64 pages • 2 hours read
The River Is Waiting
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Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying, racism, religious discrimination, gender and transgender discrimination, antigay bias, mental illness, child abuse, child death, death by suicide, suicidal ideation and self-harm, substance use, addiction, graphic violence, cursing, and death.
Part 2: “Day by Day by Day by Day by Day”
Part 2, Chapter 14 Summary: “August 1, 2017; Day 1 of 1,095”
Corby rides with two other men in a transport van to Yates Correctional Institution. He is in-processed, strip searched, and forced to take a supervised shower before watching an orientation video. He is given a pack of supplies to get him by until his commissary account is funded, and he is taken by Correctional Officer, or CO, Cavagnero to his cell.
On the walk. Cavagnero offers Corby basic advice, including to be careful who he trusts, to keep a “low profile,” and to avoid the racial conflicts in the prison. Corby asks about AA meetings, and the CO says Corby can ask his counselor. Cavagnero also sympathizes with Corby when prisoners recognize Corby from TV and taunt him.
Corby is put in a cell with another inmate, a white supremacist named Pug. While Pug goes out, Corby chooses to stay in the cell, settling in and reflecting on his situation. Pug returns with a granola bar for Corby and watches the news on his TV. When Pug makes racist remarks and encourages Corby to adopt white supremacist ideals, Corby wonders how he will survive three years in prison.
