Prison sucks. Nobody in the free world wakes up in the morning and says, “Today seems like a good day to go to jail.” But there are people in society who are doing all kinds of things that’ll land them in prison. Some do stuff every day that’ll land them in prison. Only about 5.1% of Americans will be confined in a state or federal prison, yet only a very small percentage of people in America can honestly say they’ve never committed a crime. They say the system is broken, and it wasn’t designed for these people or them people and all that may be true, but this isn’t about that. This is about the finality once you are actually inside the walls of confinement. Because whether you believe the system is broken or not, there are millions of prisoners inside as we speak/read. And this may be helpful to you if you are a first-time offender, a second-time offender, or even a career criminal.
My name is Petey Peterson #B3412* and I’m locked down in a Mississippi prison. I’m a three-time loser, and with my latest bid I received a habitual offender sentencing. I only have one year left on my sentence and I really don’t wanna say how long I’ve been inside so let’s just say I’ve done a loooong time. I started my first bid in the late ’90s and being that it’s the mid 2020s, I’ll be the first to tell you that prison has changed a lot since I first started. Some of the changes have been for the good and some of them have made prison far worse. But this isn’t about that either; this is about surviving once you are locked up in prison.
A lot of people think that only bad people go to prison or only people who break the law go to prison but in reality that’s not necessarily true. Good and bad can be perceived just like beauty is perceived. They say beauty’s in the eye of the beholder. I think it’s the same with good and bad. There are lots of good people in prison and people whom society calls bad. They also say that this race or that race is who comes to prison. But when I see first time offenders, the most common thing I see is Young People. Regardless of what race they are, or if they are labeled good or bad, they are young. I think this is because when people are young, they are still finding their footing in life and the young are more prone to making mistakes. The older you get the wiser you get, right?
Lots of young and newer prisoners look up to older prisoners because they feel they are someone who can “show them the ropes” and that’s understandable because it’s always helpful in life to learn things from someone who has experience. It’s no different from a young paralegal getting a job at a firm learning the ropes from a more experienced lawyer. Inside you’ll hear inmates say things like, “I’ve been in this place 25 years” or “I’ve been locked up 20 years straight” and what fascinates me about this is that most of the time, the speaker says it with his chest poked out like it’s a badge of honor. As if he’s saying it to impress someone or to strike fear into whoever’s listening. But I’ve always thought there’s something kinda off about a grown man with dignity bragging about doing a lot of time inside the penal system. I don’t think that’s something to brag about at all, but like they say, to each his own, and what YOU eat won’t make ME use the toilet.
So with this guide to surviving prison I wanna target the Younger People because we Old Heads are the minority and this should be for the majority.
In the following months, stay tuned for a couple of new rules with each post. These rules can seriously help you once inside. I think these are good rules to follow closely because they can help you make it home to your loved ones in one piece. And they’re not listed in order of importance, because depending on what each individual’s got going on, the urgency of each rule may vary.
1. Hold up for what you do. (Be accountable.)
Lots of people have problems with accountability. I think this is highly important when it comes to surviving because if a person’s not accountable for their actions, that person is gonna always have problems because he/she is gonna blame someone else for their troubles.
Prison example: Just recently an inmate told me that the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department is the only reason he’s locked up and that they wanted him so bad. He failed to mention that he had robbed a couple of people. Most of us know the law states that we can’t go around robbing people. We know that morally. People work hard for what they have. Now if that same guy was to get out today and he hasn’t learned the lesson of accountability, his chances of coming back to prison will be high. Not only that. He may not make it out. Imagine he steals something from another inmate but another inmate sees him and tells on him. He’ll definitely blame the inmate that told on him because he has issues with accountability. And if the inmate he stole from retaliates and harms him, his biggest issue will be with the guy that told on him. He doesn’t think what he did is wrong; he thinks the man telling on him is wrong.
About eight years ago I got into a fight. It was pretty bad because the man I got into a fight with had to get a plate in his head as a result of my boot to his head. This is not something I’m proud of, I’m only stating this as a matter of fact. After the fight, I helped the man to the shower so he could clean himself up. After he cleaned himself up he still looked like he’d been jumped on real bad, and I really just wanted him to stay out of the staff’s way until he healed. Me knowing how the system works, I knew that if they paid attention to him they would interrogate him until he ratted me out. For a couple days he did just that, stayed out the way until one day a guard saw him and made him go to medical. He still didn’t snitch on me, but they had to take him to the hospital. The guards came into the zone saying that whoever did it was lucky because the man didn’t tell on anybody. I thought I was in the clear until the next day when Captain came into the zone and made everybody catch the wall. He wanted to know who assaulted the inmate. He thought it was a group of guys. Nobody came forth because we all thought that the cameras didn’t work. But what we didn’t know was that the Captain knew exactly where all of us hid our contraband in the vent. So the Captain said, “If nobody holds up for this I’m gonna get maintenance to get the key to open the vent!” I then came forth and told him that I was the culprit and I acted alone. He didn’t believe me at first because it was out of character for me to do such a thing. It was a shitty trade-off, and I admit I was basically forced to “hold up.” But it made me know that I should be accountable for my actions.
Hold up for what you do. This is not a prison lesson, it’s a life lesson!
2. GED/Trade. (Educate yourself.)
It’s not easy in the free world or prison to be successful. It takes hard work. Not everyone who is successful has a lengthy education. But these days it gets harder and harder to succeed without some type of education or training. I’ve seen so many people come to prison and do a little bid and get out just like they came in or worse. It’s important to obtain some type of paperwork, certificate, etc. All you’ve got is time, right?
Prison example: It’s well known that many people get a job because of who they know and not what they know, but that’s not always the case. Imagine a case where three inmates apply for the same job, regardless of what job that is. One inmate has some kind of paperwork that shows he’s qualified, such as a GED or certificate and the other two don’t. Who do you think’s gonna get the job?
This literally just happened to me, but in terms of years of experience, not certificates. I applied for a job that required working on the outside grounds of a prison. Actually three of us applied, and all three of us got interviewed the same day. One inmate had little to no experience. I had about 1 to 2 years experience. And the third inmate had over 5 years experience. I thought my interview went very well because the interviewer was smiling, nodding, and saying things like, “You know you’re gonna be working outside!” So I was confident that I would get the job. But to my dismay, the third inmate got the job mainly because of his experience with the position.
The same concept applies in the free world. This is not a prison rule, it’s a life rule. So please go get yourself educated and gain experience.
Stay tuned for more rules. Subscribe to this series if you want to be alerted when they drop.
