Sanders

"I would kill for a book...literally any book. I would enjoy reading a dictionary at this point."

- Sanders, in solitary

Sanders is an inmate in San Hill, and one of the The March Nine. His first name is never revealed, although he has mentioned it to Jason Zharkov.

Appearance
Sanders stands at 6ft 6, and is well built and strong. Initially he sports a moustache and sideburns, which has earned him the nickname 'Sideburns', although he is frequently seen with a full beard due to not having access to a razor. His eyes are amber, but have occasionally been referred to as "gold" by those aiming to flatter him, and his hair is dark brown.

After being tasered by William McCaffrey, Sanders has two small scars on his chest. He also mentions that he has an old scar from a gunshot wound around the same area. He has a scar on his thigh, inner elbow, and inner arm after being attacked by Astor Neils.

He wears a battered, plain gold band on his left ring finger - one of the only jewelery allowances in prison.

Personality
Initially Sanders is intimidating and unfriendly, and only talks to those who he deems worthy of his time. He has been shown to have an aggressive, domineering personality and is prone to expressing this physically. During his time in solitary he expresses that he injured Marcel O'Brien out of both revenge and because he missed hurting people. Sanders has also been shown to be charismatic and manipulative, particularly in regard to those he feels he can benefit from.

After leaving his fortnight spent in solitary confinement, Sanders is considerably less sure of himself, stating that crowds make him uncomfortable. He has also expressed slight trouble in determining what is and isn't real, and his perception of the world, especially memories prior to prison have been skewed. This period of his life also seems to have made him slightly friendlier and more willing to interact with people, albeit in a limited and often awkward way. Compared to his initial attitude of being untouchable, Sanders is considerably more subdued, seems to suffer slight memory problems, and attempts to keep himself under the radar. In private he can be unexpectedly affectionate, but does not like public displays of affection.

In Season Two, and following the greenhouse attack, Sanders becomes more agitated regarding others viewing him as weak, making a point of intimidating Grey McCorduck and later attacking Sprinkles to prove a point. He is also shown to be less reluctant to talk to others, going out of his way to speak to Della and showing some degree of empathy about her losing Syrus.

Season One
Sanders' life outside of San Hill is mysterious and he will rarely discuss it, only mentioning that he used to operate a gun shop as a front to his illegal arms trading business.

He immediately established himself in the San Hill hierarchy as a figure to be feared and respected, proving he would not tolerate reckless stupidity. His day one plan involved using his cellmate to create a distraction in the cafeteria so he could steal a spork to fashion into a shiv, something that backfired on him after a cell inspection where he panicked and threw the shiv into a neighbouring cell, causing the occupants to take the blame. Initially this went unnoticed, but was somehow reported and he was beaten severely by the head guard, Marcel O'Brien, causing a lot of unease across the cell block as to who the snitch was.

Following a mandatory art therapy class, Sanders seized his chance to corner Marcel when he was alone, attacking him and cutting his face with a modified razor. His revenge sent him to solitary where he remained for two weeks before being sent back to general population.

Sanders' time in solitary appears to have changed him, possibly for the better, since he is considerably less aggressive following his release, but regardless trouble seems to find him and after encountering William McCaffrey for the first time, he was tasered. He also had his sentence extended by one year, and in a fit of anger he barged in on the warden to argue this, although the warden unexpectedly proved to be amiable, removing the extra time in exchange for information about McCaffrey's wrongdoings. This deal with the extra time was revoked at the instruction of Mr. McCaffrey, although Sanders' discussion about this was interrupted by Jason Zharkov barging into the warden's office to alert him of Syrus Norwood's escape plan.

Sanders helped save the life of Maxie Tanaka after the man suffered an asthma attack, although he states that he only did so because he didn't want to be found next to a dead body and accused of killing him.

Following a visitation where Taavi Logan overheard Jason talking about Sanders and revealing their relationship, he effectively cut Sanders out of his life, ruining all his future plans. In a fit of anger, Sanders returned to his cell, furious and upset, to shout at Jason and although he went to punch him, he instead chose to punch the wall, breaking his hand in the process. While recovering from his injury, Sanders has been stripped of his role in the gardening team, to be temporarily replaced by Maude Gallagher, although he remains involved by bringing compost and seeds from the kitchen.

Sanders is involved in the plot revolving around Jason Zharkov informing Odysseus of Syrus Norwood's escape plans that resulted in him being sent to solitary. After Della Prince took it upon herself to investigate and attempt to find who was responsible for feeding the warden the information, Sanders became irritated with her interrupting him while he was waiting to speak to Adam Lee in the yard, causing her to suspect him on account of his hostile reaction. When Syrus was released from solitary, there was no immediate repercussion, with both Syrus and Della seeming to fall off the radar, and Sanders has taken this time to pursue his sideline business of brewing prison alcohol.

Season Two
Much of Sanders' time is dedicated to his plot to brew alcohol in the Greenhouse, but after this is uncovered by Maude Gallagher, Grey McCorduck brings Sanders to the greenhouse to tell him they have been discovered, only to discover that Astor Neils is inside, stealing the tools to use as weapons. Astor attacks Sanders, stabbing him in the thigh with the garden shears and then making an attempt to cut off his arm with a trowel. The attack is interrupted when Grey runs for help and returns with Marcel O'Brien and Natalia Romanova but Sanders' injuries are severe enough to warrant a trip to hospital.

After returning from hospital, Sanders spends most of his time in his cell avoiding everyone so they don't see how badly beaten he is since he is forced to use crutches. As his health improves, he intimidates Grey McCorduck who he is convinced was responsible for the attack, and even goes so far as to torment both him and Maxie Tanaka when they are in the yard trying to solve the mystery of the chicken murder.

When Jason Zharkov is drugged by Sprinkles, Sanders dedicates most of his time to caring for him. Furious that someone should dare touch "his property", he encounters Sprinkles in the kitchen and brands him with the deep fat fryer basket in order to make a point. Sprinkles is sent to hospital, and Sanders resumes his life as usual. He negotiates with Autumn Ayers to claim the role of librarian after Adam Lee is freed and the position is open.

Romantic

 * Jason Zharkov Sanders is often shadowed by his cellmate and sidekick, Jason, who willingly obeys his every command. Sanders alludes to the fact that he is used to dealing with drunks and addicts, and so knows how to deal with Jason. He has been shown to act caring or affectionate towards him, even going so far as to take the full blame for the attack on Marcel so Jason wouldn't also be sent to solitary. Sanders' opinion of Jason greatly improved following the incident with McCaffrey.
 * Taavi Logan was Sanders' long-term partner on the outside, and the person responsible for keeping his business running and following through with Sanders' plans to create a life for himself once he is released from prison. Upon finding out about Jason, Taavi cut himself off from Sanders.

Allies

 * Adam Lee (formerly, has since left San Hill)
 * Maxie Tanaka - Sanders saved Maxie's life when the man was having an asthma attack. Maxie has stated that he owes him a favour and may be able to save his own life one day.

Neutral

 * Maude Gallagher - Co-worker in the greenhouse.
 * Ilya Luzhkov - Sanders is shown to be easily charmed and flustered by Ilya.

Enemies

 * Marcel O'Brien
 * William McCaffrey (formerly, has since left San Hill)
 * Syrus Norwood Sanders was part of a group of four people, led by Syrus who were plotting their escape from the prison, although since leaving solitary he began having second thoughts about this plan, and eventually backed out of the plan.
 * Della Prince
 * Astor Neils (known to Sanders as "The Man In The Vent"). Despite forming an alliance, their relationship was shattered after Astor attacked Sanders and sent him to hospital.
 * Grey McCorduck - Although formerly friends, Sanders is convinced that Grey was manipulated into luring him out to the greenhouse to be attacked by Astor.
 * Sprinkles

Trivia

 * Sanders is left handed but uses his right hand to throw a punch.
 * He is unusually good at throwing things with extreme accuracy, and can often be found practicing this when he is bored or idle.
 * During visitation, he often spoke Finnish with Taavi to prevent eavesdroppers listening to their conversations.
 * He is Italian-American, and speaks Italian well.
 * Sanders does not like chickens, considering them evil.