Jail... Is it like TV?

[dillyfiend]

Hey everyone... I was doing some reading today and it got me curious... so I thought I would ask to get some different experiences.

Who here has spent a considerable time in jail? Is it like what you see on TV? Do you really have to be all that concerned about male rape and being made into some guys bitch?

I have never been arrested (thank God) and I am hoping I can skate by my last few months without that experience... but it really got me to thinking... the only comparison I have is that show ''Oz'' that used to be on HBO.

Anyone who can shed some light and provide some details on their experience would be greatly appreciated and would definitely eleveate my boredom!

Thanks guys! Much love all.


OH... and one final thing... I don't mean to step on anyone's toes or get too personal or anything... so if this question is too invasive for anyone, please just disregard it... I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable.

[drugsaregood]

Depends on what jail\prison your in...

[I'm-Nod-Addicted]

I've never been in prison and I've only spent 3-days in county jail (had to check in for a long weekend).

Basically all of the blacks played dominoes and dice. And 90% of the Mexicans played chess/checkers. While most of the whites just watched TV.

I stayed in my bed, read books and drank Kool-Aid. It was fucking borrrring!

I saw no fights or rapes.

[irish]

You don't have to worry about rape if you are the one doing the raping.:D Just kidding. I have done the weekend thing too and it was just really boring.

[drugsaregood]

Hahahahaha. Indeed. I've done the extended weekend thing too. It was really boring, and cold. There was no kool-aid, I wish though.

You don't have to worry about rape if you are the one doing the raping.:D Just kidding. I have done the weekend thing too and it was just really boring.

[I'm-Nod-Addicted]

We had an endless supply of Kool-Aid....not sure why.

I decided to fast that weekend and Kool-Aid was the only substance I ingested.

[greenfox]

Uhh... Duck and myself could prob. shed the most light on this.

In order from BEST to WORST:

BEST: Federal lock up (also known as the govn't country clubs)
MEDIUM: LOCAL (depending on what city: rich cities boring but safe, bad cities: uh...)
WORST: STATE and "semi-state" (aka county for long term lock up, like "Lorain County" in ohio)

You are MOST likely to see crazy shit in Maximum's in a state or county pen.

My experience:

City was sweet *(but boring) lots of TV, horrible food (because city isn't meant for long-term so they really don't care what they feed you..)

you actually get MORE priv's if you're x-fered to state or county for long-term. Strange, really.

And most of the WORST shit happens in STATE pens.. the poorer the state, the worse the pen. Ohio is pretty bad, but nothing (I'm sure) when compared to Kentucky or...GOD.. Alabama...

peace.

sig,fik,
-=gf

[drugsaregood]

If im not mistaken, you can smoke only in federal pen's too..

[lunchbox]

jail is boring as shit all the people do is bitch in the holding cells and in your wings you do nothing but play board games like chess or watch local t.v. on a shitty small ass television.
you're not allowed any freedom by your fellow inmates who've been there longer than you let alone the guards i spent a few days in dade-county jail sucked ass.
there's a lot of love from where you come from though and you ride with your people ex. (dcj is separated by the southside and city)
keep to yourself don't fuck with anyone you'll be fine but it is a living hell for sure you're nothing but a lower level animal in there

edit: jail is an experience television cannot depict

[predestyned]

different from county to county and state to state i was locked up in a county jail in alabama a few days it was one of the best jail experiences i have ever had. if you tired of the jail food...lol.. you could simply pick up the phone and call family they could bring anything at any hour. kfc mickey dees. pizza hut you name it. i thought that was unique although i didnt do it ,it would also be a great way to have some goodies brought in!one of the worst was a lil sht hole in gastonia n.c. 6 men in a 3 man cell had to sleep on concrete floor until i could buy a matress from someone oh yea and they would intentually flood the cells several times a week water would be knee deep ! that sucked! so if you intend on commiting crime i suggest coosa co. alabama! good luck! lol

[mikells43]

around here, no its not. all jails are dumps here, i was in one built in 1969 and the fucking doors slamed all. u dont want to go to jail, better yet u dont want to w/d in jail its hell. esp benzo w/d

[dillyfiend]

You don't have to worry about rape if you are the one doing the raping.:D

Ah, hell... that is horrible! LOL... good times though.

See, I thought that it would be like most of you described and be pretty normal... so the stuff that you see on TV is just like the extreme of the extreme then, huh?

[irish]

I know that here in Canada prison rape is almost unheard of. President Bush passed a bill or something a while ago to stop prison rape. I guess the problem must be pretty bad.

[george123]

I spent 11 months in the county jail in San Jose, California...it's really nothing like "Prison Break' or anything like that (but then again this was a county jail, not prison) rapes, inmates tattoing themselves, bribing guards and shit like that just didn't happen. It really felt like a giant warehouse for the area's homeless/other unfortunates, just a collection really poor and really dumb people. I felt really sorry for most of the guys in there, so I ended up buying the whole cell block various goodies from the jail commissary just to brighten their bleak existence, and I let them borrow my Harry Potter books, which a lot of them really got into.

[9177]

County jail is the absolute fucking worst.
Prison ain't too bad, but that depends on what part of the country
you're in.
It wasn't too bad.
But I ain't saying I want to return any time soon, either.
Where I'm at, cigarettes are banned in ALL DOC facilities.
That would suck balls.

[starglazer33]

man it is nothing like t.v. but all together added up i've spent 3 1/2 yrs 1yr str8 twice. 60 days here 30 there some jails really sucked but alltogether i never even heard of rape that shit played out in the 70's and 80's and mostly in prisons and almost always was a payback of some sort its not sexual cuz there's plenty of guys there who'll wanna get fucked and all that. since the aids thing most the rape stuff stopped. 2 things : 1. stay away from sharking(selling goods for profit n gambling)
2. stay away from the queers someone else's bitch(guys get real jealous i guess?)
and you'll have no problem of getting fucked. i thought that way too at first man was i scared!!! then i actually did some time and some vet broke it down to me just like that. i never fucked with anyone and never complained people hate that.if your doin 1 maybe 2 yrs and your bitchin and whining just remember some guy next to you might be starting a 10 bid. good way to get beat down. hell i only seen two fights only got in one.one thing about t.v. and jail/prison i've seen enough t.v.to kill two lifetimes, in jail!

[upstate_007]

Like everyone else is saying, there are all different types of experiences depending on where you end up. I have been locked up in a county jail that was like a summer camp for degenerates. Pool tables, cable TV with HBO, smoking area outside, etc. There are places like the city lockup in NYC that are akin to a level of hell like no other. Rats running around, crooked c.o.'s, bad food if you get any, fights all the time.

Worst experience for me was in a county jail upstate when I was in w/d from a 2 bundle a day habit. The place was nice enough I guess, but the inmates were fucked. First day there I got jumped by a group of guys and stabbed with a pen in my leg. Everybody fought everybody there and the guards did not give a shit. One guy got killed doing his work detail at night on his last day there.

The one thing I never fucked with in jail was drugs. They were always available, but I never wanted to get myself in a position of owing anybody anything or maintaining a habit then having the carpet pulled out from underneath me when the supply person got transfered or just dried out.

Bottom line....... don't go to jail. It can be better than you would think, but it is probably worse than you could imagine. Violence, rape, and all that shit are peripheral. Just moments of action punctuating the crushing boredom, depression and claustrophobia of being locked up.

[aj11]

Did 4 yearz in MO DOC level 4-5 for violent offenders and some of that crazy shit happens. Gurards can be very bridable and visitors are not the only ones bringin drugs into prison I can tell you that. Rape doesn't really happen, because there are sooo many gay inmates that some of them look very lady like. If rape does happen it is a def. power thing, DOminance and respect

[greenfox]

Did 4 yearz in MO DOC level 4-5 for violent offenders and some of that crazy shit happens. Gurards can be very bridable and visitors are not the only ones bringin drugs into prison I can tell you that. Rape doesn't really happen, because there are sooo many gay inmates that some of them look very lady like. If rape does happen it is a def. power thing, DOminance and respect

You got two types:

the "convicts"
and the "inmates"

The "convicts" are usually your punks, always looking for trouble.

Your "inmates" are your older gents, they are sometimes (but not always) lifers, and they know the deal.

In my LIMITED prison experience, I go with the in's any day. more respect, less bullshit.

Its all about respect.

I learned a lot from a guy with a name like "Spider" - (craziest but wisest dude I ever met- when HE got out, he "scared" a lot of my friends by just being present!)

What a trip.

peace

sig,fik,
-=gf

[TokinDerrick]

I spent 29 days in county jail just recently for possession of controlled substance.

from what I understand it depends on which block you're in. I happened to be in an easy going block and I only saw 2 fights, which were pointless pretty much. but I was told that in misdameanor theres more fights than in the felony block. also, I heard no stories of rape or anything. also, we had a single shower.

[greenfox]

they actually said the same thing on some show on MSNBC.

I don't watch tv- just the internet.

But I guess they would if they were reporting accurate shit.

peace.

[predestyned]

i was once doing 11/29 in middle tenn. pretty good jail in that you could smoke but no t.v. but that was a nice trade i think. i was in a dorm like cellblock 30 + prisoners. it was cool because they always put the weekenders in our block and they would always suitcase weed ,xanaxs, etc.. weekends were party time.any way here is the funny sht.

we had this lil game we played with some of the weekenders(the ones who didnt bring in anything)i have this deep, barotone, authorative type voice so i was chosen for this part. the showers were right beside the entrance and we had up sheets for privacy. so on friday evening we would collectively chose a victim and an appointed guy would strike up a conversation with this poor sap. get his name. then he would pass it along to me. now when the lights went out at 10 the fun would begin. i would grab my hard plastic jail issue glass and walk behind the curtain in the corner next to the entrance and i would speak loudly into this glass at an angle and it would reverberate throughout the cell block .

it sounded very much like a loud speaker. anyway i would say this guys name and tell him to step up to the camera/microphone/speaker. their wasnt one there but the other inmates would point him in the general direction. i would say something like i was searching through his personel belongings and i had discovered a white powdery substance believed to be amphetamine. he would contest rigorously to no avail . i would say we needed to do a "strip search

" and he needed to take of all clothing and push it through the bars into the hallway. then come back to the spot and spread his ass for the camera. then i would say i needed him to do jumping jacks just in case he had something up his rectum it would fall out..lmao then i may have him sing mary had a little lamb while he was doing this. or his best michael jackson inpersonation.

i swear it is absolutely amazing how stupid some people can be. well the jailer was in on it and a lot of times it may have been someone giving him a hard time during "booking" etc. so when he was about to bring them in he would always say "i got one for ya". lol so say around 1030 when this dumbass was about to drop from exhaustion the jailer would walk around and switch on the lights then he would come around the corner and ask the kid why and the hell did he take off his clothes and throw them through the bars. and of course the guy would respond "you told me to" lmao this was hilarious the guard would make him go out and walk around and get his clothes sometimes there would be a female guard assisting him. this was funny as hell but sometimes i felt really bad. alot of them would never be the same they would crawl up into their bunk and try to hide all weekend.

this one kid he really broke down he was crying probably 18-19 yrs. old. i felt really bad for him i walked up to him and told him that he wasnt the first to be "had" there were several before him and let this be a lesson not to come back to jail. hopefully it worked for the good on a lot of them. just a little laughter at others expense from a bunch of bored cons egged on by the jailer. and i also might add said jailer would turn his head to the fact that we were burning down ,hard to hide the scent of marijauna with a piece of toilet paper rubbed with deoderant then set on fire. we pretty much did as we pleased when this guy was on duty! i must say i slept many a friday/sat. night with one eye open worried about getting shanked by the victim. but he was usually so broken down mentally that he was harmless! mean? i know but funny as hell!

[Chicago]

I was actually at Joliet where they film prison break. It was a fuck up but was there. Been to county many many many times, going down to your local police lock up and getting & killing time an't shit.
But yes you go in some ILLINOIS prisons it be worst then oz.
Cook County is 1 of the worst jails in the u.s.
It all so depends what div you in or if you in a deck or a pod.
R u planning on going there?:rolleyes:

I spent 11 months in the county jail in San Jose, California...it's really nothing like "Prison Break' or anything like that (but then again this was a county jail, not prison) rapes, inmates tattoing themselves, bribing guards and shit like that just didn't happen. It really felt like a giant warehouse for the area's homeless/other unfortunates, just a collection really poor and really dumb people. I felt really sorry for most of the guys in there, so I ended up buying the whole cell block various goodies from the jail commissary just to brighten their bleak existence, and I let them borrow my Harry Potter books, which a lot of them really got into.

[mollywopped]

I think you have pretty much gotten the idea, from what everybody has said, everything is pretty much the same everywhere. City/county jails suck because there is nothing to do. Usually the people there are there less than a year, so they don't give you anything to do. Boring, but laid back for the most part. There are always the requisite tough guys, but most people there aren't gonna be there very long so they don't want to fuck around and get more time. State prison is better in the sense that there is more to do and the food is slightly better. It's like going from store brand kibble to Pedigree. There is more action because more people are there for a long time so getting a few months added to your sentence isn't a big deal like it is in county when you have 6 motnhs to serve. There are fights and riots and probably a rape occasionally, although I have never seen one or had anyone talk about one. So there is more action, but there are also more programs, more books, more jobs, just more stuff to do in general. I hear federal pens are even better, but I don't know.

You gotta rememebr that tv is there to entertain you. So if they show a bunch of guys doing push ups and pull ups or playing handball or running, it's not very interesting. Fights and riots are interesting, but they have to film for a long time until they get some ood stuff. That stuff does happen, just not nearly as much as they make it seem like. for the most part, if you just stay with your people(your race), give respect, don't run up debts and don't let yourself get punked, you'll get respect and be fine. Usually when you get there if you just find your people and tell them you're new and have never doen time, they will show you what's up and teach you a thing or two. Just respect them and don't fuck up, which pretty much just means don't be a stupid ass.

[upstate_007]

Predestyned........

That was some funny shit. And I have been on the receiving end of shit like that too.

My first night after getting out of intake and into the block of my first jail stay ever. I made a few friends, watched some tv, ate some shitty food. Night comes around and I decide to take a shower. Well, I was in there for like 2 minutes and my clothes and towel disappear from the shower rod. I thought they just fell. I finish up and look for my clothes and they are not there. I open the curtain and see the group of guys I made friends with on the other side of the block with my shit laughing their asses off. I had to walk across the whole unit naked, wet and shivering. Even at the time I thought it was pretty funny.