Looking Out the Prison Window
The window inside Damian’s cell is about 7 inches wide.
Prisoners in his unit are permitted to cover them. But he doesn’t cover his.
“I don’t sleep with the window covers on,” Damian said. “I want to look out into the world.”
Damian’s cell faces north. From his window, he sees the rest of Limon Correctional Facility. The mixed-custody prison sits more than 90 miles southeast of Denver on lonely, flat land subject to wind gusts intense enough to knock over a grown man.
Needless to say, Damian’s view leaves much to be desired.
He doesn’t care.
If he covers his window, it’s yet another reminder of how he’s stuck inside those cinder-block walls.
“I wanna be in the world.”
But what might be worse, he noted, is having the view his friend George Woldt enjoys just five cells down. From that cell, there’s an unobstructed view of Interstate 70. At night, the cars are just lights skating across the black horizon. That’s where Damian gets lost in his own imagination.
He stares at the cars and wonders who’s driving them: “Where are you going? What are you thinking about right now?”
“It would be way bad if I was in George’s cell and I could see the road,” Damian said.
Being in a car was one of his favorite pastimes before he murdered his wife and toddler.
“I used to love to drive. I used to love it.”
Often, when one of his fellow prisoners says, “I wish I was at recreation right now,” Damian is quick to respond with, “I wish I was driving a car.”
“Why waste a wish on dumb prison stuff? (I don’t want my) mind being stuck in here.”
Still, he added: “I want to be able to see outside, but seeing what George sees would be a little too much right now.”
About the Author
Andréa Maria Cecil is a career editor and writer whose experience includes six years as Assistant Managing Editor and Head Writer at CrossFit Inc. headquarters. She spent the first 12 years of her professional life as a journalist — starting with The Associated Press in Detroit and Baltimore — before transitioning to content marketing with an emphasis on authentic storytelling. She is the editor of “Speal: A David and Goliath Story” by Chris Spealler that sold 10,000 copies worldwide.
