Chap­ter 9 begins with the protagonist’s vis­it to FCI Cor­bettsville, a min­i­mum-secu­ri­ty prison locat­ed in New York, which is pri­mar­i­ly designed for non­vi­o­lent offend­ers. This facil­i­ty, resem­bling a col­lege dor­mi­to­ry in its struc­ture, offers inmates a vari­ety of oppor­tu­ni­ties to work and take class­es, pro­vid­ing a sem­blance of nor­mal­cy with­in the con­fines of their incar­cer­a­tion. On the day of his vis­it, which coin­cides with his birth­day, the pro­tag­o­nist arrives ear­ly, eager to recon­nect with his daugh­ter. He has care­ful­ly researched the rules and best prac­tices for vis­it­ing the facil­i­ty, deter­mined to make the most of the oppor­tu­ni­ty to see her. Despite the seem­ing­ly sim­ple goal of spend­ing time with his daugh­ter, the pro­tag­o­nist is quick­ly con­front­ed with the chal­lenges of nav­i­gat­ing the prison system’s strict reg­u­la­tions, which sets the stage for the emo­tion­al jour­ney that will unfold through­out the chap­ter.

Upon enter­ing the prison, the pro­tag­o­nist encoun­ters the secu­ri­ty mea­sures that are a hall­mark of the prison sys­tem. These rigid pro­to­cols are made clear as he faces an imme­di­ate obstacle—his name is not on the vis­i­ta­tion list, a cru­cial step for gain­ing access to the inmates. The sys­tem requires that inmates approve their vis­i­tors in advance, which adds anoth­er lay­er of com­plex­i­ty to the process. Although the pro­tag­o­nist has fol­lowed all the nec­es­sary pro­ce­dures and has good inten­tions, he is informed by an offi­cer that his daughter’s moth­er, Mar­garet, is the only per­son who can add him to the list. The offi­cer empha­sizes that he must wait until he has her con­sent, and the pro­tag­o­nist is advised to return dur­ing the des­ig­nat­ed vis­it­ing hours after obtain­ing approval. Though the pro­tag­o­nist feels both frus­trat­ed and dis­ap­point­ed, he is under­stand­ing of the rules and tries to per­suade the offi­cer to make an excep­tion, but his attempts are in vain.

While wait­ing for an update on his sit­u­a­tion, the pro­tag­o­nist observes the emo­tion­al dynam­ics play­ing out around him. He sees fam­i­lies reunit­ing with inmates, each inter­ac­tion marked by a mix of joy and sor­row. Some vis­i­tors embrace their loved ones tear­ful­ly, while oth­ers nav­i­gate the painful real­i­ty of being sep­a­rat­ed by the prison sys­tem. This moment of wait­ing allows the pro­tag­o­nist to reflect on the deep emo­tion­al toll incar­cer­a­tion has on fam­i­lies, rein­forc­ing the divide between those inside and out­side the prison. Even­tu­al­ly, the offi­cer returns with the news that Mar­garet has cho­sen not to see the pro­tag­o­nist, a deci­sion that deep­ens his feel­ings of iso­la­tion. The pro­tag­o­nist learns that oth­er vis­i­tors share sim­i­lar expe­ri­ences of being unable to see their loved ones, but the weight of his sit­u­a­tion is ampli­fied as he grap­ples with the per­son­al rejec­tion. The stark con­trast between the joy of the reunions around him and his own inabil­i­ty to con­nect with his daugh­ter is strik­ing, and it height­ens the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ty of the moment.

As the vis­it comes to an end, the pro­tag­o­nist leaves the prison with a heavy heart. He reflects on the stark con­trast between his life out­side the prison walls and the deep emo­tion­al yearn­ing expe­ri­enced by the fam­i­lies of incar­cer­at­ed indi­vid­u­als. While he enjoys the love and sup­port of friends and fam­i­ly wait­ing for him on the out­side, the pro­tag­o­nist can­not ignore the absence of his daugh­ter on his birth­day. This absence under­scores the emo­tion­al void that the prison sys­tem cre­ates for fam­i­lies, a feel­ing of loss that can­not be eas­i­ly filled by the sup­port of oth­ers. The chap­ter poignant­ly explores the dif­fi­cul­ty of main­tain­ing famil­ial bonds with­in the prison sys­tem, par­tic­u­lar­ly the chal­lenges that arise when emo­tion­al bar­ri­ers and bureau­crat­ic obsta­cles pre­vent mean­ing­ful con­nec­tion. The protagonist’s sense of iso­la­tion is pal­pa­ble as he leaves, and the read­er is left with a vivid under­stand­ing of the emo­tion­al strain that accom­pa­nies a vis­it to a loved one in prison. The com­plex inter­play of hope, rejec­tion, and the harsh real­i­ties of the prison sys­tem adds depth to the chap­ter, mak­ing it a pow­er­ful explo­ration of famil­ial love, loss, and the toll of incar­cer­a­tion on rela­tion­ships.