The group was composed of four women. Cathy looked down at the wide steel cuffs locked on her wrists, with a bar between them. She stretched out her fingers but couldn't bring her fingertips together. Another set of cuffs secured her ankles. Again, a steel bar between her ankles forced her to stand with her legs apart. A connecting chain ran from the middle of the bar on her wrists to the middle of the ankle bar. She couldn't raise her hands above her waist while standing. She had been first in line to receive her restraints; the guards were now finishing with the last woman of the group.

There was more to come. Another guard brought out a length of heavy chain and padlocked one end to the middle of her ankle bar. He then proceeded down the line until all four women were linked together.

The warden in charge, Cathy knew his name was Joe, began. "In case you haven't figured it out by now, all of you have managed to make it right to the top of our special attention list. You are here because you pulled some kind of dumb stunt. Maybe you thought you'd get away with it, maybe you didn't care. Whatever the reason, it won't work here." He folded his arms and sat down on the edge of the desk, facing them. The other wardens left.

"The four of you are now collectively responsible for each other. What's that mean? Real simple, anyone gets it wrong, you all get it wrong. I don't care whose fault it is, you will all be punished if any one of you disobeys. I suggest the four of you become good friends real fast, because you are going to be spending a lot of time in each other's company. Those chains stay on as long as you are here."

Cathy turned to look at her new companions in misery. Kelli was next to her, looking scared. With good reason , Cathy told herself. Even I don't know what's going to happen to us . On the other side of Kelli was a woman Cathy didn't know. At the other end she recognized Diane, who had been in one of her classes.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Joe slammed his hand down on the desk. "I can see why you are all here. Okay, this is how it works. The rules are simple: do as you are told. Do it immediately, get it right, and don't forget. To make sure you pay attention you will be personally supervised 24 hours a day. Let me introduce you to the first shift."

Joe went to the doorway and gestured to someone out of sight. When he came back he was escorting a woman dressed to the usual standards, collar, belt, and hands cuffed behind her back. In itself that was no surprise to Cathy, but when she recognized who it was she almost blurted out the name. Only the frown from Joe stopped her.

She stood in front of the group and began speaking with a nod of permission from Joe. "Hello ladies, my name is Paula and I will be your supervisor."