I’m not a prophet. Or the son of one. But once I allowed someone to think I was. Well, allow me to explain...

Ad-seg (the Hole), by law, must give each inmate the opportunity to go outside for exercise. However, in order to do this and yet keep security in place, the yard is no more than a basketball court-sized concrete slab, with 20 zoo-like cages. Four rows of five cages form the solution to the legal requirement. The staff calls them dog runs.

Each cage is perfectly spaced three feet from the next—front, side, back. I like to believe that the person who designed this setup must have...