Prison 101

Prison rape.  One of the top fears a new prisoner has to deal with. 

People make jokes...."Don't drop the soap in the shower."  But for many it is no laughing matter.  Last week the administration showed a video on this very topic.  There is a rape hotline where inmates can report an assault.  The problem is many times if goes unnoticed. The violated is shamed and on top of that is many times threatened into not telling.

Doing time has changed over the years.  Prison at one time had weight cages where guys could pump iron.  Inmates got huge and put down on the smaller guys.  That's why there are weapons in prison.  So the small guy can go back and stab the big guy wen he falls asleep.

These muscled prisoners soon began to scare guards who tend to be over weight and out of shape.  Instead of hiring in shape male guards, it was easier to remove the weights from the prison.  On the other end of this spectrum is guys coming to prison that resemble Harry Potter.  Guys who can't defend themselves so they have to pay for protection.  This where things get complicated.  Most people have heard of a con-man.  Well, one of those cons is called a two-man con.  Meaning two cons work together to pull the job off.

One example is that someone comes and robs you of all your canteen.  Perhaps they come and take your canteen, then give you a list for another $100 that they say you owe them.  If you Harry Potter then get scared.  You wonder what to do.  You can barely sleep.

They let you ponder this.  Lose some sleep.  You begin to get ate up with fear.  Once they figure your ripe to pick, the second guy comes into your life.  He tells you he hears you were robbed.  Then you learn he's ironically from the same town your from.  All of a sudden your chatting and find you have things in common.   You think you have mad a new friend who cares for you.  He's even going to look out for you.  Nobody will rob you anymore.  You're OK now.

What you did was meet the other side of the two-man con.

Prison is complicated like this.  Before you know it your all wrapped up into someting you never saw coming.  In the old days guys just took your shit.  They robbed you and if you they wanted, raped you.

These days prison still has a few of them left, but for the most part it's full of hustlers and con-men.  Before long, Harry Potter is paying some man $50 a week for protection.  A month later he's giving him a blow job as well.

We call it extortion.  Happens in prison every day.  Before long Harry doesn't even realize he's being violated.  He just accepts this as his life.  Back here we say Harry has been "aired out".  Harry will transfer one day to a different prison.  Instead of get robbed, he just goes and immediately finds what we call a "war daddy"....a man who looks out for him in exchange for canteen and piece of ass. 

The prison rape video was educational, but I think it's time they update it.  People about to enter prison need to be educated on the con-man.  Rule number one.....

Nothing is free in prison.  What seems free, you will pay for later.  

Did you just drop your soap? 

Orientation

I was just enjoying my toilet-bowl seat.  My front-row-seat at the Lakers game. 

Since my release from the box, or confinement, I have been housed in what's called the orientation dorm.  New fellas from off the street, fresh to prison come to this dorm.  Here they go through orientation.  Watching movies about prison life.....How to identify a poisonous spider bite.  What staff infection looks like.  How to try and avoid prison rape.  You know....regular stuff every prisoner should know. 

So the dorm is what's called an open-bay dorm.  A large common area with bunks.  Then a day room area with tables and benches to play games and watch TV in. 

The shower and bathroom area are also open.  Eight toilets sit along one wall.  No dividers and there's about an arms reach from the next stool.  Makes it easier to pass the morning paper or loan toilet-tissue to your neighbor. Though I am not a big fan of being sandwiched between two wet swinging dicks in the shower, I noticed I can now watch TV while I take a dump.  Not only that, but it's basically front row seating. 

Before I went to confinement I was housed in two-man cells.  A door closes on your room and you have privacy from the other jack-asses you live with. 

Now, I find myself in open-bay housing sleeping in a whole room full of really dumb people.  One could even wonder if this is some further form of punishment.  I'm quite comfortable in the box.  Once again, it's two-man cells that I find best for me.  Perhaps they figured the best punishment was to stick me with orientation inmates. 

My mother asked me how I liked the open-bay dorm.  Mom likes to know things. 

There's just no respect between these guys.  Men that have been in prison grow to respect another man's space.  These new guys carry on a conversation right over your head to their home-boy three bunks over.  Yelling through you as if you're not even there.  I usually just put my ear buds in and crank up my music. I can see their lips moving, but can't make out what they're saying. 

Then there's the other group of dudes fresh to prison.  All they can think about is getting all tattooed while they are in.  They get all excited when they see me.  Wanting to talk about tattoos.  Usually, they have none, see how many I have, and think I must be the guy to talk to.  So, I have to explain to them that I have 99 problems and a tattoo is not one of them.  In other words, I let them know D.O.C is all up my ass already and I don't need the added stress of being marked as the tattoo guy.

Yes, I have a lot tats....I tend to get tattoos, but I do not give them.  I draw....with an ink pen.  And then I send my art home.  I get money.  I don't need to draw shit for these guys.  Still...they bug me.  Every time I draw, someone asks.  I have nearly 200 pieces of art on the Judicious Jailbird art gallery.  I don't have any interest in drawing the silly bullshit these guys ask for.

These days I remind myself that once upon a time I was new to prison life.  There was a time I was a gung-ho kid that wanted to get a bunch of tats before I went home.  Now, I'm a heavily tattooed man that just wants to go home.   

Given time these guys will change too.  It's all a joke to them now.  Let them do a few years and see where they're at.  I look around me and realize there are a lot of hard lessons to be learned by the guys around me.  Well....nothing like a front row seat at the school of hard knocks.....