"One of the great human debates is the difference between men and women. Anyone who has ever been to a rock concert or sporting event knows one major difference: the men's room line moves considerably faster than the ladies. You would think that designers and architects would note this universal characteristic and that they would respond to this gender differential by building more ladies rooms or stalls. Or something.

One of the great ironies of the Virginia Department of Corrections is that women have significantly fewer bathroom facilities than the men. A wet cell is a cell that has bathroom facilities. We do not have wet cells. This fact comes usually as a great surprise to people on the outside. It is another of those frustrating conversations that I have with visitors.

'But I thought you had a commode in your cell.'

'No.'

'But the Web site says you do--shows a picture.'

I cannot speak for the Web site but I am sitting on my bunk surveying my cell and it is a simple space. There is no place for a toilet or sink to hide. It is a dry cell. It is true that the punishment block has wet cells but the rest of the institution is dry. Facility prohibition.

In other words when we are locked in for the night and that last cup of tea is arguing with my bladder, I have to push the intercom and ask to be let out. Other than making the officer in the control center stark raving mad over a 12-hour shift, it is not a terrible system. What is terrible is that I work in an area that holds nine vocational classes, with a couple of hundred women for approximately six hours a day, there is one-just one-exactly onebathroom. Not one bathroom with several stalls. One bathroom is one stall.

I once wrote that the laundry is a major cause of contention. That one bathroom is climbing in the contention rankings. Everyday I ask myself what bozo designed this building for all these classes with only one bathroom? Is this part of the punishment? It certainly is effective at disrupting learning.

I have given up drinking coffee, tea, and water during the day-it's too traumatic to attempt to use the facilities. I cannot handle the pressure, the strain. It is almost impossible to think elevated thoughts to focus on complex drawing problems when most of your energy is devoted to holding on for just one more minute. It requires vigorous selfcontrol and professionalism to answer questions for both student and tutor alike when nature is bellowing in both ears.

The bladder is a great leveler. I can hardly scornfully judge someone's attention deficit when my own focus is concentrated on the toilet flushing. It painfully reminds me of when I was young and arrogant and mimicked the grown ups by saying that people should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps. All I can say now is that it is a testament to the human spirit that anyone is able to overcome the exhausting demands of meeting basic needs and have anything left over to pull up, step up, step out.

Men wonder why women are so tense and anxious, build us more bathrooms!" (Elizabeth Haysom, Fluvanna Review, February 24, 2005)

Elizabeth Haysom is presently incarcerated at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Virginia. This column is one of a series, published under the general heading 'Glimpses from Inside.'