Corby notices the stark racial divides at Yates but does not choose a side and is “intimidated by almost everyone walking the grounds here” (143). Pug worsens Corby’s fear by telling him upsetting stories and warning Corby that he might be confused for a child molester. Pug’s presence is grating, and the only break Corby gets from him is when Pug is at work picking up trash along roads. Another inmate, Manny, tells Corby that Pug’s name is Albert Liggett and that he is paranoid because he was attacked by another inmate.

Corby struggles to settle in. He isolates himself from the other inmates, and he cannot yet make calls or have visitors. He writes a letter to his father thanking him for paying the legal fees and asking for letters or future visits. His emotional and mental states decline as a result of his constant fear and loneliness, though he does spend time with Manny while in the chow hall. Corby avoids the hourly five-minute social breaks.

One day, Corby decides to go outside when allowed, and he is playfully harassed by a genderqueer inmate named Jheri Curl. After a fight breaks out across the yard, Corby is approached by two white supremacists—Gunnar and Wes—who try to get him to join their cause. Corby is relieved when they are sent back to their cells. He walks with Manny, who tells Corby not to mind Jheri: “‘She’s got a big mouth, but she’s harmless’” (149). Corby worries about being associated with the LGBTQ+ inmates. He returns to his cell and finds Pug rolling cigarettes made from the cigarette butts he found while working.

With time, Corby picks up on the prison slang but still feels isolated and out of place. At night, he is bothered by Pug’s snoring as well as his spiraling thoughts. Around three weeks in, Manny witnesses another inmate—Hogan—die by suicide. The inmates discuss Hogan’s “back-door parole,” and Corby accidentally remarks that Hogan was “smarter” than the others for “finding a way out” (153).

On the way back to their cells, Manny asks Corby if he is okay, and Corby insists he is fine. However, Corby is having frequent suicidal ideation and has formulated a plan involving plastic bags. Lieutenant Cavagnero comes to Corby’s cell, briefly talking with him about Corby’s isolation and low mood. Corby admits he is depressed but not “overly depressed.”

In the afternoon, Corby seizes an opportunity to steal two plastic bags from a cleaning cart. He plans to die by suicide during the night.

Corby and Pug’s cell is searched in the middle of the night, and Corby is taken to the psychiatric unit after the guards find the plastic bags he stole. He is told to undress and don a “safety smock” and is isolated in a small, bare room to be observed for 72 hours.

He wakes up in a brightly lit segregation room. He thinks about Niko and feels he deserves his current misery. A guard brings him food and orders him to take off his smock. Naked, Corby sits on the floor and eats the slop with his fingers because he is not allowed utensils. When he asks to go to the bathroom, the guard tells Corby to use a drain in the floor. Corby watches ants crawling in the cell, and he paces. He tries hiding under the mattress and hitting his head on the floor but is stopped by a guard.

Dr. Blankenship, a psychiatrist, evaluates Corby. Corby carefully answers the questions, convincing the doctor he is not at risk of harming himself. Dr. Blankenship offers to write Corby a prescription for anxiety medication. At first, Corby doesn’t argue, but before the doctor leaves, he says to cancel the prescription.

Corby is released from segregation and sent back to his cell. Pug—having been violently attacked—is gone, having been replaced by Manny. Corby also finds two letters from his mother and from Dr. Patel, who advises Corby to live in the present rather than ruminate on the past or potential future. She also advises him to eat healthy foods and to find work. She recommends checking the library, overseen by Fagie Millman, Dr. Patel’s friend.

Manny tells Corby that someone has put real liquor in a hot pot. Tempted, Corby goes to the recreation area at break and stands in line with his cup. As he stands, he second-guesses himself, fidgeting and putting a hole in the bottom of his cup. Later, Corby asks a guard about AA meetings and learns there is a meeting on Sunday mornings after a Catholic Mass.

On Sunday, Corby is early to the meeting, and he sits through the end of Mass in the improvised church area, noticing Jheri Curl. Then the AA meeting begins, presided over by an inmate named Javier. Although he does not talk during the meeting, Corby feels better as he returns to his cell. He tells Manny he was at the AA meeting, and he re-reads Dr. Patel’s letter.

Corby gets a pass to go to the library. Javier, who is working there, directs him to Mrs. Millman’s office. She is wearing a headscarf, signaling she is in cancer treatment, and she had been told by Dr. Patel to expect him. Although there is a waiting list for a job in the library, Mrs. Millman is kind and offers Corby a cookie.

He stays to read, finding a book on the history of Connecticut’s carceral system. An older inmate in a wheelchair, Lester, interrupts his reading to recommend Corby read Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins series. Lester has a stack of sociopolitical texts nearby that Corby notices, and he talks about how Yates inmates used to be treated more humanely in the past, claiming, “we was treated like more than just our crime’” (180). Corby tells Lester why he is in prison, immediately moving on to asking why Yates has changed. Lester blames the War on Drugs, which led to overcrowding, for the systemic shift in treatment toward inmates. However, Lester’s attitude changes, and he becomes cold and silent after discovering Corby is serving three years for killing Niko.

Corby checks out a few books, including Native American Genocide, which Javier recommends. He and Javier discuss the book and the coming AA meeting, which they both plan to attend.

Corby learns more about Manny, whose full name is Emanuel DellaVecchia. Manny is on his second prison term in Yates, having been incarcerated for selling drugs. While Corby likes Manny, he finds Manny’s “know-it-all” attitude and unrequested advice annoying, and he worries that other inmates will think that he is gay.

Manny stays inside with a migraine one day, while Corby goes out to the yard during the allotted time. Outside, a group of inmates—Boudreaux, Lobo, Angel, and Pacheco—are playing cards. Corby joins them and wins the game. He returns to his cell, where Manny still has his migraine.

Corby wakes up at three in the morning and relishes the quiet, which allows him to hear the nearby Wequonnoc river. That day, Corby is more sedate than usual, napping through chow. Manny returns and tells him there was drama at dinner: Gunnar, who had approached Corby with his racist agenda, fought with two guards, McGreavy and Piccardy. He also brings Corby a meat pie, which he was able to sneak out because of the commotion.

In the library, Corby asks Lester if he can draw Lester, but Lester refuses, offended by the suggestion. Corby asks Javier about Lester’s cold attitude, and Javier defends Lester, who has a 50-year sentence and has been denied parole numerous times. Later, Corby asks Manny about Lester and learns that Lester was in an activist group and was arrested after crashing a vehicle while driving with a white girl, and the girl lost her arm.

Corby calls Emily. Emily is short with him, having gotten scared that something happened to him after hearing that a Yates inmate died by suicide. Corby talks about how he has been settling in and attending AA meetings. Emily tells Corby about Maisie and says she is seeing Dr. Patel, but she refuses to tell him what she is seeing Patel for. Emily agrees to visit but reiterates that she will not bring Maisie to the prison. Their 10-minute conversation is cut off while Corby asks Emily to send him drawing supplies so that he can draw pictures and a book for Maisie. After, he worries about the future.