Summary

Part V is titled “Spring.” In Chapter 69, Neil checked in and immediately heard the news that they were closing the prison portion of Carville. Those with more than six months left to serve were being transferred to other prisons. Those with less than six months were being released early or sent to halfway houses. The leprosy patients were happy that they would be keeping their homes. Official statements from the prison cited the fact that Carville was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and therefore could not be modified to be a secure facility. The guards, knowing they would soon be out of work, “lost interest in” the inmates. Inmates who were going to be released began updating resumes and looking for jobs. Neil compared the idea that lepers had been held at Carville for decades because they were considered “a...