We lock our closets but we can’t lock the bathroom door. In fact, in many prisons there isn’t a bathroom door. The best food you get to eat is vending machine food in the visiting room or gas station food from the commissary. The chow hall food is practically inedible.
Category: Warehouse of Lost Souls
Freedom
Freedom was not granted by the oppressors, rather it was taken by force by the oppressed. Unfortunately, not everyone in the country can celebrate freedom today. Millions of men and women are incarcerated in jails and prisons all across the country.
Walk A Mile in My Shoes – I Dare You
Only in prison is the gift of used athletic shoes considered a blessing, but the alternative was to curse the state shoes with every step you took.
Visitation
The best day in an inmate’s incarceration is the day he is released. The second best is when he receives a visit.
Virtual Reality
When I was in the county jail awaiting sentencing, everyone told me that prison time was what I wanted because the conditions were so much better. Once I got to prison I saw what they meant. Jail Sucks! How can this be anything but cruel and unusual punishment? To serve twice as long as anyone sentenced to county jail time under those conditions. Forced to pay more for commissary and phone calls then their prison counterparts. Deprived of contact visits. Forced to endure a near starvation diet and all the other hardships doesn't seem fair and equitable to the treatment received by their prison counterparts.
The Tooth Fairy
Getting dental services in prison is like pulling teeth. It may be more accurate to state that dental services in prison consists of pulling teeth and not much else. The year before I paroled the MDOC changed the policy so that anyone with less than two years in prison didn’t qualify for a teeth cleaning.
The Princess and the Pea
I used to think my college dormitory mattress was bad until I tried to sleep on a prison mattress.
The Ministry of Silly Walks
The British comedy troupe Monty Python made fun of government bureaucrats in a sketch called ‘The Ministry of Silly Walks.’ In it they portrayed a number of characters with striding characteristics each more outrageous than the next. If you spend any amount of time in prison you will quickly come to understand that life is stranger than fiction.
Tether Ball and Chain
In my experience serving parole on GPS tether is a lot like boat ownership. The happiest days are the first and last, and it is an expensive hobby with lots of hidden responsibilities.
1-Ply
Nothing epitomizes the prison experience better than the 1-ply toilet paper that is available for personal hygiene. It is bought in bulk, delivered by the pallet to the housing units but passed out sparingly, used thoughtlessly, and discarded unceremoniously. Toilet paper (TP) is essential and yet taken for granted.