The Bus to Mansfield

Abstract

The author provides a description of a day in jail, beginning just after midnight in early December and ending about 20 hours later. The day involved many interactions with cell mates, especially eight of whom would eventually take the bus to the Mansfield prison. Among other functions, the prison serves as the designated holding place for those charged to post bail. The author’s metaphorical journey from one arrested to one identified as The Professor among his cohort of fellow prisoners leads into a literal journey on the bus to Mansfield. The prisoners imagined the bus, early on, as a horrific representation of their incarceration. Eventually, however, the bus became a symbol of change from the stagnation of place.