Prisonisms are the shackles that bind the mind and spirit that can only be unlocked from the inside. They are the prisons of our own making that we have confined ourselves within, often for a life sentence. Only God has the power to commute your sentence. No amount of education or re-education, counseling, or religious programming can set you free.
Tag: Prison Life
Phone Tag
Communication with friends and family in the free world is very important to those serving time in prison.
Pavlovian Response
The bottom line is the bottom line, food costs money. The goal is to feed an inmate for $1 a day and has been for years regardless of inflation. When buying the cheapest food isn’t enough food service management will do whatever it can to contain costs, even cut corners. I suspect that Pavlov’s dogs wouldn’t have salivated in anticipation of a meal at the MDOC.
Over Due
For me one of the real sanity savers in prison was the General Library. Every week I had a call out to the library for a 30-minute vacation.
One in A Million
Whether you believe in fate, karma, luck, or Jesus one thing is certain. Some people will walk out of prison like Daniel from the lion's den or the 3 Hebrew boys from the fiery furnace. And it probably won’t be the ones that you might have picked going in. Everyone responds differently to prison.
Motel 6
Prison and county jails for many are like a rat’s maze that is difficult to navigate, full of many dead ends, and all the exits seem to lead right back in.
Laundry Dis-Service
The standing joke was that laundry came back dirtier than when it was turned in. I proved this once by turning in a brand new white tee shirt and it came back gray. Leaving one to wonder if the laundry had been washed with the rag mop heads.
Keystone Cops
Where ever there are inmates there will be COs watching over them, often times directly, at other times by surveillance camera. At least that is the theory, however the reality of the situation is not so straight forward.
Disarmament
One of the notable aspects of jail/prison is the removal of common items that could potentially be used as a weapon. Everyday items, creature comforts, or even basic hygiene supplies when they end up in the wrong hands can become dangerous.
Aroma Shock Therapy
In a place where the residence will purposely break or sabotage the facility, anything and everything will get flushed down the toilet. In the kitchenette there isn’t a garbage disposal so lots of food waste is poured down the drain. The result is a constant struggle by maintenance to keep the drains flowing, a losing proposition.