How do you survive prison?

Answer 1

The same as any other experience in life. The fact is that prison is not all it is cracked up to be. There are a wide variety of myths that are perpetuated about prisons in the US. They are just that, myths. Keep in mind that there is a grain of truth at the root of every myth; the story begins somewhere. As far as prison, most of that is in the past. There is brutality in prison, but in the US today, most of that is perpetrated by staff members against inmates. Take sexual assault for example. Prison rape is one myth that has survived for some unknown reason, and has become the brunt of far too many jokes. It happens, don't get me wrong. But the statistics do not bear out the emphasis it seems to get when a discussion about incarceration comes up. The US Department of Justice Bureau of Statistics shows that sexual assaults of all types occur only 3 in a 1000; that is for every one thousand inmates, 3 are assaulted in some sexual manner. That could be accosting (requests or demands for sexual favors), to touching or groping, to coerced or forced rape. Keep in mind that this statistic comprises the entire 2.2 million inmate population of the US. So, 3:1000 means that the yearly total for all male andfemale inmates in the US is approximately 6,600. Now, here's the frightening part, of the 6,600 inmates assaulted, 67% of them are victims of staff members; those people charged with keeping the public safe from the criminals they watch and keeping the criminals safe from each other. That's 4422 people. Who keeps the inmates safe from the staff? I realize this may not be the answer you were looking for, so here it is. How do you survive prison? Be invisible. Do your time and let everyone do his time. Don't get involved in politics. Don't gamble, don't borrow, don't buy or sell. Do what everyone else who goes through prison and comes out the other side has done: wait. Wait for the day to begin. Wait for your meals. Wait for yard time. Wait for count time. Wait for mail. Wait for store. Wait for library so you can get more books to make the waiting a little more bearable. And, finally, wait for the day that you can go home. You'll notice at the end there that I did not say, "Wait to be free again." For good reason. Those who have been to prison know they never really were free before, and will certainly never be permitted to be free once they re-enter the world. See, "freedom" is a myth also. Oh, "vanity of vanities..."