The Wolf: A Short Narrative

The Wolf

We called *Jamie Masterson “Wolf” because when things got crazy, you could expect a long Virginia backwoods howl from Wolf. He did it, to relieve stress. Everyone within ear-shod, could relate to it. We all wanted to howl sometimes.

Wolf, myself, Sergeant Bosworth and Claude Von Plueren of hung out together after work. To relieve stress, we'd tell stories and drink a few beers. Wolf liked to laugh a lot and he admired Sergeant Bosworth.

In his early twenties, and fresh out of the military, Wolf stood tall and as skinny as a rail. His broken front tooth, was his most identifying feature. Wolf and I popped a few cell doors together and I respected Wolf for that.

On October 16th, 1987, Wolf and I stood near the bottom of the stairs of 5A and 5B. We shook down inmates as they came back from mainline. Inmates walked in single file, behind a 3 ft rail when returning to Super Max. A few feet to my left Wolf pat searched inmate *Nick Bender.

A short man, in his 30's, with a beard, Bender was the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood gang in Super Max. If Bender gave an order, his soldiers obeyed it. He was the most powerful inmate in Super Max. I turned, just as Bender stuck his finger in Wolf's face.

“YOU’D BETTER NEVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!” Wolf looked over at me, smiled and Bender stomped up the upstairs to 5A and 5B and then up to #7 walk. Wolf and I followed the line of inmates.

On 7 walk, Bender waited for Wolf and confronted him again. The rest of the inmates stood in front of their cells, but refused to go in.

Wolf had managed to piss-off Super Max's leader of the Aryan Brotherhood and, he had done it in front of his men. I don't think Wolf realized the gravity of the situation. Inmates would do anything Bender told them ...

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... walked into the penitentiary with pride and confidence. Come and get me, you sons-of-bitches!! Just try to take me out! My fear and dread conquered, I was ready for battle.

A day or two later, they let Bender out of lockup. Without Wolf’s report charging him with assault, they decided to let him go. The whole thing was dropped. Bender hadn't been out of the hole 24 hours when the Batman walked up to me.

“You know they let Nick out!”

“I heard that.”

“Forget about about what I said. No ones mad anymore.”

“Whatever. Now get back in line and down to rec!”

As for Wolf, I never saw him again. I don’t know if he was re-assigned, placed on another shift or quit. To this day, I have never seen or heard from him.

Author's Note: A search of Bender shows that he is serving a Life Sentence in the State of Missouri. His original sentence was for assaulting and stabbing a man.