Could you survive Jail?

[LSN80]

This particular subject topic came to me as I was reviewing threads, and caught a comment from Sally regarding Paris Hilton. Apparently, her release from prison some time ago(Paris, not Sally's)was expedited due to her 'inability' to handle jail,and her consistent crying . While I'm sure overcrowding also had a hand in it, I wonder nonetheless what may have happened if it was you or me. Would we have been forced to serve longer? It's a question I can't answer.

Nonetheless, I'm not here to talk about Paris Hilton, or any other celebrity that may have gotten off easy from a jail sentence. One of my biggest fears in life has always been going to jail, and is it hard to understand why? We've all heard the horror stories of how prisoners are treated, be it from first-hand account, personal experience, or what we've read in books. Further, studies have shown that jail has no impact on the amount of crime that occurs, rather, it's the fear of getting caught. But as we most know, there are those in prison with little to nothing to lose because they are lifers. As a result, jail itself in the American society is no deterrent for violent nor non-violent crime, alike, meaning a small crime could land one in the same place as the worst offenders known.. I've never engaged in any behavior myself that could land me in jail, with the exception of failing to pay a speeding ticket because it simply skipped my memory. Having a constable alone contact me was enough for me to write a check that day, and never look back. I have a healthy enough fear of jail that even the thought of engaging in such behavior is a massive deterrent for me. Have I thought of it, or been tempted. Haven't we all? Even if I didn't live by a certain moral code, that fear would still undoubtably prevail.

Through odd circumstances, I became friends a few years back with a D level actor(and that's pushing it)who lives in my hometown. He's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, but unfortunately, he's got problems with both heroin and cocaine. These problems have landed him in jail on two occasions, and his description alone of jail is quite healthy in scaring me from engaging in illegal behavior. By his description, the pressure to join gangs was enormous, as was the pressure to do drugs, the very thing that landded him there. While he's quite the athiest today, he nevertheless 'found God' in prison, which placed him essentially with a group of like-minded folk who encouraged him to do the right thing. Further, for the most part, they protected him as well, their own gang itself. Nonetheless, he related the horrors of being beaten early in his incarceration, simply for being pretty.

At 6'2 220, I'm a big guy who feels fairly confident in most situations, and is not easily intimidated. I also believe in God, so joining a group of supposed like minded individuals would be of no issue to me. But when it comes down to it, I have to admit one thing....

I don't know that I could survive prison for a week.

In the past, it was something that crossed my mind often, though I'm not sure why. The idea of being locked away in a small space with a roommate terrifies me, regardless of his reason for being there. I can say I'd live in constant fear of said person, and those around me as well. There's only so much one can do in such a confined space, and my anticipation would be of things going poorly with the first thug I met, regardless of my actions toward him. I'm (mostly) sound mentally, but my fear alone, having never been there, tells me I wouldn't do well emotionally either. I can picture the helpless feeling of confinement, and it alone is enough to put me in a state of panic. I've read that those who show emotion and vulnerability make themselves easy targets, but that's simply who I am. I could, despite my size, see myself becoming a target as a result. It's not something I consider often, but when I do, I don't believe I could make it. I could put on a facade for a time, but I'm not sure I could make it last. Considering this, I've come to a simple revelation:

Despite my size and (mostly) mental toughness, I don't believe I could survive jail. What would I do in such a situation as an "escape"?...... I don't plan on finding out.

Could you survive a jail sentence? Why or why not? What would be your biggest obstacles for doing so?

Does the fear of jail keep you from doing things you otherwise would?

If anyone has been to jail, be it a week or a year, how did you survive?Could you do it again and keep your sanity?

Any other thoughts or discussion regarding this are welcome.

 

[Slash-LN]

I've thought of the very same thing. I think it's a combination of my oldest brother being in and out of juvenile detention centers and jails his whole life and because I watch too many of those show like Lockup Raw and stuff.

Could you survive a jail sentence? Why or why not? What would be your biggest obstacles for doing so?

I'm not ashamed to say I couldn't handle it. The confined space, the constant threat that you could be beaten up, sexually assaulted or even killed. I'm schizophrenic and already have issues with paranoia and anxiety as it is. Adding that intense level to it I doubt I'd make it. I'm not a small guy by any means either. I'm about 6 feet tall and around 215 lbs but still in that situation I would probably not survive.

Also the boredom and tediousness I think would get to me. I've been to two rehab facilities and a psych ward and I hated it. Those are places I never want to go back to. It's a similar situation only without the threat of violence and you don't have to join gangs or do drugs. You're constantly monitored, you're told when to eat and when to get up. You're on their schedule. There isn't much to do and if you're around someone you don't like you just have to suck it up and deal with it. Everyone kind of breaks of into their own little groups and even though there isn't supposed to be there are different levels of hierarchy. You are only allowed visitors at certain times and they can take that away from you if they want. They can take anything away from you if they want. If you play by their rules you can get out quicker.

Does the fear of jail keep you from doing things you otherwise would?

Yes and no. I used to have a really bad temper and it was worse when I was drinking heavily and abusing pills. It also didn't help that I thought I was invincible. Once I reached a certain level of anger I really didn't care what happened. I wasn't thinking clearly and when I was intoxicated the thought process went away almost instantly. I'm lucky to have awesome friends that can be my filter. If they say I'm overreacting to something I usually accept that and calm down. So like getting into fights and stuff would subside.

Now being sober and kind of mellowed out I think things through. For example my mom's neighbor threatened her and she told me about it. I was ready to go there and fight him but I took some time to calm down and let her deal with it her way which was calling the cops on him. Odds are if I had gone to his house and got in a fight with him I would have gone to jail and I knew I didn't want that.

Now being a little older and a little more mature I know the things that would be worth going to jail or prison over. Pretty much it comes down to someone harming/killing my family or close friends or someone sexually abusing any of my nieces or nephews.

I don't think anything else is really worth it.

 

[Mustang Sally]

You're constantly monitored, you're told when to eat and when to get up. You're on their schedule.

That's the biggest factor, larger perhaps even than the fear of violence while behind bars. Our personal freedom is the most precious thing we have....yet, we don't think of it until it's taken away from us. That we are free to go wherever we want and do (within the law) just about anything is something that doesn't enter our thinking until we don't have those privileges anymore. I would think that even if this is pointed out to some folks, they couldn't conceive of it, and therefore dismiss it. ("Joe, if you keep doing what you're doing, they're gonna throw you in jail and you'll do only what they want.") Having not served jail time before, Joe doesn't see the possibilities.....and therefore, can't fathom the implications.

Could I handle a jail sentence? I suppose it would depend on how long they gave me. On the surface, I would think I could survive a month, provided the bull dykes leave me alone. Take it one day at a time, as long as there aren't too many days.

But, I might be absolutely wrong, because having my freedom taken away isn't something I can understand. Maybe after one day, I'd be screaming as loud as Paris Hilton to be set free. The difference is, I doubt I'd rate the same privileges as her.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Could you survive a jail sentence? Why or why not? What would be your biggest obstacles for doing so?

I believe I could survive if I had to. Confinement is something I've done before and for long periods of time. I've spent literally weeks in confined areas with little to no people around me with not even basic cable to keep you entertained so in that aspect I would be fine. In jail I can at least get a book to read or a notebook to write in.

Being on a fixed schedule would definitely mess with me, probably more than anything else. I hate fixed schedules and having to do a specific schedule every day for a decent to long period of time would be incredibly hard on me, I'm sure I could get used to it and deal with it if I had to but if there was one thing that would hurt me it would definitely be that.

Oddly enough the fear of being abused/killed really isn't much of a worry for me. Don't get me wrong, I doubt I could take too many people in a prison as fighting is only something I've ever done when necessary (so maybe 3-4 fights in my lifetime) but at the same time getting out of confrontation and befriending people in jail is something I could do to at least keep me protected.

Guaranteeing I could live a full jail sentence is something I can't do but I have that survivalist mentality of any means necessary and considering the stuff I've been through in life I think its safe to say I at the very least have mental, emotional and physical toughness that could take me a long way in prison at the very least. I may die in prison but I will do what it takes to survive, just hopefully it would be enough.

Does the fear of jail keep you from doing things you otherwise would?

It does in a sense. For example I smoke weed which to my recollection is the only thing I do that would be construed as illegal. If I get caught in Canada the worst that happens is a fine (usually they'll just make you put it out) so the risk of doing it here isn't severe as the attitude towards weed (at least in Alberta and BC) is pretty relaxed. Now in a month I'm going to Mexico for a week and as much as I would like a joint down there I don't see myself doing that because from what I hear they can be a lot harsher down there for doing such a thing and the last thing I need in life is to be spending a chunk of time in Mexican prison therefore I won't do it. In Canada I will push my luck from time to time but put me in another country I go out of my way to abide their laws and customs because you don't know what will happen if you don't, the risk just isn't worth the reward.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Could you survive a jail sentence? Why or why not? What would be your biggest obstacles for doing so?

Considering that I'm a corrections officer, the only way I'd ultimately have anything resembling a chance of survival is if I wasn't part of the general population. For a good number of convicts, especially hardcore thugs, few things compare to the joy of having a C.O. or police officer on in the joint. If I committed a crime, or was at least convicted of committing a crime, and wasn't segregated from gen pop, someone would eventually find some way to get to me. If I wound up surviving the attack, someone would almost certainly keep trying until the job was done. Considering my profession, or former profession, which would take practically no time to become common knowledge among the inmates, managing to literally stay alive would be the biggest obstacle for doing so.

If I was kept in protective custody, I'm safe from other inmates but I'm also stuck in my cell 22-23 hours out of the day. The sheer level of boredom would be a major obstacle. Another would be the lack of contact with other people, the loss of simple interaction and just good old fashioned loneliness. Could I get used to it? I'm sure I could because, generally speaking, what other options would I have apart from suicide? Protective custody isn't always a given for people connected with the justice system if they're sent to prison. Prosecutors can be real dicks when they wanna be, and just because you used to be on the same side doesn't mean they'll cut you any degree of slack.

Does the fear of jail keep you from doing things you otherwise would?

I'd say the VAST majority of people you'd ask this of would answer yes. I've little doubt that some would try to answer in some bullshit macho sort of way and say no but the fact that, again, the VAST majority of people follow the law renders the honesty of such an answer highly questionable. If you were to ask someone why they don't commit crimes, most would answer with simply not wanting to go to jail. Anyone who says that they don't care if they go to jail is either flat out lying his/her ass off or is some deranged freak who probably should be in jail for as long as possible.

The most obvious worry that most anyone with any semblance of normalcy is being surrounded by criminals. There are a couple of inmates housed in my facility that were convicted several years ago of 1st degree rape & murder of an 18 year old girl. They kidnapped her, tortured her, raped her dozens of times themselves & with various objects, killed her eventually, raped her again even after death and buried her body somewhere. They refuse to tell the girl's family where she is. Being incarcerated means having to run the risk of being around people like that. That alone can mess with your head. That's not to suggest that there aren't people who are genuinely decent human beings in jail. Genuinely decent people sometimes make the wrong choices and wind up having to pay for it. Aside from that, you have to deal with the hardship of being separated from your loved ones and essentially not being able to do what you want or go where you want when you feel like it. The loss of personal physical freedom is something that people can often take for granted. Being able to walk down to the store on the corner to buy a six pack or just getting in your car & driving around because you simply want to don't seem like much, but it's huge when the option of being able to do that is taken away from you.

If anyone has been to jail, be it a week or a year, how did you survive? Could you do it again and keep your sanity?

Fortunately, I've never been in jail. As I said earlier, going to jail would be beyond cataclysmic for me because of my job. If I wasn't given protective custody, then I'd ultimately just have to do what I could to be the meanest bastard I could be. As goofy as this might sound, the first thing I'd do is go up to the biggest asshole or assholes I could find and start to beat the crap out of them. Even if they got the best of me and even if I made an enemies before the guards managed to break us up, a message was sent to any other inmate that I wouldn't be an easy mark. Would I make a shank to carry about? Bet your ass I would. I'd make as many of 'em as I could conceal and hide. Is that against the rules? Of course it is but if the alternative to not breaking said rule is getting a special prostate exam from a 300 pound skinhead named Bubba Sue, I'll gladly take a few days in solitary confinement. And just in case you're wondering, the answer's yes. There really is a 300 pound skinhead called Bubba Sue in my facility. If it meant keeping myself alive, I'd beat the crap out of him, his brother, his dad, his mother, grandmother and anybody else who even remotely resembled him. Generally speaking, however, it's the smaller guys who tend to be the biggest threats in my opinion. If you're someone who looks like you can take care of yourself, most of the time, you don't have nearly as much to worry about. If you look like Brock Lesnar, most guys aren't gonna mess with you. If you look more like Sami Zayn, then you might have some problems. As a result, you have to develop a reputation of someone who won't be fucked with, and I mean that in every sense of the word, or you honestly might find yourself being passed around the cell block.

 

[lowandmighty]

I probably should be in jail but I've managed to keep a low profile most of my life.

The question of would I survive it? hell no! I'm quite a handsome man to put it lightly and I would be raped in the showers from day 1, I'd have to wear spiked gloves to keep a hold of that soap. I'm also not in tune with low socioeconomic patterns of behavior even though I've been on a downward spiral the last few years and don't live in my natural environment anymore so I wouldn't fit in with most people in jail and would likely get shived, extorted or blackmailed somehow.

The fear of jail does keep me from doing things I would like to, for example I siphoned off a shit load of cash recently that I would like to have kept because, well basically I wasn't supposed to have it without going into details.
So thats one example of something I did to avoid jail.

 

[Mark28]

Just reading this and thought I would reply as I have been thinking alot about this recently because I am getting sentenced next month. I know I will be going to prison - the only question now is for how long.

This has been hanging over me for a few months and I never thought I would be in this situation which goes to show it can happen to anybody. I know I've done wrong and have to accept the punishment but it's not easy to think that I'll be losing my freedom and stuck in a cell for however long I get.

I think I can look after myself OK but prison isn't a great place to be. I am in England so I don't think our prisons are as bad as the US ones - definitely not the ones we see on TV but they are probably the most severe ones. Gangs don't seem to runs prison as much here and the whole thing about rape doesn't happen here - that's what people say anyway.

The strange thing for me is that I used to work for a security company who had the contract for transporting prisoners from court to prison. That's all done by private companies here. I would go into the court handcuff the prisoner and take them to the prison van and then bring them into the prison and hand them over to the prison officers. Strange to think I will be the one being put in the prison van next month. When I was doing that job I never really thought much about the prisoners and what they were going through. If I'm honest I thought most of them were just scumbags and deserved a hard time. It's very different when it's me in prison and I'm sure some people will think I'm a scumbag too and want me to suffer.

Jack Hammer said about how bad it would be being an ex corrections officer or cop in prison and I think that too. Eventhough I never worked in a prison - only brought people to prison - I hope I can keep other people from knowing that as I know other prisoners probably still wouldn't like it and could make my time harder.

I'm putting on a brave face for my family and with my mates but I am worried about how it is going to be and how I will cope. I know millions of people have to go through this and I'm nothing special but until you are facing it you only realise how important your freedom actually is.

 

[HBsam31]

Could you survive a jail sentence? Why or why not? What would be your biggest obstacles for doing so?

I am thinking it would drive me insane. I can say with certainty that I would cry like a baby in jail. I remember when Mustang Sally talked about losing ones freedom in that paris Hilton thread the OP mentioned, and I agreed with her then, and that is still my reason now. I like to do things. Little things that keep me sane. When I get home from work later at night I like to come home take a shower and go out for a car ride listening to sports talk radio or listen to music. Not being able to do those types of things would drive me crazy. Always having to watch my back is another reason. It would be a constant state of discomfort and scared for me.


Does the fear of jail keep you from doing things you otherwise would?

I am not really the doing things illegal type person, but I had a buddy that was selling drugs pretty heavy and I had to tell him I wouldn't be around him until he stopped doing it. Well that wasn't happening so I lost a friend. I just didn't want to risk being with him if the shit hit the fan.