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December 21, 2020
Forty minutes north-east of Seattle, a hill stands next to a high school in the middle of rural Monroe, Washington. Atop that hill, four prisons make up the Monroe Correctional Complex. Among them, the 100-year-old Washington State Reformatory (WSR) sits like a medieval castle surrounded by a brick wall. Gun-towers posted along the wall provide views into the recreation yard where residents segregate by race, affiliation, sexual orientation, and sometimes even conviction. White prisoners occupy a set of concrete bleachers along one side of the jogging-track, while Latinos line another about 50 feet away. Near the turnstile where they enter and exit, a cluster of tables harbors Black people and across the soccer-field, those who have been shunned by most of the population, find companionship together.