What's it really like in prison?
926681
No, inmates do not haveit soft within the prison walls.\nTo anyone who says differently, I'd like to know What prison have you been visiting? I'd like to arrange for a cherished friend to be transferred there! The top notch medical/dental care I'm always hearing about would be nice!He had a small cavity in one tooth and the answer was to pull the tooth, he needs to see a doctor to renew a prescription for a chronic condition (no, it's not a drug with any recreational potential, it's Prilosec) but can't see the doc because he is not bleeding, and when he does get that script renewed, he'll be paying for it or rather either his mom or I will be doing so. The situation has gotten so bad with prison health care that a federal judge recently ordered the whole department into recievership.\nComfortable bed? HA! Try a lumpy 1 inch thick pad on a stainless steel shelf... cozy, huh?\nHe shares a 6 x 12 cell with one other man, and counts himself lucky that there are not 3 in that cell due to the amazingly overcrowded state of the facility, he gets to leave that cell about 4 hours a day, including shower, chow, dayroom and yard time... and THAT is when the facility is not on lockdown due to drastic understaffing, courtesy of a hiring freeze imposed by the Governor...on lockdown, it really is in the cell, 24/7, food passed through the door, etc the only thing that keeps going is the mail (and by the way, I send him paper,envelopes and postage, unless it is a letter to one's attorney of record AND there is no money on one's books, the prison does not pay for letters)....the educational programs, IF an inmate qualifies AND if there is a slot available in the class.....and surely you see the need to try to educate these people to improve the chances of their becoming productive citizens upon release?\nThe showers are hot and reasonably clean, but inmates buy their own soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.\nThe food is a joke, and is barely legal in quantity and quality... most inmates get VERY creative with the top ramen that is available at the commisary...\nWhat Gym/weight room are you talking about? My friend does an aerobic routine in his cell each morning and spends about half his time in the yard running his usual 3 to 5 miles, but there's no equipment available...I'm not complaining about that, but I'd like to know where you get your information.\n\nAs to other recreational activities, if there are video games, it has not been mentioned to me... Television in the day room where what to watch is decided by vote...any TVs or radios in the cells were not provided by the state, either the inmate or someone like me purchased them and like quarterly packages and phone calls (collect and incredibly costly) they are a privilige that is EARNED... Surely you can see the value of rewarding good behavior?\n\nBy the way, my friend is what they call a model inmate, he has had no disiplinary problems inside.\nI could go on and on, but I really want to know what prison all these stereotypes of fun and games are based on, because it sure as hell is not in California!
351181
it is according to if you are in a camp or on the inside behind a fence==also what federal prison you are in--wardens of prisons vary--wardens are kings and what they say goes--Also depends on the guards--some are human being and others are just ignorant people that allows the power to go to their heads and will treat you with no respect at all==will taunt you every chance they get== There are some things that are really bad in prison and I do not know why no one does anything about them--one example would be that they issue you underware ( 4 pair) then when you need new ones they issue you used ones==this is only one of the bad things--i cvan give you bad and god things \n\ngood luck to you
961498
Good god.   I have never seen so many "probably," "maybe," or "most likely" answers in one place in awhile.\n\nMy husband has been in federal prison for 26 years so please allow me to shed some authenticity on the subject.    The convictions on specific crimes do determine where they start out, such as a U.S. Penitentiary, like Leavenworth.  \n\nBut over time, some can wind up at a Medium or a Minimum.   IF they live long enough, they can be released to a camp before going home.    Camp is still a controlled environment.\n\nYou were not give accurate descriptions at all of the various levels, including the Wikipedia response.   \n\nMy husband was convicted on less than four ounces of cocaine, and got 41 years, thanks to RICO back in the 80's.  Due to his age and health, he  is currently at a Minimum.   He has been in prisons in Kansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky and Florida.   Go figure.   He is currently 700 miles away from any family, one way.   He is 65 years old, with health problems, and has been thoroughly screwed over by the parole board (long story).    We have been trying to get THAT straightened out for four years now.   \n\nMinimums are not Cupcake Facilities.   Minimums are enclosed by razor wire, they are patrolled internally and externally, and the guys are told when to get up, when to eat, when they can go outside, when they have to come inside, when they have to go to bed.    Visitors have to be on a list, and go through metal detectors, and at least three interior doors to get to the visiting room. \n\nThere is one doctor for the 2000 men at his facility.   I knew a young man that got gangraped and died from his injuries there, and an elderly diabetic who died in his wheelchair outside the med unit waiting for help.    Miniums are no picnic.   \n\nUnlike TV shows (I Hate Prison Break!), the guys do not discuss their crimes.    Child molesters keep their mouths shut, and gangsta wannabees brag to enhance their reputation.   You can't believe anything the inmates tell you, period, so no one really knows what anyone is in there for, unless it makes the news.   \n\n If you check out my husband's web site, you will see that he was not a white-collar criminal, as someone else stated.  There are white-collar criminals there, like income tax evasion or embezzling, but I would guestimate that 90% of the inmates in federal prison are there on drug-related charges (thanks to our politicians and their "get tough on crime" mandatory minimums  - 5 years for one joint).  \n\nThere are a lot of men and women who have no business in prison, but the power to decide cases on individual points has been taken away from judges, by the politicians and their laws.    Those laws always impress voters, until someone in their family gets in trouble.   Then they find out that once those doors slam, that's it.   The kid who died after being gang-raped was only in there for a three-year drug sentence, not a death sentence.   I met his parents and they will never get over it.\n\nThere are Cupcake prisons, for Martha and the politicians, but regular folks will never see one of those.  \n\nFor the most part, the documentaries you see on PBS are more accurate about current prison life, in any of the prisons.   Prison is hell on earth, with camp being Purgatory.   They are not intended to rehab, but are warehouses, to keep the "bad" people away from the "good" people.    \n\nHope this gives you more accurate info.
313785
As a former correctional officer of 7 yrs, I can tell you that each prison is different. Prisons vary from state to state. Then you have private corporations such as GEO Groups and CCA (for example) that also run prison systems.\n\nIs it as bad as you have heard? Well, that also depends on what you have heard. Prison is not a play date in the park, nor was it meant to be. Prisons should not be an enjoyable place. Prisons should be a deterrent not to commit crimes, and teach new skills to the one(s) incarcerated.
194186
I have some stuff to say on this: In a closed system some kinds of macro level insanity!  I was in mexican prison for a tad over two years for the offense of 'narcotraficante."  I studied the psychological components of the prisoner population.  A mini society of about 1500 males and 150 females.  Tensions of their particular blends of indidual frustration and impulsive too-long repressed anger fed into some people dying on several ocassions and this was studied from simple gangs killing one of each other's side over some trivial matter.  And another killing for one prisoner having been acused of a misdeed.  Ever more prisoners arriving and the crowding numbers reach for 1800 and on a calm warm day a clinic' drugged prisoner is shot dead between the fifteen-feet high brick wall and its paraelle twelve-foot chain-link fence.  Prisoners began to amass proximal the murder scene and within about twenty to thirty minutes the frustration and anger built to a crensendo.  A gun-tower guard had to be killed for sake of ballance and one was killed, in a most agonizing manner plus other injuries.  There's more on the gore but I'll spare you that data.  Americans know that they suffer immense frustrations with seemingly all implosive data pointing to how fu(ked we are and how we have apathy sublime.  The pot is a ways past warming and we have seen little pockets of social disorder in here and there in various city' riots.  We know that our society is gonna have to cycle a biggy one more time and when it does visit us it will but take the needed spark.  I'm sad we have let our society slip so far into our dung.  Our social-metality is producing few persons of reason.  History is ladden with examoles of these phenomena operant on macro levels.\nTreating the causes and less the symptoms could conceiveably place us into The Age of Reason and oh how a day we'd have.\nIt is taught that if you cannot learn from history then you are bound to repeat it.  After the adrenalin rushes are over, oh so spent and comfy.  The people having had enough blood letting we'd rather the dung would settle but it's all yet there.  It was diagnosed and treated and the causes but build back and entropy is operant once again.  What's the next ditty?
1169535
They serve time in prison because they did some thing against the law. So they are sent to prison as a punishment for the acts. Its just like god sending you to hell for a sin...\n\nThere is a good side in everyone of us... it's only that someone people refuse to show it while some dare to spread their good-willing.\n\nThere is a high chance they will learn from their mistakes and once they come out they'll be good people.
240213
I don't think so. Jail is jail. No matter where they jail. They have no freedom. They will meet the same problem inside the prison such as bullying, pressuring ,fighting ,raping among the criminals. Not happy at all.
1101004
what if the guy is in prison?
378827
prison or jail !! i am terrified of it! though i am not a criminal or even anything close to it but the movies i have seen about jail and the stories that i have read, makes me really scared about it! apart from that i am very scared of horor movies!
249325
This is a tough question. First, you need to have a grasp of the mental process that a person goes through while in prison. It will totally change a persons values, moral code etc... survival instincts take over and pretty much rule the persons mental state. (there are tons of articles on this in the Journals of Psychiatric Medicine and the Bethesda Journal of Medicine) It is almost impossible for a person who has never been incarcerated to fully comprehend what an inmate has to physically survive on a day to day basis. The mentality of inmates is very complex when it comes to homosexual relationships while in prison. They will emphatically deny that they are gay, but have no qaulms about having sex with another man. In my personal opinion I think it is done for control issues more so than relief of sexual frustration or desire. In the case of your boyfriend, that he admitted to you his sexual encounter is a huge step. If this is something that you can't get accept, then you need to to have some indepth talks with him. Find out the circumstance, his reason etc... I can't say that I understand the mental process that allows a person to totally step outside of their sexual "comfort" zone, but if you love this man it is worth at least trying to empathize. Good Luck.
605615
Yes, my father is a prison guard and they not only have a weight room, but they also have a gym. It's rather interesting, although prisoners are behind bars, they have free gym memberships while we have to pay!
1174897
If you're caught, and likely you will be...you'll be returned to prison/jail to finish out your sentence.  Is it really worth it?
697506
Very little.   Who's going to testify?   Prison is all about politics, trading and favors (hmmm, sounds like Washington DC, doesn't it?).   Say somebody shanks somebody in the yard.   Why did it happen in the first place?   Lover's quarrell?   Or did the shankee stiff someone else on a deal?  Is he going to tell?   The shanker sure as H isn't.  \n\n The other guys aren't going to piss of the shanker by ratting him out, unless they can do it later secretly to get themselves some good time points.    And the Staff would be crazy to take anyone's word for anything.\n\nIf caught, most get put in the hole for a little while.   Hurting another inmate is not like stabbing an old woman on the street.   No one cares except the inmate's family.    Fights and stabbings are common, and no big deal.   After all, it's prison. \n\nThere are no stats for this, this is just daily reality in prison.    Good luck with your paper.
157128
The time you spend in jail when getting caught.
697888
The true figure is somewhere in the region of $50000 (from the USA Times newspaper). This figure is dependant on the prison type (a max-security prison is around $70000 per person), the state and the needs of the individual prisoner.\n  One prison warden claims that he runs the cheapest prison in the US, at a dollar a day per prisoner. The prison consists of a barbed wire and iron fence, with two small cabins as a hospital and reception/chapel. The prisoners themselves are placed in old army tents, and they go out during the day in chain gangs to clear woodland of rubbish or pick up litter.
718083
what state do you live in? maybe it would be worth it to go check out the local jail or penitentiary and ask the inmates that question? got the guts to? naw didnt think so
552446
That happened to me, but I was lucky and got laid off with a nice package.\n\nNow I work at a state prison making $34k + a year. It's by far the easiest job I've ever had. It's also pretty safe, as long as you follow the rules. By the way, I was 47 when I started working at the prison.\n\nLet me know if you need/want more info!