Kahana-The Untold Stories Read online

  She cries as she tells the police officers, “I don’t know what is wrong with my son. He’s incorrigible. There was not any reason for him to come into my room and shoot Charles. My son needs help.” At that moment, an ambulance arrives to take Charles to the hospital.

  At the same time, the police handcuff John and take him to a juvenile detention facility. John stays there for three days. Then, his father brings his thirteen-year-old son home until his upcoming court date. When John appears in court, he is sentenced to three years. Elaine, John’s mother, dies of a drug overdose six months after her son is sentenced. John has now served two years.

  The second boy who tells his story is Jerry. He is a thirteen-year old arsonist. He has been in trouble since he was nine-years old. His parents always sought professional help for him. They brought him to see many psychiatrists and social workers.

  Nothing they tried in four years worked. The nine-year old did not get better. He got worst. When he was thirteen years old, he set his teacher’s house on fire. He was mad at her because she did not give him an ‘A’ on his essay.

  The police and fire trucks arrived at his teacher’s burning house that was going up in flames. His teacher was not injured. When Jerry went to court his parents paid for the best attorney in the city. They also had powerful testimonials for Jerry from high-ranking officials.

  Before the judge rules, he explains his verdict. “Jerry is only thirteen-years-old. He does not belong in an adult prison. He will have a stronger possibility of rehabilitation if he is placed with teenagers his own age.” The Judge sentences Jerry to serve five years until his 18th birthday. His parents visit every week and always indulge him with gifts to make his stay easier.

  Lenny, a fourteen-year-old teenager, is the last roommate to tell his story. He is a red-headed boy, who is pale and small for his age. Lenny says that Jacob, his father, was an extremely sick man.

  He had Lou Gehrig’s disease and it was progressing. He could not walk or hold his head up any longer. He was always in extreme pain. The doctors told him that he did not have more than two years to live.

  Every day Lenny’s father would beg and plead with Lenny’s mother to help him commit suicide. Amber, Lenny’s mother, was his father’s caregiver. She loved him with all her heart. But she could not stand to hear his pleadings for her to help him end his life any longer. Then one night while she was in the room fixing his pillow, he kept begging her to help him.

  She did as he asked and held the pillow high over his face. She was afraid and did not want to suffocate him. Then he looked into her eyes and said, “Amber, please don’t stop. Please, I love you. I love you. I’ll always love you.” She then shut her eyes and put the pillow over his face. She pushed hard on the pillow and within minutes he stopped breathing and was dead. She removed the pillow and put her head on his chest and sobbed.

  Lenny walked into the bedroom and heard his mother saying to his father that she didn’t want to do it. He consoles her as he too is crying for his father. He tells her that he will call the police and confess that he helped his father die. She begs him not to do it.

  At that moment, Amber’s sister walks into the room. She only over-hears what she believes is Lenny’s confession. She tells Amber to listen to Lenny because he is right. She goes on to say, “The courts will understand why he helped his father die. He needs to confess for his soul.”

  Then she called the police.

  When the police arrive, Lenny confesses. He did not want his mother to go to prison. He did not want his four brothers and sisters to be placed in foster homes. He figured that he was twelve years old and the juvenile justice system would not sentence him to a long term. He was wrong. He was sentenced to six years.

  The conversation between the boys abruptly stops when they hear the command, “Lights Out.”

  Kim can’t fall asleep. He stays awake thinking about the stories from his prison mates. Two of them, along with him, do not belong in this place because they were innocent or there were extenuating circumstances. Jerry was guilty, but he also did not belong there. He belonged in a psychiatric institution for the criminally insane.

  The next morning at 5:00 o’clock, the inmates awaken to the guard unlocking the chains on their door. Their door swings open and a large, unshaven guard blows his whistle. Then he says, “Gentlemen, you have ten minutes to make your beds, get dressed and meet me out front. The boys rush to make their beds and put on a blue shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

  Within ten minutes, Kim and the other boys walk out of their cottage. He sees armed guards everywhere. The young inmates have ten minutes to be in the dining room for breakfast. Any time a prisoner is late, he is given one day of solitary confinement.

  The food in the reformatory is no better than the living conditions. The foul, bitter-tasting water is the main ingredient in their frozen orange juice. The lumpy grits have a brown tone and the bread is tinted with green mold. Kim is sickened by the food and does not eat. Lenny, who is sitting by him, says, “You’ll get used to it!”

  After twenty minutes, Hank, the armed guard, blows his whistle, and then shouts to all the boys to dump their trays and go to their assigned jobs. Then he hollers Kim’s name and commands him to come to him. Once Kim walks to Hank, he handcuffs him and tells him that he will be escorting him to his job assignment.

  Hank and Kim walk about ten minutes and then stop at a large building. Before they enter the building, Hank tells Kim that the building is their slaughter house. He goes on to say that all the chicken and pig’s meat that they eat come from their detention facility. As he points in a northward direction, he says that the chicken’s coups and pig’s fenced in area are about an eighth of a mile away.

  Once inside the building, Kim sees two armed guards standing over a few boys, who are working. Some of the boys are holding the squawking chickens necks and snapping their heads off with their hands. Other boys are using killing cones to dislocate the chickens’ necks. A few of the boys are mopping the bloody floors and wiping down the tables used for the chickens’ slaughter.

  Hank laughs and then says, “These boys are lucky because they are getting valuable work experience. They will be able to get jobs working in slaughter houses when they get out of here.”

  Then Hank escorts Kim outside the building. Kim looks around and sees a few boys shoveling piles of stale produce along with manure. Hank tells Kim that what they are shoveling will be used for food for their pigs and fertilizer for their vegetables.

  He goes on to explain to Kim that his job assignment for the next six months will be to shovel the manure and stale produce into their trucks. He then says, “When a truck is full, you will ride in the truck with two armed guards to the vegetable gardens or pig pens. Once you get there, the guards will tell you in what area to shovel the manure out of the trucks.”

  Hank has done his job. He has delivered Kim to his job assignment, but before he turns Kim over to the guards stationed in the area, he pauses for a moment. Then he quietly warns Kim that if he doesn’t follow the rules that he could end up staying at this job for years. Then he turns Kim over to the guards and walks away.

  From the moment Kim began his job assignment, the guards started insulting and harassing him. They always try to break every new prisoner’s spirit. They do not want any trouble makers. They want all the prisoners to be docile and follow their orders. As the month goes by, Kim is determined not to let them shatter his spirit or rip his heart apart with their wickedness and verbal abuse. He makes a promise to himself that he will not let them break his spirit, no matter what they do to him.

  Kim has been at his work assignment for four long, grueling months. He needs to stick it out for two more months. Then he is eligible for a transfer to another assignment. He keeps a low profile, minds his own business, and does not get into any trouble.

  The long, hard, and monotonous labor of shoveling from sun-up to sundown takes a toll on him. It changes his appearance. He resembles a body
builder with huge, firm muscles. The inmates describe him as a “Man of Iron.”

  Jeremiah, the sergeant of the guards, is becoming jealous of Kim’s abilities, growing popularity, and the power he holds among the inmates. Jeremiah decides it’s time to put more pressure on Kim to break him.

  One hot, summer day, Kim is busy shoveling. The odors in the thick humidity are intolerable to bear along with the hundreds of flies that are swarming around him. Jeremiah walks towards Kim and insults him. His words are harsh and cruel. Kim does not respond. Jeremiah continues to harass him, but Kim still does not react, which enrages Jeremiah.

  Jeremiah’s psychopathic, uncontrollable temper erupts. He seizes Kim’s shovel and commands him to scoop up the manure with his hands. Jeremiah tells him that he doesn’t need a shovel because he’s a savage. Kim is angry as he grins at Jeremiah. Then he turns around and lunges at him. Another guard blows his whistle and a group of them pull Kim off Jeremiah.

  One of the guards forcibly puts handcuffs on Kim’s wrists and tight shackles around his ankles. Then Jeremiah regains his composure and holds up a rifle that he points at Kim. His sharp eyes do not flinch as he looks down at both barrels. Kim’s steadfast reaction takes Jeremiah by surprise.

  He hands his rifle to another guard. Then he brutally beats Kim until he passes out. Another guard boots him into the compost pile.

  The incident is reported to Warden Bigelow, and Kim is sentenced to thirty days in solitary confinement. He also receives six more months added on to his sentence. While in solitary confinement, Kim spends 22 or more hours each day in a cramped space and has nothing to do to occupy his time but think. He is angry and depressed, but after four days he fights back. He wills himself to view his situation as a challenge and not an obstacle.

  He decides that he will not give Jeremiah what he wants. He will not be broken by him. Instead, he will become stronger. He puts himself on a rigorous schedule. He uses his imagination and pretends that he is playing the drums to the songs he learned from Xavier’s band. He starts singing the songs as he practices playing his imaginary set of drums. He envisions himself in front of an audience. To survive, he must bring himself to a place where he experienced joy.

  He also does lots of exercises. He sets goals to increase the number of push-ups, sit-ups and squats he does each day. The last part of his ritual entails practicing the Hawaiian Island’s martial arts. In Judo competition, a match begins with a simple bow. The competitors in the Hawaiian Islands did not bow. Instead, the two contestants shout insults at each other before they begin.

  Kim begins shouting insults to a make-believe contestant. On one occasion, Jeremiah walks by and hears him shouting to someone who is not there. He smiles because he assumes that he has broken Kim.

  Kim is lucky because he has one kind and intelligent guard to talk to every night, and that’s Bobby. He brings him his dinner and they talk for thirty minutes while Kim eats. Kim divulges a lot to him about his life. He also tells him the stories of why he and the other boys in his cottage were put in this prison.

  Bobby wakes up to the horror and injustice of the goals of the juvenile detention system. It is not about rehabilitation or education. It is only a means to separate adult prisoners from juvenile offenders. These were not Bobby’s goals. He had wanted to become a guard to make a difference in the life of young boys.

  Kim has served his time and is released from solitary confinement. A guard walks Kim back to his cottage and tells him that six more months were added to his work assignment of shoveling waste. Kim realizes that he will never leave this man-made hell hole alive. The guards will always find a reason to punish him. Kim knows he must break-out.

  He starts implementing an escape plan. He begins asking other inmates about the surrounding areas. He watches the guard’s routines and examines every nook and cranny of the prison. He knows he must find a way out.

  Kim’s good friend, Lenny, tells him that he knows how to escape. He says, “Let me go with you and I’ll tell you what you want to know. I’ve been here so long that no one pays attention to my comings and goings.” He tries to convince Kim when he says, “I can get wire cutters or anything else that we may need.” Kim does not answer. Then Lenny begs him. “Kim, please take me with you.”

  Kim thinks more about Lenny’s proposal and then says, “What are your plans if we get out of here?” Lenny responds, “I’ll meet my older sister in a secret place. Then we will drive to Vermont. My mother and my brothers and sisters will be waiting there for us. Then all of us will cross the border into Canada. Once we get there, we will head to our relatives and stay with them.”

  Kim asks, “How do you know your mother will help you?” Lenny replies, “Kim, my mother is afraid for me. She does not want the corrupt guards to do to me like they’ve done to others.” Kim makes his decision to escape with Lenny.

  The night of Kim and Lenny’s escape has arrived. It is eight o’clock. The boys know that they only have forty-five minutes to get out and make it to the other side. The guards are all having their dinner, and the dogs will not be wandering freely until 8:45. There are no search lights in this old facility. There are only night lights.

  Kim and Lenny head to an area of the barbed wired fence where there are no night lights shining. The old rusty, barbed-wire fence that is in this area was the first fencing that had been installed many years ago.

  Kim and Lenny have their shovels and gloves with them. Lenny also had stolen two pairs of wire cutters for their escape. They know they must stay low to the ground in order not to be seen. First, they cut the barbed wire closest to the ground to make an opening wide enough for them to crawl out. Lenny is the first to crawl out. He crawls and hides behind a tree. He only has to wait a minute before Kim meets him.

  They have made it to the other side in less than thirty-minutes. Once they are together, they take off running. Their escape goes off without a hitch.

  An hour later, the guards discover the boys are missing. The warden is told that there has been an escape. He is outraged and acts swiftly. He sends a team of cruel guards and the prison’s vicious dogs after the boys. He commands the men to bring the hoodlums back dead or alive.

  The man-hunt continues around the clock. Kim and Lenny are still on the move. They are half-starved, dehydrated, and exhausted. The four guards and the three dogs are catching up to them. The boys know that the guards are hot on their trail. They are within minutes of reaching them.

  The boys stop on a dirt road surrounded by woods and small hills. There are also farm houses and beautiful homes that are about three-hundred-feet apart. They decide to split up. Kim dodges towards a beautiful two-story farmhouse. He hops over a freshly painted, white picketed fence and lands in front of a huge, tall tree. He swiftly climbs the tree and hides amongst its branches. He can see a large lake in the distance.

  Lenny rushes in the opposite direction toward the thick woods. He runs as fast as his weak legs will carry him. He is trying to reach the banks of the sparkling, clean lake, but he trips. He stumbles to the ground and slowly picks himself up as two snarling German shepherds run up to him.

  Lenny is dizzy, and his head is spinning when he sees Jeremiah walking towards him. He is surrounded, and the growling dogs are anxious to attack. He knows that if the guard gives the command, he is toast.

  Jeremiah fires two gunshots in the air. Then Lenny hears Jeremiah’s husky voice shouting at him to turn himself in. Lenny does not budge. He doesn’t know what is worse: the hunger in the dog’s or the guard’s eyes.

  Jeremiah coldly stares at Lenny. Then his big mouth opens wide and releases a loud, demonic laugh. Lenny is afraid because he knows what Jeremiah can do to him.

  Jeremiah orders Kevin, one of his guards, to handcuff Lenny. Then Jeremiah taunts and teases the boy, saying, “Your vacation is over. There’s a limo waiting to bring you back home. I promise that I will personally make sure that you never leave our cozy, cheerful home again.”

  Jeremiah a
nd Kevin break out into spontaneous laughter, but Lenny is not laughing. He is scared to death because he knows what barbaric punishments will come his way when they take him back.

  He cannot and will not go back to the prison, but he knows there is no way out. He abruptly turns around and faces the lake. He runs into the water shouting, “Freedom…justice…freedom!”

  Jeremiah commands the dogs to attack. The dogs race into the water towards Lenny and furiously begin biting him. The dogs severely bite Lenny’s left arm and leg until blood pours out of him, the once crystal-clear water now looking like a bloodbath.

  Jeremiah then blows his whistle and the dogs come running to him. Bobby, one of the guards, goes to Lenny and gently pulls the boy out of the water. He holds him tightly against his chest to try to stop the bleeding.

  As Bobby walks out of the water with Lenny, he whispers to him, “It’ll be okay. Hang in there, son. It’ll be okay.”

  Then Jerimiah orders Malcom, who is one of the guards, to go back with the dogs to the correctional center. He says, “Thanks for your help, but we’ve got this now. We’ll bring him in.”

  As soon as Malcolm and the dogs are out of sight, Bobby places Lenny on the ground. Taking off his shirt, he tears it up to make tourniquets for Lenny’s arm and leg. In a demanding voice, he tells Jeremiah, “We need to bring the boy to a doctor or he won’t make it.”

  Jeremiah responds, “Stop thinking and do as I say.” Holding up his gun, he points it at Bobby. “Or you can join Lenny.”

  Kevin, the other guard, takes two full bottles of whiskey out of his gear bag. Jeremiah orders Kevin to forcefully pour whiskey down Lenny’s throat. Kevin whines to Jeremiah, “If I do that, there won’t be enough for us. Let the kid stay in pain.”

  Jeremiah and Kevin start gulping whiskey from their liquor bottles, getting stinking drunk. They can barely stand. Jeremiah is staggering as he says, “Kevin, it’s time to have some fun.” In a crazed frenzy, Kevin brutally smacks, punches, and kicks Lenny.