Ch.96Welcome Home! (3)

#096

“Isn’t this unusual?”

One of the judges, a middle-aged white man with a closely shaved head, said while shuffling through documents.

“It is unusual, indeed.”

A rather stern-looking Latina woman, somewhere between middle age and elderly, replied while adjusting her glasses.

“It’s not like the inmate applied for parole, but the federal government is requesting it. That’s a bit strange, isn’t it? And they came with a humble attitude. Humble! Does that make any sense?”

The Latina woman spoke as if she found it absurd.

State government officials generally think that federal government employees are arrogant and walk around with their heads held high. For a federal government official to bow their head while requesting a parole hearing is, as the white man said, extremely unusual.

“Well, it felt nice, but it’s just too strange.”

A Black man sitting next to the Latina woman nodded in agreement.

“I understand. The inmate doesn’t seem particularly special either… Was this requested by the NSA or CIA?”

No matter how much the Black man searched through the documents, he couldn’t find any connection between the inmate and large cartels or national security issues.

Just one of the all-too-common criminals in America.

“Well? We’ll know for sure when we see. Are the observers ready?”

At the Latina woman’s question, the guard standing by the door nodded, and the TV beside the three judges turned on.

On the screen, an elderly woman and a middle-aged woman were anxiously staring straight ahead.

“Hmm, third-degree murder… Please bring in inmate Blueberg.”

At the Latina woman’s request as she read the document with Jesse’s photo attached, the meeting room door opened, and Jesse carefully walked in, wearing handcuffs.

The Latina woman looked at Jesse as she entered, then glanced back at the photo in the document.

“Hmm?”

The photo in the document was Jesse’s mugshot, taken right after she was arrested by the police.

In the photo, Jesse looked extremely thin and appeared as if she might lunge at the officer taking the picture, which is why the Latina judge was now looking at Jesse with surprised eyes.

“Wait a minute, is this inmate really Jesse Blueberg?”

The Latina woman raised her hand to stop Jesse and spoke to the guard standing by the door.

Jesse, who had been about to sit in the empty chair in front of the judges, paused at the Latina woman’s gesture.

The guard shrugged indifferently as if to say “what’s the problem?” and replied:

“Yes, this is Jesse Blueberg.”

“She looks very different from the photo.”

“Huh? This is the same person?”

Unlike the Latina woman, the white man and Black man on either side of her couldn’t help but swallow involuntarily, as the current Jesse was quite attractive.

Jesse had transformed from what appeared to be a drug-addicted, emaciated junkie to a glamorous beauty with a decadent allure, so the two male judges had a somewhat different attitude now.

The Black man even lifted his glasses and brought the document closer to his eyes.

“…Looking at the photo, I suppose the eyes are somewhat similar.”

“Ahem, well. She must be the right person, right? The guard wouldn’t bring in the wrong inmate.”

Unlike the two men, the Latina woman continued to look at Jesse with a stern expression before pointing to the chair and saying:

“You are Jesse Blueberg from Medium Security Facility Block 2, correct?”

“What? Oh, yes. I am Jesse Blueberg.”

As Jesse sat down, the Latina woman flipped through some papers, then circled something on a document with her pen and said:

[Charge: Third-degree murder]

“Ms. Blueberg, what is your charge?”

At the Latina woman’s question, Jesse looked at her with trembling eyes and replied:

“Th-third-degree murder.”

As Jesse showed a somewhat fearful but docile and quiet demeanor, unlike what was written in the documents, the Latina woman nodded.

“Ohio… it was Ohio. According to the record, on February 1, 2013, around 11 PM, Ms. Blueberg was street racing when she hit Richard Brewster, who was returning home after finishing work. Is this correct?”

Despite the Latina woman’s calm voice, Jesse slightly lowered her head and answered with a trembling voice:

“…Yes, that’s correct.”

“Hmm. According to other guards’ records, you were quite rebellious and had a poor attitude during the early part of your incarceration. Can you explain what changed?”

When Jesse was first incarcerated at Honeygood Correctional Facility, her early record was essentially filled with complaints—from being confined to solitary, frequent fights with other inmates, and physical issues with anger management.

In response to the Black man’s question pointing this out, Jesse nodded with a still trembling voice:

“…I’m well aware. I think I had resigned myself to a life of giving up early… without atoning to the victim for the unforgivable crime I committed.”

Hearing the emotion in Jesse’s voice, the white man nodded and asked:

“But at some point, the records changed significantly. Around… a month ago, it seems?”

The Black man tapped his finger on the record as he spoke.

That section had been written by Dexter.

[Received medical examination in the prison infirmary due to injury. After counseling with the duty physician, showed improved attitude and sincerity compared to before. Expressed remorse for her crime and stated intention to live with atonement in mind during incarceration.]

[Unlike before, shows patience and is serving her sentence with a cooperative and serious attitude toward other inmates. Very self-aware of her characteristics and shows interest and enthusiasm in vocational training, expected to excel in future social reintegration programs.]

Everyone was impressed by the content of the record, which read less like an evaluation of a prison inmate and more like a recommendation for a student applying to university.

‘If this is true, that is.’

The Latina woman thought as she adjusted her glasses.

Anyone can write a good record.

The issue is whether the inmate truly repents for their crime and has been rehabilitated.

“Ms. Blueberg, what do you plan to do when you return to society?”

“…I’ve always been interested in cars. I plan to work in car maintenance and modification.”

In response to Jesse’s answer that she would ultimately work in an automotive-related field, the Latina woman nodded slightly and asked:

“What about street racing?”

“I will… never do it again.”

Despite her trembling voice, the Latina woman observed Jesse’s determined expression and direct gaze, wrote something on her document, and nodded:

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to worry the people who care about me through my mistakes, and I shouldn’t cause sorrow to others who might be harmed.”

“Worry and sorrow… In other words, you didn’t think about that before?”

“That’s correct.”

The Black man nodded and began writing Jesse’s answer on the document.

“What happened in the past month?”

While Jesse had prepared for other questions, this one caught her off guard.

Unlike Dexter, Jesse wasn’t the type who could lie effortlessly.

Knowing her own personality, Jesse felt that obvious lies would cause her to fail the evaluation.

So she chose to hide what needed hiding while expressing things indirectly.

“Someone once said that the most dangerous person in the world is someone with nothing to lose. Conversely, the least dangerous person would be someone with the most to lose.”

Jesse fidgeted with her hands, directing her gaze toward her fingers as she continued:

“I think until a month ago, I was someone with nothing to lose. But I realized something. If there’s something you don’t want to lose, you can never give up.”

“…Did you discover you’re homosexual?”

“What? Homosexual… oh, lesbian… no! No! I don’t have that kind of preference!”

Startled by the Latina woman’s direct question, Jesse waved her hands in denial. Seeing her reaction, the white man looked at the Latina woman and said:

“Isn’t that question a bit inappropriate?”

“It happens frequently in prison. Just checking.”

The Black man, who seemed annoyed that the Latina woman had interrupted what appeared to be an important point Jesse was trying to make, gestured for Jesse to continue.

“…Even if it’s not a person, I found something I didn’t want to lose. And then I realized that I had essentially robbed people of what they didn’t want to lose.”

Jesse slowly bowed her head.

“That’s when I understood what I had done. For mere pleasure, I had completely robbed a family man returning from work of his life. That fact weighed so heavily on me…”

After finishing her statement, Jesse took a deep breath and looked at the three judges and the two people on the TV screen:

“I sincerely want to apologize to the victim’s family who suffered because of my wrong choice…”

On the TV screen, the elderly woman among the two people was crying at Jesse’s words.

They weren’t just observers; they were the family of the victim in Jesse’s accident.

“Hmm.”

“Wrong choice and apology…”

“Do we have the court transcript?”

The three judges became busy after hearing Jesse’s response.

They took notes, searched for specific documents, and whispered to each other.

The Latina woman, looking at the documents, turned toward the TV and spoke:

“I’d like to hear from the observers.”

When the Latina woman granted permission to speak, the middle-aged woman on the TV handed a handkerchief to the elderly woman beside her and began:

-Honestly, I didn’t expect much. And for good reason—I’m not sure if I should say this, but… we thought she was just a hopeless junkie. She barely answered questions and showed no signs of remorse during the trial.

“……”

Jesse found it difficult to raise her head at the middle-aged woman’s pointed words.

Indeed, during the trial, she had remained silent except for answering essential questions.

-But I’m glad that she now recognizes the wrongness of her actions. Everyone can make mistakes.

The middle-aged woman sighed deeply, put the handkerchief in her pocket, and continued:

-Our father knew that area was frequently used for street racing, and he chose to jaywalk, which led to the accident. …Although he passed away, our father was partly at fault too.

-How can you say such things about your father who was working late?

-I have to speak the truth. Mom, you knew they raced on that street at that time every day, didn’t you? Why would Dad go to that street when there was a faster shortcut?

-Young lady, I didn’t raise you like this. You were crying just now because this woman apologized, and now you’re saying your father was at fault? Does that make any sense?

-Being sad is one thing, and acknowledging facts is another, Mom.

As the mother and daughter suddenly began raising their voices at each other, another staff member on the TV and the Latina woman raised their hands to intervene.

“Enough, enough. In any case, what do you two think about Jesse Blueberg’s parole?”

-It’s fine with me.

-Child, don’t you feel sorry for your father?

-Mom, that woman is in prison simply because of what she regularly did. Now she’s acknowledging her mistake and apologizing to us. Anyway, I’m in favor.

-…We’ll talk about this at home, young lady.

Although Jesse was incarcerated for third-degree murder, her previous involvement in illegal street racing and her poor attitude had contributed to her receiving a harsher sentence.

While third-degree murder is indeed a serious crime, there have been cases where judges sentenced offenders to 10 years of church attendance and community service instead of prison time, so there was room for understanding.

Since the victim’s family, as observers, didn’t oppose the parole and showed a positive reaction, it seemed appropriate to conclude the hearing.

The three judges noted the mother-daughter conversation in their documents and addressed Jesse:

“Jesse Blueberg? You may leave now.”

Jesse gave a slight nod and left the meeting room, and the TV showing the victim’s family was turned off.

“What was her attitude during the trial that even the victim’s family would say such things?”

“According to the transcript, she just stared at the judge without saying anything.”

“It’s not common for victims’ families to admit their own fault… I wonder if the Ohio judge just didn’t like the inmate’s usual behavior?”

“She might have had some run-ins with the police who were trying to crack down on street racing.”

“Well, street racing can be quite disruptive.”

“The police were probably eager to catch her, so they might have subtly pressured the judge.”

The three judges nodded as they looked at the document with Jesse’s photo, deciding her future.

“We’re going to approve it anyway… any objections to granting parole?”

“No. Let’s do it.”

“Let’s wrap this up and go to lunch. I heard the cafeteria here is quite good? They say you’d have to pay over $15 outside for this quality.”

The Latina woman, who had maintained a stern expression throughout, immediately brightened at this comment.

“Then Jesse Blueberg is approved for parole.”

The Latina woman took out a stamp from her handbag and firmly pressed it on the document with Jesse’s face.

[APPROVED]