Jax stared at his hands, which were now handcuffed for the fourth time since he woke up from his last peaceful slumber; or should he say after his straight twenty four or more hours coma, after he fell unconscious from receiving a hit to the back of his neck?
He released a really long helpless sigh before he averted his eyes toward the grilled windows of the van, he was currently sitting in, of course with the company of several uniformed dukes or police officers for that matter.
He was currently being shifted from the penal court, after receiving the final verdict on a Mr. Robert's murder case; or more precisely on a murder case in which he had been successfully setup by a masked man, to the central prison meant for highly dangerous and society hazardous criminals.
It was already very late into the evening, but the honorary judge who saw through his court trial insisted that the convict should be put behind the bars as soon as possible because the latter wouldn't even bother to speak a single word during the entire five hours of trial while two public servants; namely a public prosecutor and a public defender turned the court upside down due to the homicide of an unidentified man.
This unidentified man was none other than the very victim who was killed in Jax's apartment, Mr. Robert and the convict was Jax himself.
Yes, Jax didn't even utter a single word after saying that he was not the killer when the judge gave him a chance to say something or anything regarding his own predicament.
It was not clear whether the aforementioned judge wanted Jax to admit guilty without prolonging this matter or maybe, the former was waiting for Jax to do something out of ordinary and prove himself innocent.
Either way, Jax didn't do anything that could meet the expectations of the people who came to witness the trial, including the police officers' who thought that Jax would come up with stories again about the masked man or about the two mysterious men he kept asking about all the while during the ride from the police station to the penal court.
Seeing this defiant attitude, people would think of him as someone who didn't know the meaning of the word 'repentance'. In other words, he appeared as a cold blooded murderer who wasn't even feeling any single ounce of guilt.
But that wasn't the case apparently. Jax just decided that him saying anything wouldn't change the outcome of this trial anymore, as he lost all hope after explaining his point that he was innocent countless times to whoever addressed this issue in front of him.
However, nothing changed as none of them, be it the investigating officers or even the public defender who came to defend his case had believed the existence of the masked man.
So, according to him, it was pointless to prolong this argumentation by mentioning the real murderer when they all believed the opposite.
Jax didn't even flinch when the judge decided to send him to the number one prison in terms of tight security, as the latter gave the final verdict saying;
"Since, all the evidences produced by the prosecution were authentic and proved that the accused is indeed guilty, I hereby sentence him to a lifetime and he was due to serve this punishment in the Southern central prison starting from today," said the judge, knocking the gavel in his hand on the sound block placed on his desk three times, indicating he made the final judgement on this case. In other words, he closed the case in just one sitting.
On the other hand, people gasped when they heard the name 'Southern central prison'. It was understandable, though. After all, only the most notorious criminals would be sent to that prison. And now, a twenty year old young man was being sent to that prison just like that, even though it was only his first offense.
"Even though, it was only his first offense, still the convict should be punished accordingly to set him on the right path, considering the victim was killed brutally, being stabbed with a butchering knife in several vital parts of his body, leading him to die from severe blood loss," added the honorary judge, as if giving an answer to everyone present.
After saying his piece, he knocked the gavel once again, officially closing the case. Then, he stood up and left quickly.
***
In front of a pair of giant iron gates, the police van screeched to a halt, indicating the people sitting inside that they had reached their destination for the evening.
Two security offficers, approached the driver to complete the formalities, after which they were handed over with Jax, who kept silent during the entire time.
They took their new prisoner to change his clothes after pushing a set of prison clothes, apparently a light blue jumpsuit with a number printed on the left side of the chest part of it into the latter's hands.
Jax just did everything that was asked of him to do in silence. He wore the clothes and handed over his own, which they kept hold of along with all of his other belongings.
Talking about belongings, he didn't have much on him now, only two sets of keys: one was his bike's while the other was his apartment's along with some coin change, he usually kept in his trousers' pockets.
Afterward, he was led to his cell after passing through several dimly lit corridors, as crickets singing as the background.
The solid iron door of the cell produced a heavy rattle when it was pushed open after one of the guards unlocked it.
The other guard pushed Jax rather hardly into the seemingly empty cell which wasn't even provided with a proper light and gave the latter a look as if warning him not to try anything silly.
But the question was, was it even possible for a stick thin young lad like himself to out wit these two burly man? Not to mention the highly secured prison walls with electric fencing.
Jax just didn't know whether he should laugh or cry at the guard's attitude.