Bets were made at these matches. Some staked cigarettes, other money that their families transferred to prison accounts, and some risked far more valuable things.
The guards knew well what was going on.
Several prison officers regularly received money from the prisoners, and therefore chose to look a different path.
Eventually, the fighting became more and more popular.
They even got an unofficial organizer.
He was named Marcus.
Before his arrest, he had worked for many years for a large criminal organization, and even behind bars he still had great influence.
It was Marcus who decided who was going to fight, what bets were accepted, and who got to go into the field.
One Friday, a new inmate was temporarily transferred to the prison.
A young woman named Kate.
She was only supposed to be there for three days, before she was passed on to another prison.
When the girl first appeared in the yard, many inmates began looking at each other.
In a crowd of hundreds of men, she seemed completely harmless.
