Z decided it was time to start putting her escape plan into action. Her first move was to get herself, and the three she had picked to help with the escape, assigned to the prison laundry at the same time. Most of the inmates at the Central California Women’s Facility, CCWF, had to work – either in the kitchen, the fruit and vegetable gardens, grounds maintenance, or the laundry. They rotated among each of these assignments for two week periods, then moved on the next one. The first of each month the inmate work groups were jumbled up so that no one worked with the same other inmates for very long. Z and her co-conspirators – Shakira, Juanita, and Alice – were rarely assigned to work together, but Z was cultivating a friendship with a guard who had access to the computer that made the assignments. If Z could get something on the guard – something to blackmail her with – she would get the four of them on the laundry work list at the same time. That’s when they would escape.
Z had thought through the possible ways she could blackmail the guard, Corina Alvarez. Like several other prison guards, Corina brought drugs into the prison. Inmates would call a friend or relative on the outside, who would then get the drugs to the guard and pay them. The guard brought in the drugs and slipped them to the inmates as they passed in a hallway.
Z gathered her three accomplices together in one corner of the exercise yard so they could discuss the escape without being overheard. The few inmates in the vicinity turned and moved away – they knew better than to come near Z uninvited.
“Here’s how we’re going to do this, gals. I’ll start by blackmailing a guard who supplies dope to the inmates. Yesterday I ordered a drug delivery from Corina who works in the admin office. The bag will have her fingerprints on it, so when I threaten to take it the warden, she’ll do anything I ask. She’s the one who will rearrange the work schedule to get us all on laundry duty next week.”
Next Z went over the details of the escape plan with them. Shakira was a convicted car thief who had stolen a couple dozen cars and four semi trucks. Her job would be to hot wire the laundry truck and drive them to the next stop – an abandoned warehouse in nearby Chowchilla, California – where four cars were waiting for them. From there they would each drive to Fresno and leave there by different highways. Then they were on their own.
Juanita was a gang banger – a member of the Los Surenos gang.
“How is the gang coming with finding us some get-away cars, Nita?”
“They’re going to L.A. Sunday to steal the cars from a used car dealers around town. I told them to stick with popular older models so we won’t stand out in the traffic. I don’t want to be on the six o’clock news being chased by cop cars and a helicopter like O. J. They will drive the cars straight to the warehouse in Chowchilla and have them ready to go Monday morning.”
“They know what we want in the car trunks, don’t they?”
“Yep – food, clothes, disguises, $400 in cash, fake identification documents, and a gun. They already have everything but the fake I.D.s.
“Great. How about those documents, Alice? Will your brother make them for us?”
“Yes, but he wants to get paid for it. He’s the best forger on the west coast so he wants top dollar – $1,000 for each set. He’s working on them now – driver’s licenses, car registrations, and credit cards. He hacked into the prison records to get photos of each of us.”
“Yuck. That’s the worst picture of me ever. I don’t want that on my driver’s license.”
“Don’t worry Shakira. He’ll run them through his Photoshop software to make us look like movie stars.”
“Then I want to be Jennifer Aniston.”
“Hasn’t anyone told you? You’re black.”
“Yeah, but I could be a black Jennifer.”
“Enough of the chatter, girls. Alice, tell your brother I’ll make a call and have someone pick up the documents Sunday morning. He will have $4,000 cash to give him. ‘Nita, the same goes for your guys with the money they will put in the car trunks. Tell me where you want it delivered and I’ll take care of it.”
Shakira’s eyes got big. “Where you gonna get money like that, girl?”
“I have it stashed inside my mattress back in the cell.”
Shakira said “You lyin’ to me, Z” before she remembered who she was talking to.
Z gave her a menacing look. “Careful who you call a liar. I’ve killed people for less than that.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean it. I was just kiddin’ around.”
“I’ll let it slide this time, but don’t do it again.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Z turned back to all three of them. “Okay, that’s our plan. Any questions.?”
Juanita spoke up. “What about all the cop cars that will be looking for us. If we don’t get out of the area quickly they will have road blocks up.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Some people I know on the outside are going to stage a huge traffic accident involving a semi and as many other vehicles as he can mow down before he runs into a ditch. It will be on Highway 52, about five miles west of town, to draw all law enforcement vehicles out that way. They’ll be tied up with that for at least an hour while we drive south towards Fresno.”
Just then the speakers blared out “Exercise period is over. Line up at the door for an inmate count.”