Editor’s notes: This is part of a letter Ray sent to me about his encounter with a mouse in his cell. The post is generated with Ray’s permission.

When I was sleeping, I heard some rustling, but I thought it was just cleaning. When I woke up, I started my day by taking care of my hygiene, cleaning up, making my bed, and making sure everything was in order. As I was sweeping, I noticed some confetti-like scraps of paper from a magazine I had left outside my door. I got curious about how this happened. I moved the jumpsuit I had placed at the bottom of the cell door to keep out dust, and suddenly, a mouse ran over my foot and into my locker.

I started pulling things out of my locker, but the mouse was fast! It took me three hours chasing that little guy. Apparently, I’m not that smart, haha. That mouse was on point. But here’s the thing: my heart is changing, little by little. At one point, the mouse hid under a sock, thinking it was safe, but I could still see its tail. I could have easily crushed it, but I couldn’t bring myself to kill it.

What’s funny is the mouse wouldn’t leave. I tried chasing it out, but it kept running back inside the cell. Eventually, it climbed the bunk, and I saw it, so I lifted the mattress to try and trap it. The mouse jumped from the mattress onto the desk, and it was so fast it made me jump and scream. It was hilarious! My neighbor heard me and asked what happened, and when I told him the mouse jumped on me and scared me, we both laughed hard.

After the mouse finally left on its own, I made sure it couldn’t get back in. But the little guy had already peed on the floor and a corner book, so I had to clean the whole cell—like, major clean-up. I threw out a bunch of books, keeping only the ones you gave me. I told the other guys those were good books, and they could have them. In the end, my cell was spotless and smelling like bleach, so the mouse’s visit turned into a big clean-up day!

But man, that mouse scared me. When I went outside later, I couldn’t stop laughing. My neighbor asked what was so funny, and I told him about the mouse. He said, “I heard!” and even mimicked the sound I made when I jumped. We both laughed even harder. I told him, “I’m a gangster, bro. I’ll stab you, shoot you, fight you, steal, and so much more, but a little mouse scared me!” It was so funny how I reacted.