Life in Prison: Frequently Asked Questions

So, these questions are floating around out there in the ethers, and I was told people may be interested in my answers. They are only MY answers: others may be able to provide more or less insight. Some of them... they irk me. I often don’t think about how terrible it is that we work slave labor jobs under conditions completely outside the normal worker's rights organizations but reading the questions and thinking a little deeply makes it sting a little more.

So anyway, read on and if you want the short answer, it’s there. If you want my real thoughts, look for the long answer.

AND if you have questions, leave a comment. I’ll answer to the best of my ability.

1. What is the difference between a jail and a prison?

(Short Answer)

Jails are mostly where you sit if you can’t afford a bond and are fighting your case. A prison is where you go when you’re sentenced to time.

(Long Answer)

I should have said jails are MOSTLY where you go to fight your case. Due to the overcrowding of most prisons systems in my state with a big city, the jails also take sentenced inmates and hold them for months or years. California, Texas, and Arizona are the only states I know of that do this, but those few states make up for 10s of thousands of people who are sentenced and doing their time in jails.

Jails are also notoriously inhumane. THE Maricopa County jail in AZ feeds inmates twice a day, one of them is a small sack with 2 pieces of bread, 4oz of peanut butter, 1 1/2 pint of skim milk, and a little pack of 4 cookies. I know this so well because I was there, fighting a case in 2014. I can’t imagine it’s got better.

But the starvation isn’t the only bad part. I was there for 7 months and didn’t see the sun nor did I breathe outside air that entire time. Their idea of "outside recreation" is a room with a vent that pipes in air from the outside. there were no windows even in the cells, meaning you never knew what time it was. This isn’t some old Dickensian dungeon; it was built recently in the 2000’s.

N.B. This is a jail where people fight their case; that is to say, they are innocent till proven guilty, or so says the joke in our laws.

I also mentioned bond. When someone is arrested, most people are given a cash bond that can get them out to fight their case. If you can get it paid within a few hours, you may avoid the indignity of starvation and sexual assault not to mention the many belligerent drug addicts who are coming down and NOT in a good mood or good physical health, filling the 12X12 cell (crammed with 10-20 people) with sounds of their vomiting and screams of torment.

More often than not, it’s impossible to come up with the bond money so people are forced to sit in jail for months or years fighting their case. You can see how this system is heavily skewed for the wealthy. i.e., those who are almost never arrested in the first place. Poverty and crime are so intricately and inextricably intertwined... that is the subject for a different essay, but for now suffice it to say that in most cities across the world (not just the US), 50% of the crime comes from 5% of the streets: not neighborhoods, STREETS.

So, the poor who were barely making it and supporting their families get arrested (justly or not) and now are NOT supporting their families for months or years. They lose jobs, cars, houses... and remember, innocent till proven guilty.

There is a theory that goes something like this: jails are so atrociously inhumane and unbearable to push inmates to sign the first plea and get out to a prison which, comparatively, is a paradise. Sunshine? Fresh air? FOOD?! Who wouldn’t do anything they could to be on the first thing smoking out of those places?

I can only say what I have seen in many places: this applies to many people, I’d guess 25%. The poor, the mentally ill, and just the innocent and scared. So, if you think of the conviction rates the cities brag about, remember how many people, thousands and thousands every month, go through those places. And remember how many were just doing what the "witches" of old did and confess to anything just to stop the torment.

2. Do all jails and prisons offer religious services?

(Short Answer)

Every one I’ve been to, yes.

(Long Answer)

Adequate food, legal services, health and medical, drug and alcohol treatment, vocational training or library or education... these are hit or miss in jails and prisons: mostly miss. But these places always have somewhere you can go sing old songs in stone cells or just scream at the injustice to a silent deity. The echoes all sound the same, I can attest.

3. How available are chaplains to prisoners?

(Short Answer)

Well... not very. If you need some religious duty performed, that is the guy to see. They will get around to it when they can.

(Long Answer)

The chaplain is a cop. That is to say, when I go to work or to eat and see the chaplain, I am just as likely to be harassed by him and patted down or even stripped by him as I am any other staff. One of the more recent shakedowns, the chaplain was there in the thick of it, taking people's pillows and "extra food".

I’ve known exceptions to most of the officers and staff and I know there are chaplains who aren’t rotten bastards, but a good person is as rare as any other position in the staff hierarchy.

I will say the one place that the bad people seem to avoid is the Psychology Dept, but that place is an appended member that doesn’t fit in any way to any of the edicts or rules or treatments of the place. The staff in the Psychology Dept. are more often than not reviled and mocked by the rest of the staff.

4. How do prisoners typically spend their days?

(Short Answer)

Mostly TV, cards, gambling, and sleep. Maybe 20% have jobs that are mostly menial and pay 20-100$ a month.

(Long Answer)

The vast majority are so weighed down with a combination of boredom, ennui, and helplessness enforced over repeated frustrations ("you’re going to education today... just kidding." "you’re going to get a visit this weekend... just kidding, lockdown!" etc..) and near constant discouragement from staff and the system as a whole . In short, it is nearly impossible to keep any schedule or routine because there seems to be a daily Magic 8Ball consult as to how the place will run.

After a few months (imagine years and decades), most people just... give up. "Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you may be locked down."

5. What types of educational programs are available to prisoners?

(Short Answer)

Jails will have little to nothing. prisons will have a mandatory GED if you don’t have that or equivalent. Anything else is highly variable.

(Long answer)

It is POSSIBLE to get a college enrolment, but only on your own dime and it has to be approved by an education department who may or may not choose to do their job. There is nothing any of us can say on the matter to make them. I tried for about 3 years before I gave up and I had family willing to foot the bill.

Some prisons have vocational training, but there are maybe 10 spots available and a few hundred who want it at any time. The coveted spots take about 2 years to finish so you can see that this makes for a dearth.

There are also classes in the feds called Adult Continuing Education. I get paid 10$ a month to teach in these modules. I currently teach a drawing class and a painting class. I have also taught philosophy and French, but the options run the gamut from those, GED prep classes, to Ancient Aliens classes. I’m serious, unfortunately. Either way, it’s something and a way for me to try to help people. I don’t do it for the pay!

6. What types of jobs do prisoners have?

(Short Answer)

The most popular and universal are jobs like kitchen, yard workers, laundry, and various types of "porters" which basically sweep and empty trash.

(Long answer)

Most jobs pay pennies. IF you’re lucky and work a job ling enough, you’ll get to max pay. I remember in AZ state prison it was about 50$ a month. If the yard has 1000 people, maybe 50 people get that pay. Most everyone else gets around 15$ a month for slave labor.

There are other types of jobs too. As mentioned previously, I have taught a few classes in the recreation and education dept. I get paid 10$ a month. There are also some prisons that have specialty jobs. In NV state prison, there is a whole warehouse full of inmate workers that sort cards. So, when a casino tosses a deck of cards, they get thrown collectively into a big box. that box goes to the prison whose workers sort them out into decks and repackage them for cheap dollar store sales. THE inmates make 150-200$ a month sorting cards all day, and these jobs are HIGHLY coveted.

Currently in Florence Colorado, the prison is putting every inmate on a list that says they are employed. This is managing perception to show some higher office that they are keeping the inmates occupied with gainful employment. In actuality, 90% of these "workers" don’t go to their assigned job and aren’t allowed to do so by rule of the staff.

Because of the ridiculously low pay of most jobs (real ones, not the fake ones that don’t pay either), theft is extremely common. Most people call it "the Hussle" of whatever position they happen to be in. e.g., a kitchen worker steals the food I’m supposed to get and brings it back to the unit to sell to us. This happens in most every job you can think of. Cleaning supplies, food, pens, used chewing tobacco taken out of the cops' trash can... it’s all for sale. I don’t know if decent pay would stop theft outright, but it would make it less necessary. 15-20$ a month isn’t enough to buy most people's soap and hygiene. My toothpaste costs 7$, for an idea where my 10$ monthly wage goes.

I have noticed a few clever county jails and prisons that are more and more hiring outside contractors to do the food, trash, even the laundry and sweeping of the buildings and grounds. To explain why that is a tremendous waste of money, most inmates want to work if nothing else but to chop up the lengths of boredom, but also most of us will work for pennies or a little extra food. To hire outside contractors is to pay 20-30X more for someone to sweep a floor than an inmate. This is just one of many ways the system is bleeding the taxpayers dry.

There are also illicit jobs. I say "illicit" because technically to take any goods or services in exchange for goods or services is "trading and bartering" and a write up and can get you thrown in the hole at the least. Sometimes, they can give you racketeering charges!

These jobs include but are not limited to: house cook, house cleaner, tattooist, artist, launderer, sewer... one who sews, drug dealer, vintner, prostitute... just to name a few.

7. How does the prison commissary work?

(Song answer)

Either via work or people on the outside sending money via western union, we can have money on our accounts. The prison commissary has a list of various food and hygiene items, and we fill out a "wish list"(they’re often out of stock because no one among the staff cares if they sell or not) and get it the next week or so.

(Long answer)

The markup on items is ridiculous and extortionate, but it’s not exactly like we can shop somewhere else. A Ramen noodle square pack goes for about 40 cents. I’ve been in for about 11 years, but last I was out Ramen was practically free. What changed? Prison privateers, that’s what!

8. What type of medical care do prisoners receive?

(Short answer)

In short... none. Subpar for any 3rd world country is the standard. Some places are better than others. mostly they will tell you to drink more water, sleep more (most inmates sleep 12+hrs a day), buy ibuprofen on the store, etc... Their tactic is to deny as much as possible any care in hopes that the inmate gets out or transferred and becomes someone else's problem.

(Long answer)

After 3 years of crippling carpal tunnel syndrome, I finally got a surgery for my right hand (i.e., not my dominant hand). That was after filing a lawsuit and fighting my way to see a judge. The prison has a pretty sweet setup where no one can hold them accountable, and an inmate has to "exhaust the prison grievance system" before filing in a court. They run the grievance system, so the people one would be complaining about are the very ones who are seeing the grievance. It took me 3 tries over about 2 years before I just filed suit and, luckily, a judge saw it. The judges are usually sympathetic with us because they know how rotten the prisons are. All over the news, there are stories about the injustice and inhumanity of the prison medical systems. this is in SEVERAL state and federal prisons.

I had a tooth ripped out of my head and told to buy my own pain meds. Next week!

Their tried-and-true method to save money (not help people) is to deny all care and settle out of court for those who are patient enough to fight for years. They still end up in the positive.

Also, they employ several full time and part time "medical professionals"(playing fast and loose with that word. this is not where one aims to work; this is where one ends up) using up all the budget and leaving nothing to actually treat us. i.e., job mill.

9. Why is respect so important within the prison environment?

(Short answer)

It’s probably less important than people out of prison.

(Long answer)

People are really inconsiderate here and all from different walks of life and cultures. Not much respect at all. There is a lot of fear, maybe that is what you’re getting at. People may be afraid to sing at the top of their lungs at midnight, but that only comes after a beating or threats from people who are trying to sleep. This comes up A LOT. I wouldn’t call that respect, its fear.

It is my belief that there are 2 basic reasons people end up in prison and one of them is lack of consideration for others. All the way to a lack of consideration for the laws of their neighbors and cities. That is a big topic to bring up here.

10. What is protective custody?

(Short answer)

A lot of prisons don’t have this, actually. People can "check in" which means they go to the cop and tell them they fear for their lives and the cops take them away, often to the hole. Whether a PC yard is better or safer, I couldn’t tell you.

(Long answer)

Checking in is considered a very dishonorable move. Often it is people with bad charges (sex offenses, rats, etc..) who know or find out that most people in prison will attack them people if found out. But there are also people who run up drug debts or gambling debts and can’t pay them. I’m also sure there are people who are just afraid. There is kind of a freak out a lot of the old timers do to guys first coming in and I’m sure that makes a lot of people check in, even though they haven’t done anything wrong in the prison code.

Most prisons have gangs. Gangs tend to fight other gangs, as I’m sure you know. So, the PC yards in many places are just the OTHER gangs' yards. This is why I doubt it is any safer than a regular yard. I don’t know though.

11. What are the consequences of breaking prison rules?

I assume we’re talking about the institution’s rules, not the inmates. They are myriad and diametrically opposed. I’ll get into that.

Generally, if you break the rules you go to the hole. You know the old adage about "if the only tool you have is a hammer, all your problems look like nails"? They have one tool, and they use it liberally. The hole. They also put you in the hole if you are awaiting a verdict whether you are guilty or not. Also, if you check in. Also, if you try to commit suicide. Also, if you’re transferring. OR if you refuse to cell in with someone because you don’t get along. It’s pretty much their solution for everything.

There are also "sanctions" the disciplinary staff can level on you like taking your commissary, taking "privileges" like phone calls and/or emails to family, taking your job, etc...

12)What is Administrative Segregation?

Sounds like a disciplinary measure. Fancied up way to say, "the hole". They don’t call it the hole and they don’t "lock us down", they have all sorts of euphemisms to make it sound more official than the torment it really is.

They don’t say Administrative Segregation in the feds, they call it Secured Housing Unit or SHU for short. Sounds better than "place where they starve you" or "inhuman terrorizing" right?

If you have other questions, or questions about these answers, just leave them in the comments and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.