I've been up and down in prison, I've lived inside this cell,
Surrounded by these demons, and the fiery gates of Hell,
I blame my mother and my father, for the man that I've become,
I was born into this family, I was born the devil's son,
Oh I ain't gonna see my freedom
'til the day
They lay me to the ground

They call him Vague, and that's not a clever jab someone came up with - that's his real last name. He's 41 years old, and he's been in Tisley Correctional pretty much since the doors opened. He turned up in '99, just before the turn of the century, on the hardest bid anyone can get and still go to Tisley - life without parole. Guy killed three people in cold blood, and never even bothered telling anyone why. Normally, Missouri would hand down the death penalty for less, but Vague copped a plea. He's been in Tisley nearly 17 years now, and unless he gets a transfer, he won't be leaving until the day his heart stops.

Inside, he's made a name for himself as a shotcaller for the Spirals, Missouri's largest feline prison gang. You hear the screws say they own H-block, and that might be true of the bricks and mortar, but make no mistake: it's Vague that runs it. Every cat filling a cell with an H at the start answers to him in some way - willingly or not. He's stern, demanding and brutally violent - but also extremely protective of those he genuinely cares about. One of those people is Kal, who came to him in 2006 at the tender age of 18, frightened, traumatised and desperate. Ten years later, Kal is now Vague's "torpedo," or second-in-command, and moreover one of Vague's oldest and best friends.

Vague's probably not someone you'd ever want to know on the outside, but if you're stuck in prison, you definitely want him as a friend, and not an enemy.

Vague © Me

Artwork by  sturmschwinge