Prison salvation: He screamed in the inmate’s face, but he hadn’t been heard. Dennis spun around in frustration. The man behind him began to sing again, and his tune tickled the trigger of irritation Dennis needed to justify exploding.

Turning back, Dennis barked a booming yell, “I said shut the fuck up,” and he slammed his palms into the off-key vocalist. Thirty convicts, in the chow-line, looked on eagerly expecting a fight, their breakfast entertainment.