An Inmate Escapes

Lest you think I exaggerate when I compare Grandes Quemados to the carcel, Tuesday's events may sway you to think as I do.
Confined to the hot-air-blowing bed all day to help make sure that the skin grafts on his back would take, Mauri tried to survive the newest heat wave, coming just as the barely working air conditioners of Grandes Quemados broke down completely, and most likely, for good. Soaked with sweat, I desperately tried to keep cool in the waiting room with my 2 euro Cosetes fan while I waited for the jail guards to let me through for my one hour window visit. Lately, it has been just that: one hour- rarely am I let in early anymore.
We got to his window, and Mauri could barely stay awake. He hadn't been able to sleep the night before, mostly because of the heat, and sweat was pouring down his face, despite the fact that he had his "contraband" fan blowing high-speed at him from as close as possible.
Each time I visit, the rules and regulations of this area seem so much more absurd, and the poor management of the hospital become that much more aparent. Today I wouldn't be able to see Mauri again. He was confined to his bed, so I wouldn't be able to be the only one to go visit him with my surgery gown, cap and booties today. (Nobody else in the unit takes these precautions. The nurses lean over him, running their long, sweaty hair over him, without the need to wear the cap- and, what's worse, without the need to even wear their hair up. Nobody else wears the surgeon's gown nor the booties. Everyone else runs around in their scrubs, and then goes right back in to be where Mauri is). Ah, but these are the rules. I should be greatful. They break the rules, so to speak, to even let me see Mauri every once in awhile, and they love to point that out at every session.
Anyways, speaking to Mauri was difficult. He kept closing his eyes, and had a hard time talking to us. That is, until he was startled awake by the realization that he was about to be bathed in a puddle of his own blood. The nurse had recently come to take away one of the meds of his IV, and aparently, the IV was left open to let Mauri bleed to death. For the first time in the last 3 and a half weeks of being there, I heard Mauri scream for a nurse. Luckily there was no emergency today, because someone actually came in the room to see what was the matter. As you will recall, nobody feels the need to stick around in the ICU when there is an emergency, and Mauri has no way to call for help if he needs it. Monday, after the surgery, he had been waiting for over an hour for someone to come to his aid. (Why should we expect such ammendities as a call button and a nurse always around the ICU and an air conditioner?? There is no need for such things as the inmates are already forced to stay. There is no competition here, nowhere else to go. Why improve a hospital when the patients are already assured? This is seguridad social. You automatically pay your 900 euros a month (cutting the average Spanish salary in half- although most people, not running their own business, don't realize where half of their salary is going) to the government so that they can provide you with the wonderful service iof guiding you where to go: your only option.)
Anyways, the nurse put a cap on the IV, and soaked up the blood in some cloths, and away she ran. All I could think about was what would have happened if Mauri had fallen asleep and hadn't noticed?? With the usual noone coming around for hours at a time, what would have happened??
When I left the visit, I was once again aware of the fact that I don't much trust the care of the ICU. I don't understand how if there is a rule to not let anyone in to be with the patients, then how can the nurses leave them so abandoned, and with no way to call for help?? My uneasiness was further pushed to the limit, though, later on in the afternoon.
As Mauri is starting to get better, I feel a little better, and have been taking a bit better care of myself. I haven't been wearing the same shorts and capris that had become my uniform the first 3 weeks. Anyways, Tuesday I was hoping to be able to see Mauri, so I dressed up a bit, and no longer had pockets to hold the two cell phones that I've carried around for the last several weeks. Holding them in my pockets, I could feel the phones vibrate when someone called, even if I couldn't hear the phones ring, but now, this was no longer the case.
Tusday afternoon, the phone rang as we were walking the big, noisy street on the way to the hospital. Of course, I heard nothing. Mauri's mom heard a call to her phone, and when she answered, we realized that it was Mauri screaming for us not to go to the hospital visit. He had also complained about my not answering my phone. After hanging up, she told me what he said.
--What do you mean we can't go visit him?? Did you ask why??
--I couldn't hear him- it's too noisy here.
After waiting in Valencia all day, I wasn't about to leave without my visit.
I immediately called Mauri, and realized he was nervous, and he didn't want to explain what the problem was. He only said something about an escape, and that he would explain later. He told us to stay away for our safety, and that he would call us when it was safe to go there.
We stopped at a bar to get something to drink, trying to interpret what had happened. All I could think of was the new patient who had been banging on the window as we walked passed him this morning. He has been in the ICU for several days after burning himself in the sun (yes, only the sun!!) while drunk. I assumed that it was because he had no visitors, and that he was bored. I was probably wrong. When Mauri called, he told us to slowly and carefully head over. So we did.
We arrived to a scene of many police and hopital workers holding down a patient on a cot, with the ambulance waiting outside. Many people were covered in blood, and everyone was bathing in their own sweat. Outside, shattered glass was on the ground below an open, broken window.
So it seems, the new inmate had decided to escape. He couldn't take the ICU anymore, so he broke the double-pane visiting window with his arm. Then he jumped through and broke the outsude double-pane window. In his attempt to escape, he had threatened several nurses with broken pieces of glass, and had even managed to injure several of them.
We were forced to wait for 45 minutes more for our visit to begin. They wanted to clean up the bloody mess before allowing us to pass, so meanwhile we tried to stay cool in the visitng room. Realizing that all of the fans in Cosetes wouldn't make that possible, we went outside where the wind helped us to feel much better.
I could only think that Mauri doesn't have the luxury of being able to go outside when he can't take the heat of the carcel oven.
Other than the constant banging of the maintenance workers trying to cover the window, the visit was uneventful. Mauri explained that the patient had been in his room, and that he was there, defenseless, in the special bed. Had the patient wanted to hurt him, nothing would have stopped him. Luckily, it didn't happen. There is talk that the patient will return to the burn ICU, but this time tied up and drugged. I'm not sure that this helps me feel calmer about it.
As we left, sweat was dripping down Mauri's face.