what do you know about prison?

**knoxbox** · #1 05-07-08, 02:52 PM

Quote:

If what you know of prison and jail has been formed by what you've seen on television or read in the papers then I'm here to tell you that you have no idea of the reality of prison life. Its not OZ on HBO and its not Escape From Alcatraz with good old Clint Eastwood. Prison is a mind numbing, tedious, bleak place.

When I got out of the Army, job prospects weren't so hot for former soldiers with no college. I felt lucky to get a job at mid-sized state prison just outside of Ft. Bragg. Working at the prison was going to be a lot like being in the Army. Instead of privates to boss around, I'd have inmates.

That was the first of many misconceptions shattered as I learned the reality of prison life over the next few years. First of all, inmates are not ordered around. None of them volunteered to be there. Prison was my job but it was their life. When I went home after an eight-hour shift, someone just like me replaced me. All the inmates needed to know was, Where did I draw the line? Knowing that, they could learn how to deal with me.

In prison, force, or the threat of force is always around. How else can a staff of less than 20 keep three or four hundred men inside of a big steel fence? The staff knows about force too. They know that at any given time, the inmates can take over the inside of any prison if they are wiling to deal with the aftermath. Take a minute to imagine the tension that all of this creates.

Prison life does not center around watching TV, lifting weights, and playing ball. The televisions stay broken, are only watched during certain hours and when they are on, they show mostly cartoons. There is one or two weight benches for every one or two hundred inmates and unless you are already big when you enter the prison yard, your chances of getting in a good workout are slim. The same goes for basketball. How often will you get to play when theres one ball per every hundred guys?

No, prison is not about recreation. Most inmates are required to work. Where I come, from the top salary is a dollar a day and few ever reach that level. The inmates who work on the chain gangs beside the roads get seventy cents a day for swinging a bush axe in the hot summer sun. Other inmates cook, work in the prison laundry or in any of a variety of state owned factories making school desks, uniforms, street signs, and yes, license plates.

Dont expect to end up in a prison where the nice, loving, staff feels sorry for you because you came from a broken home and never had a chance. You'll soon find out that nobody really cares.

A day in prison starts when the staff gets you up at 5:45 A.M. for the first headcount of the day. You share one sink among 12 guys to wash your face and brush your teeth. You share one toilet with those other guys too. Then you go to eat breakfast. You get no choice. You have to eat what they serve or you go hungry.

After breakfast you return to the cellblock where you have to clean your area, make your bed and get ready for your assignment. That assignment may keep you busy all day or you may return to the block to do nothing. If you like to read, and most don't, there a few three year old magazines and some religious books floating around. The TVs are blaring. People are yelling. The mentally ill prisoners are wondering around muttering.

There are more head counts. If you are sick, you'll get medical care. The doctor we had worked in the prison as a compromise with the state medical board so that he didn't lose his license after molesting a few female patients. Lunch is as bad as breakfast. The afternoon is as boring as the morning and so is the evening. You get one phone call a week. You better hope someone is home and that they will accept your call. If you have any money, you'll have to buy your own soap, shampoo, and toothpaste. The state only gives that stuff to indigent inmates. And, guess what, the stuff costs the same as it does on the street. There are no prison discounts.

Imagine doing everything you now do in private. Now imagine doing it in front of other men. You never ever get any privacy, not when you're crying because you Mom died or your girl is gone. Speaking of Mom, how would you like to go to her funeral in shackles with two officers in uniform beside you? Are you shy? You wont be after a few showers and bowel movements in plain site of everyone, including the female staff.

Prison robs you of your dignity. It takes time away from your life that you can never get back. It doesnt make you tough. It just teaches you that there is always someone badder than you who can make you a victim too.

source: Prison

its not always like everyone says it is...

Hatchet · #2 05-07-08, 05:49 PM

I just disagree with this sentance, "It just teaches you that there is always someone badder than you who can make you a victim too."

Prison can be private owned, and as was said, inmates do create things that the public uses. So now...if I was the private owner of a business, wouldn't I..."advertise" to keep my bottom line in the black? Oh...catch the pun there?

**knoxbox** · #3 05-07-08, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatchet

I just disagree with this sentance, "It just teaches you that there is always someone badder than you who can make you a victim too."

Prison can be private owned, and as was said, inmates do create things that the public uses. So now...if I was the private owner of a business, wouldn't I..."advertise" to keep my bottom line in the black? Oh...catch the pun there?

i agree with ya

i just read that article found it interesting.

buddy_z34 · #4 05-11-08, 06:50 PM

i know its a place i dont want to be in. i dont think i will make it in prison if i was ever locked up.

some of my uncles and cousins have been locked up. they tell me stroies about prison life when we get

. they tell me how they would make dice out of toilet paper. or make a heating device with a paper clip and some other thing with the plug in on the wall. how they would have spreads of food made when alot of inmates would get together for a Sunday afternoon. how my uncle would have to hussle people on the outside world to get money for his commecary money.

how they would sneak in drugs. my uncle when he first arrived in prison he was a state trustee and they would allow him to go outside and cut the grass with a riding mower. when the other inmates found out they would tell him where the stash was. someone on the outside would drive by and place it in a ditch or under a bridge and he would go and get it and bring it back in. they told me the joints in prison where the size of a toothpicks. that skinny and small.

anyways i have alot of stories about prison from my uncles and cousins.

one time i dont know how they did it but the stole a credit card from one of the prison officials and used it to make their phone calls for a few months.

the_k · #5 05-13-08, 03:08 AM

not sure how prisons are over in the states or elsewhere, but here our prisons are...well boring definitely. places you don't want to go to. but we don't have cells. no bars or things you'd see on TV.
No, our prison cells are rooms. Normal walls, normal door, a window. Normal beds. In fact, the accomodation is better than many poor people can afford. It is still a bad place to be but...

Obdurate · #6 05-13-08, 10:59 AM

My daddy was in prison and he said "It's not so bad... you get meals and a place to sleep" but he also says he's broke when he and his girlfriend have more money than my mom and my step dad, so unfortunately, I have to take everything he says with a grain of salt.

**knoxbox** · #7 05-13-08, 11:00 AM

lol... those that say prison is not so bad either a... are comfortable with men touching them or raping them etc... or b were on the other side of that and are comfortable taking a man as their bitch lol.

Obdurate · #8 05-13-08, 11:02 AM

lol You'll excuse me if I don't want to think of my dad that way, won't you?

**knoxbox** · #9 05-13-08, 11:03 AM

no picture it obby... think about it... think about it... EW GROSS your thinking about your dad that way wtf is wrong with you.

Obdurate · #10 05-13-08, 11:04 AM

I have sinned

LinkBacks (?) LinkBack to this Thread: http://www.puretalkforum.com/f70/what-do-you-know-about-prison-4031.html
Posted By	For	Type	Date
what do you know about prison? - Social Issues at PureTalkForum.com	This thread	Refback	05-07-08 08:44 PM

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Convicted terrorism supporter gets 17-year sentence	AJ	Current Events	3	03-08-08 08:37 PM
School is for sucka's!	Hatchet	Social Issues	58	03-03-08 07:41 PM