The men’s wing was underwhelming at best. It was as if one of the capital prisons was crammed into a mansion, which in reality, is exactly what had been done. The ‘rooms’ were barely bigger than a broom closet, the bed and makeshift toilets were undesirably close to one another, filling the entire hall with the rancid stench of unwashed bodies and human waste. Screams and murmurs of anger or incessant ramblings were the only thing keeping the buzzing of flies from engulfing Suzanne’s thoughts. The iron doors were similar to the one that separated the nurses’ rooms from the entry hall, except these has small barred windows with metal slats pulled back and a door at the bottom where food could be pushed in. Some of the men had chains binding their hands, preventing them from reaching through the bars.

Two other nurses with cloth tied around their faces were collecting empty food bowls. One held a metal pole with what looked like a school bell hanging from an oddly beautiful frame despite its crude design. The other used a bar twisted with magnets to pull the bowls out of the cells. The bowl let out an ugly screech as its clay bottom scraped against the cement. Howls of pain and anger overcame all other noises that could have been cascading from the cells. Suzanne marveled at the tiny metal band crafted into the sides of the ugly dish. The nurse with the magnet bar set the bowl down and prodded at a man grasping for it with the other end. He attempted to grab it from her, shrieking in pain as a symbol on his neck began to appear when he touched it. The other woman rang the bell, it let out the ugliest sound Suzanne had ever heard, she could feel it in her chest as it vibrated the cell doors. All of the men screamed, some sobbing. They all watched fearfully as the women finished their job. The woman with the pole handed it to Joan as she passed by them.

“This,” She gestured with the pole, “Is the men’s wing.”

A laugh rang throughout the hall with the same potency as the bell. The same one Suzanne had heard in her room. It turned into a fit of hysterics, as if someone had just said the funniest joke in the world. Her eyes went wide, terror pleading her to flee but something pulled at her from her core, drawing her closer to the laughter. Joan laid a hand on her shoulder as if she were trying to keep a child from petting a starving street mutt, the pole tightly gripped like you would a club. Suzanne broke away from her, following the horrific cries.

At the very end of the hall was a bigger room, it went past the last room on the other side, leaving empty wall where two other cells could have fit. The cell next to it was empty, as was the one adjacent to it, leaving this man almost completely alone. He was on the floor, rolling with his bare stomach clutched tightly in his arms. His laughter was wild, closer to an animal’s call than any noise a human should have been capable of making. All of his limbs were chained, his arms to the wall and his feet together. He sat up jarringly, sending his loose ponytail flying out in front of him. He gave them a pleasant smile and stood, making a show of struggling to rise with his chains. He was chained halfway into the room, making it seemingly impossible for him to do anything.