The Rage Within
ADX-Florence Supermax Prison, Fremont County, CNN
The guards say that no inmates ever went near Karl Zakharin’s zen garden, scratched out of a sandy corner of the exercise ground. Not unless they wanted one of their fingers to become a grisly addition, the center of a newly-pinked swirl of sand. Every day at 10:00 sharp, the crime boss would smooth out the sand and spend an hour drawing circles and whorls with a stick or arranging cigarette butts in an aesthetic fashion.
“Just letting out the rage that’s trapped inside,” he would say to anyone who asked. The guards were not so trusting and routinely dug up the sand patch, looking for contraband. They found nothing.
Three years later, the mystery was solved. A codebook, found 2000 miles away in a gang hideout, detailed the complex language through which Zakharin communicated with his vast syndicate. Authorities also found a commercially-built drone, which had flown high overheard every day, capturing the day’s messages.
Confronted by this evidence, Zakharin only smiled his customary leer of filed points. “It was therapy,” he told guards. “The rage was confined here behind these walls. I was only letting it out into the real world where it belongs.”
Zakharin is believed to have ordered the murders of 136 people while incarcerated.
The Green-Walled Tower 
April 20th, 2014 at 10:57 pm
Woah!! Brilliant
April 20th, 2014 at 11:08 pm
A clever and chilling story.
April 21st, 2014 at 2:20 am
Woah, that was clever 🙂
April 21st, 2014 at 2:21 am
Whoa, even 😉
April 21st, 2014 at 5:33 am
Very clever. I smiled then almost felt bad about it.
April 21st, 2014 at 9:38 am
Brilliant story – loved it.
Strange that the bored guards in the towers did not notice that metallic bird appear every day after Zakharin is done with his art work.
Then again, we’re dealing with prison guards, I suppose – mostly einsteins!
Gawd! Henceforth, every bird that flies over that prison is pigeon soup!
April 21st, 2014 at 9:49 am
That occurred to me but I’m picturing a slightly futuristic scenario and an organization with the money to buy a high-flying drone.
April 21st, 2014 at 3:35 pm
This is scary!
April 21st, 2014 at 3:36 pm
Indian criminals use cellphones to run their errands from jail.
April 21st, 2014 at 4:28 pm
They let them have cell phones? Wow.
April 22nd, 2014 at 2:56 pm
no they smuggle them in, on regular basis, after that they bribe the guards to let them use them.
April 21st, 2014 at 8:59 pm
Very clever, David 🙂
April 21st, 2014 at 9:01 pm
Thanks. 🙂 If I ever become a mob boss and go to jail, I’ll know what to do.
April 23rd, 2014 at 3:25 am
Wow, great story! I read it as truth not realizing it was fiction. You fooled me, David!
April 23rd, 2014 at 7:53 am
It’s always fiction, Amy. 😛 Well, almost always. I really am having surgery. In any case, thank you. 🙂
April 23rd, 2014 at 12:31 pm
Oh ok! Yes, thanks for clearing that up for me about your knee. I was starting to wonder. I wish you well and lots of rest. This will give me a chance to catch up on your blog. 🙂
April 23rd, 2014 at 12:42 pm
Does this mean you’ll miss FF? Say it ain’t so…No. I bet you’ll get it in.
April 23rd, 2014 at 1:40 pm
I can’t miss FF, even if I’m dead. 🙂 Actually the surgery is over and I’m just lying here, recovering. They do have wifi here so it should all be good.
April 23rd, 2014 at 2:29 pm
Ha ha! You’re probably writing it right now! I look forward to it. And, I’m glad you’re surgery is over. Sounds like it went okay. Good!