tried to figure out what it was, but it didn’t sound good. The next thing she knew, the trash pile she was in was being pushed to the back of the truck.

“What the fuck is this?” she said, panicking.

The compactor effortlessly continued its path, and soon Jasmine felt the garbage becoming tight around her. Shit, she was being crushed inside the garbage truck! The trash around her was becoming tighter still. Why is this happening? Just as she started to contemplate screaming for help, the metal wall retreated.

“Shit... that’s it, I need out now!” Jasmine said.

With an almighty effort she started to force her way through the garbage. She did not care that she was ripping some of the trash bags open as she progressed, she did not care what yucky contents her hands were digging through, she just wanted out of here. She seen daylight and freed herself from the recently compacted pile, falling onto some stray trash bags that had fallen upon the compactor’s retreat. Jasmine made her way to the front of the truck. Then she looked up at the open hatch she had entered through.

“How do I get up there?” Jasmine wondered. For some reason she had expected a ladder to be conveniently placed to aid her exit, but this wasn’t the case. Unfortunately Jasmine’s thought process was put on pause, the truck had arrived at its next stop and a dumpster was on its way. “Fuck!” Jasmine tried to make her way towards the back of the truck to avoid what was coming. She succeeded and threw herself onto some black trash bags that were still intact. The convict watched as the dumpster tipped over and emptied its load. Plenty of garbage entered and flooded the truck. A fair whack of it was bagged, but not all of it. Annoyingly for the female inside, there was another dumpster to be cleared here, and Jasmine continued to watch as more trash landed inside the truck. Even more annoyingly, the trash now blocked her exit. “Fucking hell!” Jasmine exclaimed.

Then the compactor started up again, and Jasmine could only watch as the recently dumped trash was closing in on her. “This isn’t good!” she said in a worried voice. Closer, closer... and the garbage hit Jasmine. She was pushed towards the back of the truck again, but thankfully the compaction wasn’t as tight this time as the wall retreated once more. Jasmine fought her way through the next load of trash, just to witness more garbage raining down from a dumpster. “Oh for fuck sake, give me a chance!” she shouted.

Once the truck started moving again, she climbed onto the latest pile of trash that had been added. Jasmine was near the front of the truck once more, but there wasn’t enough rubbish to climb onto to get out of the hatch. Jasmine waited as the truck drove on, garbage bobbing alongside her. When the truck pulled up she backed off again to avoid the falling waste that would be here any second now. Another dumpster was cleared but had very limited waste inside. “Oh come on!” she said desperately. Five minutes later the lifting mechanisms clicked into gear once more. “Right now, this is my chance!” she told herself. Jasmine looked above and seen an overfilled dumpster turning over, and out came a huge amount of trash. Too much for Jasmine who had to back away further to avoid being pounded by the waste. Immediately the compactor started up again. “No, no, no!” she said angrily.

The large amount of trash closed in on Jasmine, pushing her to the back once more. Things were getting tight back here, Jasmine knew she was fighting a losing battle. As the compactor backed off she quickly started trying to fight her way out, but almost immediately another dumpster was tipped. And then another. Still trying to fight her way through the current pile of rubbish, Jasmine didn’t like the sound of the garbage crashing into the truck. This was getting too much too quickly. A third dumpster was cleared in quick succession and the compactor began to operate. Still trying to get out of the pile at the back, Jasmine knew this was the endgame. She started to scream for help but it was futile. “STOP PLEASE! HELP ME!” Her pleas went unheard.

The truck was starting to fill up more with garbage, and soon there would be too much for her to fight through. The compactor closed in and Jasmine felt the tightness become greater as the unwanted, useless garbage was squashed into her. Soon the compactor retreated but she was stuck now. She had escaped one prison, but was now imprisoned inside a garbage truck. Covered in trash, the smell in here was vile, this was much worse than her usual jail. And it was only going to get worse inside here as the garbage truck continued it’s rounds.

More dumpsters were cleared out, and Jasmine was faced with another compaction. As the wall compressed the latest piles of garbage, Jasmine couldn’t believe how easy she thought this would be. She really thought it would be a simple matter of climbing out of the truck after it had left the prison. She never thought for a minute she would be in the middle of loads of squashed garbage, unable to escape. She didn’t even think there would be a crusher inside the garbage truck. The compactions were becoming really tight now. Jasmine could hear pieces of trash breaking under the stress, she heard garbage bags popping and ripping open, there was just a general sound of destruction inside the truck. She came face to face with a trash bag when the compactor eased up. Two dumpsters were emptied and the crusher started up again. Jasmine could hear the trash bag slowly ripping apart in front of her face. “Please...no! No!”

The binbag continued to rip and suddenly Jasmine’s face was hit with discarded food waste. Immediately her face was covered in slimy, rotting waste. Her hair, which had started off nicely straightened and relatively clean, was now damp, unkempt and greasy. She even felt trickles of slimy liquid slipping down her neck and underneath her clothes straight onto her body. Desperate for this to end, Jasmine moaned in despair as she heard more garbage entering the truck, followed by yet another compaction cycle. More binbags around her were splitting open and more and more loose waste was leaking onto her. Jasmine had no choice but listen to the sound of garbage being crushed all around her.

Meanwhile the trash that had recently faced Jasmine from inside a binbag was now a part of her, as the discarded contents had been squished right into her. How much more would she have to suffer? She briefly thought about what items could end up in the garbage truck, but got as far as condoms and nappies before trying to distract herself from that. This was disgusting, smelly, and she never wanted to do this again. Going near a dumpster in future would probably be bad enough Jasmine thought to herself. All the while the compactor was operating once again, squeezing tight the latest additions.

After hours of punishment Jasmine heard the back end of the truck opening up. The compactor pushed the crushed garbage onto the floor of the transfer station. Once the truck had finished ejecting it’s load, the vehicle drove off. Jasmine pushed her way through the squashed trash until she could see some transfer station workers. They spotted her and helped her out.

“What are you doing in there?” queried one worker.

“Umm... I’m homeless, I was sleeping in a dumpster-” responded Jasmine until she was interrupted.

“Is that true?” said a voice from behind. One she recognised. Jasmine turned around to see General Foster looking delighted. Jasmine’s face dropped. She had endured all of this for nothing!

“Nice try Miss Harris! Guards, handcuff her wrists and ankles, and stick her in the back of the pickup truck. There is no way I’m having that stinking piece of garbage sitting in the front with me.”

When they arrived back at the prison, Jasmine was allowed to shower and sort herself out before being summoned to the General’s office.

“Miss Harris. Attempted escape usually means a 5 year extension to your sentence, yes?” said General Foster.

“Yep” said Jasmine glumly.

“Well, I have another idea. Currently you have 8 years remaining inside the penitentiary. Correct?”

“Yep.”

“I won’t extend your sentence, 8 years is satisfactory”

“Really?” said Jasmine, perking up.

“Indeed. I have a different idea to punish you.”

“What’s that?” asked Jasmine with interest.

“For the rest of your 8 years here, you’ll have a special treat every Thursday” said General Foster, a smile creeping up on her face.

“What will that be?” wondered Jasmine, starting to worry. When General Foster smiled like that, it was never usually a good thing. She had history for unorthodox methods, and not in a good way.

“Miss Harris, every Thursday from now on will be garbage day for you!” said General Foster gleefully.

This didn’t sound good. “What do you mean, garbage day?” asked Jasmine.

“What do you think it means? Every Thursday you can take a trip in the garbage truck! Isn’t that obvious?”

Those were the last words Jasmine wanted to hear. “No, Ma’am please!” said Jasmine, horrified at this idea.

“I’m not sure why you disagree with this! You were quite happy to place yourself in that position today Miss Harris!”

“Please General Foster, please, don’t-“

“We can mix things up for you! One week you can go in completely naked, the next week we could tie you up so you can’t move, another week we could place you in a trash bag! We will have so much fun!” The General knew Jasmine was panicking.

“Please, please, anything but that! Don’t make me go through it again!” Jasmine begged.

“Well Miss Harris, you should have thought about that before trying to use the garbage truck as a means of escape! You’ve brought this on yourself! You chose to become garbage on this particular Thursday. I’ve decided you ARE garbage and every Thursday we will see you where you belong!”

“Ma’am, I’m begging you please! I’d rather have the 5 years added to my sentence!”

“You don’t get choices in prison Miss Harris! You lost that right when you entered the drug trafficking industry! I make your decisions while you are here. You will be made an example of. Your suffering will be a deterrent to those who want to attempt their own escapes. The other prisoners will hear of your attempted escape, and they will see your consequences. They may even decide to name you The Garbage Girl!”

Jasmine started to cry. “Ma’am, please, I-“

“This is final! Guards, take Miss Harris back to her cell. This conversation is over!”

There was going to be no way out of this for Jasmine Harris. For the next 8 years, Thursday would be garbage day.