Article December 21, 1998 Issue

Christmas in jail

By Lou Torok

When the Mexican teenager walked into the county jail in Newport, Kentucky, he was understandably nervous. The nineteen-year-old, baby-faced youth had never been in jail before, and he had no idea what to expect. Would he be robbed, assaulted, raped?

The other prisoners looked at him with suspicion. They distrusted anyone who did not share their anger and paranoia. Eliasar Salazar Zamora had reason to fear them. He was a simple boy from a small mountain town in Mexico who didn't even speak English.

After a few days had passed and the terror in his eyes had subsided, I approached him. I decided to teach Zamora enough English to survive in jail. He grinned when he sensed that I was going to help him. I made flash cards of the alphabet out of toilet paper. He was an eager student and learned all twenty-six letters in just two days. With my help and that of other men in the cell, Zamora soon learned English.

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