Rich People's Prison

Tiara wore her Givenchy mules to her sentencing, and there were so many photographers outside the courtroom that it looked more like the red carpet.
	"Miss Pemberton! Do you have any words for those students who didn't get into colleges, because of your interference?"
	"Miss Pemberton! Can you address the accusations from your housekeeper? She recently told reporters that you pay her lower than the minimum wage, and withhold her wages if you are unsatisfied with her work."
	Tiara glowered at the person who asked that question, but inwardly she was pleased to have a set-up question like that.
	"I'm counter-suing her for defamation of character!" Tiara announced, "I pay her very well for her services. Although we might have to work out a different arrangement if she is assessed the $250,000 in damages my lawyers are asking for!"
	"Tiara, is that video of you kicking your pet Golden Retriever real? I've never heard them make a sound like that before."
	"Tiara..."
	 She answered a few more questions: a big part of her life was playing the game with these reporters. Giving them some sound bites to play on the news and keep her face plastered in people's minds. Yes, it was true that she wanted people who worked for her to kneel for her when she came into a room out of gratitude and admiration. Yes, she had recently raised the rent for many of her tenants by more than 40%. Did they know who her father was?'
	 Court started at 10 AM – specifically to accommodate her preference for late mornings. The crime was a college admission scandal that propelled rich kids to college, supposedly limiting the spots that could go to anyone else. In her opinion, it was not a crime and her level of involvement was far lower than the other participants who wouldn't even see a courtroom. But she knew she would be found guilty. The sentence would be 6 months at the Wimblett Facility, a place known as the poshest prison on the planet. It had tennis courts, floor-to-ceiling windows and was a firm adherent to the 'massages, bonbons and pedicures' model of restorative justice.
	"Miss Pemberton, please rise and hear the verdict."
	The 27 year old blonde woman stood with her head held high. The people behind her found it difficult not to stare at her butt.
	"The jury finds you guilty of failing to register as a nonprofit. I sentence you to six months in a private prison. I understand you want to be held at the Wimblett Facility?"
	"Yes, your honor."
	 "I'll allow it," the judge replied,  "Report to the prison on Monday."
	"Can we make it Friday? I have a trip to Prague for a conference."
	"Fine," the judge said.
	The following trip in Prague was one of the best weeks of Tiara's life. She was drinking and partying at night, and during the days she would go shopping for dresses and outfits to have shipped to the prison, in lieu of her uniform. All in all, she had profitted enormously from the college admissions racket. It had earned her some favors, and her punishment (if it could be called that) would be a 6 month stay in a prison that was more like a beach side resort.
	Life was good for Tiara Pemberton.
**
	Kimberly read about Tiara's sentencing on her smartphone with total disappointment as she rode the crowded train to work.
	She hadn't known what The Wimblett Facility was when she first accepted their job, and she had quickly come to hate working there. The commute was bad enough: two hours, first on a train and then a bus then another bus with poor shock absorbers. It was only the prison's staff who took this bus; all of its inmates were wealthy enough to get drop-off service. Once Kimberly arrived through a separate entrance than the prisoners took, she had to go through a long, invasive, unpaid intake procedure where she was searched for contraband. Only when that was finished, could she clock in for work.
	The work consisted of waiting hand and foot on each of the inmates. They didn't make their own beds in the morning. That task fell to 'the help' -- employees such as Kimberly who were penalized if they didn't make each bed with perfect hospital corners. The prisoners didn't prepare or serve their own food, nor did they clear the tables or do the dishes when they finished eating. Between the yoga classes, the blowout bar and the on-demand nail care, Wimblett was like paradise for the women sentenced to stay there. They had a smiling staff of attentive women surrounding them, ready to fulfill their every need, no matter how ridiculous.
	And the uniforms!
	Kimberly was wearing hers beneath her street clothes right now uncomfortable as it was, because she couldn't stand to be seen in public in it. For the prisoners at Wimblett, there were very few rules regarding personal appearance. A woman could swan about the place in her leisurewear, or a fetching sundress – whatever she wanted was permissible. But for the staff, there was a strictly enforced dress code: a khaki pair of yoga shorts and a matching khaki bra top. Each of their outfits had the employee's names printed clearly on their shorts and top, along with their ID numbers.
	This was on the specious reasoning that staff uniforms helped to calm the prisoners (who liked to be referred to as 'guests'). It did this by creating boundaries between the two groups, but not in such a way that was harsh or unwelcoming. Thus instead of viewing the Wimblett staff as corrections officers, they were seen more as members of the servant class: fitness instructors, personal stretchers, and masseuses which were much closer descriptors for their jobs, anyway.
	Even their footwear was regulated. A Wimblett girl could be barefoot, or she could wear something lke a dancer's pirouette half-sole shoes. The skimpy things covered only the front third of a woman's foot, with two straps wrapping around her ankle to keep them in place. Kimberly figured that some shoe company had secured the Wimblett contract and was selling these things at a very healthy profit, because each pair was handcrafted of the highest quality Nappa leather. But wearing the lyrical dance shoes just made Kimberly feel ridiculously exposed because of the way her heels touched the floor with every step. She felt like she was here to do some entertaining performance, rather than any serious work.
	And if those exposed heels showed too much dirt, it reflect poorly on the Wimblett staff – why had that dirt been allowed to sit on the floor of the campus, where it might offend a guest's sensibilities!? Such a failure could easily get the lot of them collectively punished. It was in all of their interests to keep the floor clean to a point bordering on neurosis, so they could walk around all day without getting so much as an eyelash on the half-exposed soles of their feet.
	Kimberly kept reading the news article. She really didn't like Tiara Pemberton.
	The woman was, in some circles, referred to as far-right Barbie. She racked up Youtube views from her videos mocking poor people. Her philosophy was a mish-mash of ideas, but underlined by the basic principle that some people should be in charge, and others should do what they were told. Now Tiara would have an opportunity to put those ideas into action and Kimberly would be dealing with the other end of it, jumping through hoops whenever the blonde bitch rang one of the many hand bells located around the campus.
	It seemed like every week there was a new person checking in to the Wimblett Facility that Kimberly had reason to dislike. There was the British lady who attacked a protestor with a riding crop when she dared to trespass on her property to protest a fox hunt. There was Clarissa Thorne, the 'Queen of Mean' who was notorious for skirting labor regulations and just acting like a terror to all the people who worked at her hotels. And there was Winona Denovin, who ran the Denovin Beauty Academy until they were busted for student loan fraud to the tune of $41 million. The school got shut down, the students had to repay those loans, and Winona was sentenced to two years at Wimblett, where she now supervised the Beauty Bar.
	Kimberly had to stop browsing just then – she got a warning that she was about to go over her data limit. This was largely due to the smartwatch she was required to wear at all times and how the device hogged so much her data plan. It was the one part of her uniform she could not take off, even when she left the prison. Part of the Wimblett's commitment to privacy was that its staff must never talk about the things they see or do there. Such information could be valuable to tabloids, competitors, or for insider trading. So the smartwatch acted as a recording device so they could make sure she wasn't divulging information that would violate the gag agreement she had signed.
	'Why can't I just quit?' Kimberly wondered for the millionth time.
	But she had been assigned this job through the unemployment bureau. Quitting or being fired would trigger a host of unpleasant consequences. Then she had a more pressing concern: the train stopped for an unexpected about of time. People started to get irritable, and it waited there for so long that Kimberly started worrying about being late.
	'Fuck!' she thought to herself, 'This would be the third time this month I'm late! The Wardeness will definitely be on my case to become a live-in, now! Come on, GO!!'
	Kimberly didn't have much to look forward to, but she had a lot to fear. The Wimblett Facility had a constantly growing need for labor-hours from its staff. One way it tried to satisfy this demand was by getting its employees to become live-in attendants know as parlormaids. Very few girls signed up for this of their own initiative. It was demanding on a whole new level. They rarely got more than five hours of sleep a night, slept six to a cell, and would often pull back-to-back shifts that would keep them from leaving the campus for months at a time.
	Kimberly had seen the affect it had on girls, once they got stuck with it. She recalled how quickly her co-worker Quinn got bags under her eyes, lost much of the vivacity she once possessed, and just looked constantly sad and put-upon now that her social life had shrank to the comings and goings of the Wimblett Facility. All of these things, combined with the increased workload and the fact that they were singled out more, was enough to bring low even the brightest of girls. Some of the parlormaids had been there for longer than the longest-serving inmates; they had simply lost the will for freedom. Or perhaps they were supporting a family on the outside. But even in that case, they barely made any more money than the they had as normal employees!
	First of all, by taking room and board as part of their earnings, it gave the facility the right to give them a much lower hourly wage. So with the cost of lodging already deducted from their income, they had to sign up for the meal plan (and their choices of food were markedly worse than the prisoners') and additionally had to pay for things like linens and soap. The experience of a Wimblett live-in employee was actually much closer to how a person imagined a typical prison. They even had specialized cells down in the basements just for the employees. These cells were less than half the size as what you'd find upstairs, and then split between six people instead of the one or two that would be more appropriate.
	Kimberly closed her eyes and silently begged for the train to start moving again because in about ten minutes she would miss her bus. But it just wouldn't move.
**
	Tiara beat the bus to the drop-off point. She stepped out of the Rolls Royce and walked up to the breezy campus carrying nothing more than her purse since all her clothes and cosmetic products had already been delivered. The building itself had gorgeous architecture – 'campus' was a far more fitting term for its appearance than 'prison.' She always liked seeing a manicured lawn, and the fact that the Wimblett Facility was on top of a hill near the ocean gave it some beautiful views along with a nice, cool breeze.
	When Tiara walked through the heavy glass door, the girl at the front desk immediately stood up and gave her a little bow. She immediately knew she was going to like it here.
	"Tiara Pemberton, checking in?" she announced, presenting her driver's license to the receptionist.
	"Welcome Miss Pemberton!" the girl chirped, "We're so happy to have you! Could I look through your purse please before I show you to your room?"
	"Yes, of course," Tiara replied, "Just be careful with it. It's a vintage Chanel."
	"Absolutely, Miss!"
	The search was over rather quickly. But Tiara appreciated the fact that the receptionist wore white cotton curator's gloves so that her nails wouldn't damage the purse and so that she wouldn't transfer the dirt from her hands onto it during the search. Afterwards, the receptionist threw the gloves in the trash, and the two of them walked through the sturdy metal door that lead to the main part of the campus.
	Tiara was greeted first by the smell of burnt sage, and then by a statuesque woman in yoga shorts and a bra holding out a glass of champagne on a silver tray, just for her.
	"Hi Miss Pemberton! My name is Samantha. This champagne is from a local winery that has donated a case in your name. Can I please offer you some?"
	"Yes. Thank you," Tiara replied, taking the glass and savoring the way Samantha bowed her head as she did so.
	"Wow! That's good!"
	"I'm glad you enjoy it. May I take your purse and carry it to your room?"
	"That would be lovely," Tiara said, handing her purse over to the obedient girl.
	Just looking at the architecture of this place put her in a good mood. The vaulted ceilings had a colorful array of plants hanging down from them, and the cherrywood floors gave it a warm feel. Tiara had only known the best things in life, but she still found herself impressed by the thoughtful design. They were in a grand hallway with cells (rooms, she reminded herself) on either side. There was a second floor to the place, which had more rooms and a pretty guardrail along the walkways that ran its length.
	The center of the hallway on the ground floor was a communal space, with furniture in neutral shades where women could lounge, sip tea, receive foot massages. Tiara heard 'Le mal du pays' and thought it was coming from speakers which might have been her first negative impression. But then she saw that no, they had a grand piano, played by one of the Wimblett girls! As though that weren't enough to impress her, there was a guest lying on a tan leather tufted daybed nearby. Her head was resting on an employee's lap, who was feeding her peeled grapes and her feet were resting in yet another girl's lap, who was performing a heavenly foot and calf massage.
	"Sign me up for that!" Tiara said, and the statuesque girl carrying her purse immediately nodded and pressed some buttons on her watch.
	The individual rooms were built in a way that was reminiscent of upscale sleeper cabins on a train. They had large rectangular windows that could be covered for privacy, and sliding doors. The few that Tiara could see into inspired great confidence; they were like cute college dorm rooms designed by expert interior decorators. Each woman's room reflected her values and the things that pleased her best: some were contemporary American, others drew inspiration from the French provincial style. Sometimes, Tiara would make eye contact with another guest and they would smile at each other and wave.
	Further down the hallway, Tiara noticed a woman who had really gotten into the spirit of the place.
	She recognized her right away as Clarissa Thorne. The entrepreneurial woman was one of her personal role models, although she looked quite different than she was normally pictured. Clarissa, who was in her mid 40s, wore an intricate 18th century dress that one might find in Marie Antoinette's royal court. The lower skirt was made of grey taffeta, and the upper consisted of a floral pattern, with many ruffles and openwork lace details. But Tiara's heart skipped a beat when she saw that Clarissa was resting her feet upon the back of a Wimblett girl, who quietly sat cross-legged in front of her hunched forward and acting as her human footstool without complaint. Tiara had fantasized about doing that to a person, but had never dared – there was something so intoxicating about the power implications of it. Could she actually order one of the staff here to act as her personal footrest? Judging by how the girl wasn't making a peep even as Clarissa dug her lace-up heels into her back, she could!
	Tiara approached nervously. She wanted to know more.
	"Umm, hi?" Tiara said, "I don't know if you remember me. But we met at a dinner--"
	"Of course I remember you, Tiara!" Clarissa said with a radiant smile.
	"Welcome to the Wimblett Facility! I think you'll enjoy your stay very much.. I certainly am. Please, have a seat and join me!"
	It couldn't have pleased Tiara more, the way they both naturally ignored the girl acting as Clarissa's footrest. Tiara took a seat.
	"You're probably wondering about my costume. Sometimes I get a little bored, and I like to play dress-up. Me and a few of the other ladies meet and have a high tea ceremony in our fancy dresses. Sometimes we play cards. You're welcome to join! But, you will need to dress the part..."
	It sounded like a great networking opportunity, and a fun way to pass the time.
	"I'd love to! Thanks! I'll order a costume right away. But... you get bored? Can't you take classes at the local college, or go horseback riding?"
	"Of course I can!" Clarissa replied, and she became cross all of a sudden,
	"And we have a library with new releases and the classics, every cable channel imaginable, organic ice cream, a Pilates studio, massages whenever you want. But I'm still kept away from my own life. Do you know how many of my friends have come to visit?"
	Tiara shook her head.
	"Only half a dozen!" Clarissa said, "Are you in a hurry? I'd love to share something with you, before you go."
	"No, please continue! I've always been a fan of yours," Tiara said, and the woman smiled to hear the compliment.
	"You might be aware of the recent twitter spat I had with that stupid cow of an attorney, Jane Tascioni?"
	"Uh, sorry, I don't follow you THAT closely," Tiara admitted.
	"Well," Clarissa said, "The short of it is that the woman started harassing me on the Internet. Saying that I was a slumlord, photoshoping me into propaganda images, really just trying to start an awareness campaign against me! As though those ever work!"
	"I know what that's like," Tiara said with smile.
	"Then pay attention to what happened next: One day, she crossed the line. She posted something threatening about me, that I should be careful on my next horseback ride because it can be dangerous. And THAT was where I had her. With a quick call to my friend at the Bar Association, she lost her license to practice law due to her displaying a 'violent temperament.' Then, all I had to do was direct the full force of my legal team against her, and she was up against the ropes, ready to sign whatever plea bargain I set out for her. Do you know what I did, from there?"
	"Tell me!" Tiara said – it sounded much like the problem she was having with that blabbly housekeeper of hers.
	"I said that I would drop the charges against her if she agreed to work as my stable groom. You know – brush my horses, change their hay, clean up after them. It's dreadful work, very exhausting, but that's not the best part. The best part is that her work attire is the same as she wore in the courtroom! It costs me a fortune to provide it for her, but it's worth it... Do you have any idea how hilarious it is to see a woman in a grey skirt, a white tailored jacket and high heeled shoes do the labor of a stable hand? It used to make me laugh SO hard every time I saw her struggling to carry out all of the tasks I assigned her while not dirtying her clothes. But now I can't even enjoy it anymore! Well, I DO have the video feed sent to my phone, but it's just not the same."
	"Well, that is unfortunate," Tiara said.
	"Yes, and that's not all I'm missing out on... Anyway, I don't want to hold you up. Please, go get settled in your room and finish your orientation. We have plenty of time to catch up later. I'm not going anywhere."
	Clarissa leaned back in her chair and outstretched one leg in such a way that her calf was resting on the shoulder of the girl acting as her footrest. Then she started dangling her shoe that was now mere inches from the poor girl's face. But the Wimblett employee still didn't object, and Tiara was thrilled to see the such an obedient waitstaff. As she walked away, two other ladies approached in similarly elaborate costumes and they nodded politely at her.
	She was pleasantly surprised with her room; especially how they had a Wimblett girl kneeling there waiting for her. Tiara wondered: if she had decided to sit down for a facial or do something else before she came here, would this poor Japanese girl remain kneeling for the entire time? The thought excited her.
	"Welcome, Miss Pemberton! My name is Aiko. I was sent by the Wardeness to invite you to a one-on-one consultation with her. Would you be alright with that?"
	"Sure," Tiara replied.
	Although she wanted to get settled in her room (which she had decorated so it looked like her dorm back at USC), she thought it would be bad to keep the Wardeness waiting.
	"Before we go, please accept this collection of gifts, put together by local vendors just for you."
	Aiko had a plastic-wrapped gift basket in her hand, pretty enough to be featured in a home decor magazine. Tiara was thrilled to see things like artisanal chocolates, saffron salts, and CBD-infused massage oil that were all tremendously expensive. She placed the lovely basket onto her desk, next to her personal laptop computer that she had shipped here.
	"Follow me, please."
	The Wimblett Facility had paintings on the walls: originals by Rembrandt and Caravaggio. Aiko explained that it was calming for the guests to be surrounded by such beautiful things, and Tiara had to agree. She also noticed that Aiko didn't allow her eyes to wander very much to take in the scenery. The girl was professional in the extreme: she acted like she had on blinders and would not be distracted from the job at hand.
	They went to the head office on the second floor, and Aiko politely opened the door for Tiara but didn't go inside.
	"Welcome, Tiara!"
	The Wardeness, Alexis Stonebreaker, rose to shake hands with Tiara.
	She was a hale, slender woman and without a doubt one of the tallest ladies Tiara had ever met. And Tiara knew several runway models.
	"Please, have a seat. I'm so happy you could stay at my facility! Can I have one of the girls get you a coffee, or maybe some more champagne?"
	Tiara reclined on the fainting couch that Alexis pointed out for her. Although she would have preferred to sit in a normal chair she didn't want to offend this woman who clearly ran the show around here. Alexis wore a white high-collar blouse, beige riding breeches and black leather ankle boots with prominent straps criss-crossing their front sides.
	"No, thank you," Tiara replied, "But I'm very happy to be here! I met Clarissa Thorne already."
	"She's a delight, isn't she?" Alexis responded.
	"Yes. I can already tell I will like it here."
	"Well, that's the point, isn't it? But before you get too comfortable, there's a little housekeeping to take care of."
	"Housekeeping?" Tiara asked, a little nervous that there might he a hidden catch here.
	"Oh, don't worry. All the actual housekeeping is taken care of by the help. You won't have to wash a single dish while you're staying with us – I promise. I just mean we have to 'check you in.'"
	Tiara nodded.
	"Now, it's my personal belief that ladies of a certain socioeconomic status end up here because they have the same affliction. This affliction leads women to become uptight, demanding, and prone to outbursts of discontent directed at their social inferiors. I call it the Heiress Syndrome, although it can affect women who aren't necessarily heiresses."
	"Interesting..." Tiara said.
	"Now, in my experience, the best way to treat this condition is to provide the heiress with an enormous staff of underlings to provide for her every desire. That way, she can have her needs met and avoid frustrations that might lead to a worsening of her condition. Do you understand what I'm saying? I want you to embrace your inner heiress, Tiara. I want you to act like the demanding, arrogant princess I know you can be. The brattier, the better. The entire purpose of this place is to allow you a safe place where you can be pampered on every conceivable level."
	Tiara smiled and said that she would very much like to do that.
	"I really want you to embrace this diagnosis, Tiara," the Wardeness continued,
	"And know that the Wimblett girls are game for pretty much anything. Do you want to slap one of them in the face because she was a minute late with your coffee? Go for it. Do you want to put a saddle on a girl and ride her around like a horse? We do that competitively, on Thursdays – it was Clarissa's idea, in fact. I want you to contribute similar ideas. I demand it."
	Tiara felt her heart beat funny. She couldn't deny she was excited right now, but a little uncomfortable too. Part of it had to do with the way Alexis was staring at her with her stern grey eyes, which like the rest of her face were beautiful in a severe sort of way.
	"That sounds good to me," Tiara replied.
	She hoped that Alexis couldn't tell how uneasy she was feeling – but Tiara felt like she just played a bad person on T.V. and now she was in the midst of a very bad person.
	"Perfect!" Alexis replied, "I'm really happy you are on board with my vision. Would you like a chocolate?"
	"No thanks."
	"Suit yourself," Alexis said, and took a bite out of one of the confections that she had just offered to her guest.
	"Because there's another way of treating the Heiress syndrome. It's the exact opposite what I just described – so if you don't respond to being a guest here, we might have to talk about putting you on our work-study program. As a Wimblett girl."
	Now Tiara was panicked – was the Wardeness threatening her right now?! What sort of place was this? Alexis kept her measured smile, betraying almost no other emotion than pleasant authority.
	"Because there are two ways to enjoy chocolate. The first is having it freshly made, right out of the box."
	She pointed at her mouth and made an exaggerated noise of delight at how good the sugary treat was. Her words were slightly garbled by the food she was chewing, but her speech was still poised and attractive.
	"The other way? Is by licking it off the floor after someone else has enjoyed the best of it already."
	With that, the Wardeness Alexis Stonebreaker spat the chocolate onto the marble floor of her office. Then she reached over to a nearby table and grabbed a little hand bell, ringing it while making firm eye contact with Tiara.
	Aiko scrambled in right away, looking quite exposed in her little workout shorts and bra.
	"Yes Wardeness? How may I serve you?"
	"Oh, just a small thing," Alexis replied, pretending to be magnanimous,
	"You can clean up this chocolate from my floor. But... I don't want it to go to waste! And I don't want you to waste a napkin..."
	Aiko wasn't completely convincing, but she nevertheless pretended to be thrilled to have the opportunity to lick up chocolate that Alexis had just spat onto the floor. She got on her hands and knees and scooped the messy snack into her mouth, making exaggerated noises of delight that were much less coquettish than were Alexis's.
	Tiara was silent during all of this.
	"Today, you can settle into your room and familiarize yourself with the services we offer here. But tomorrow, I want to see you commit to a treatment plan. Oh and this goes without saying, but everything that just happened between us is under the strictest patient-doctor confidentiality. Sharing it with other guests would be... inadvisable. You may go now."
	Tiara practically bolted from the Wardeness's Office. Only now could she see this place for what it was: a prison. This orientation had put a new spin on the many interactions between the guests and the Wimblett girls that Tiara saw on her way back to her room (her cell, more like!). Between all the cameras and the microphones and the fact that all Internet and mail correspondences were being monitored, she knew she couldn't reach out for help. So instead, Tiara sought to get in touch with her inner Heiress, as Alexis had told her to.
	By the time dinner came around, she had already slapped a Wimblett girl. It lifted her spirits considerably, and she started to get an appetite for something more.