The Inside Scoop

The relationships an inmate has with people outside of prison or jail makes a big difference on his or her state of mind and outlook on life. There are those who never had anyone to begin with, which is very sad to think about. I can only imagine the hopelessness they must feel. Without anything to lose you’re more likely to make decisions that lead to even worse predicaments. Then there are those who have burned all their bridges. Some gangs intentionally make you prove that they are more important than your family. Other people are having a hard time with drugs. I know a few people who are trying after many years to fix their relationships, but a lot the times their family or friends feel like they’ve given them too many second chances. Last, but not least, are those who never lost their relationships (or they got them back over time). I believe having friends and family to talk to prevents total institutionalization, which can hinder entry back into civilization. You’re more lik...

Life in prison is never a walk in the park, but in the USA no one is to blame but ourselves. This is certainly not the case in third-world countries as well as a few others. If I had to speculate, I’d say that the quality of living in a country is directly related to the quality of living in its prisons. Most of them do not provide opportunities to better oneself. The gangs are given freedom to control what goes on inside and inmates are mistreated by staff. They are notoriously unsanitary, the food is sparse, and the justice system that populates those prisons are usually as corrupt as can be. All in all, I’m very happy I’m not doing time in a different country, even though it can be hard to have our human rights recognized, at least we have a fighting chance here. I would like to say thank you to all of the inmates and advocates who fought to have our rights recognized in the previous years. We are already separated from society—I don’t believe that there is any reason why someone ...

Ever since this pandemic started, all the prisons in the world went to some sort of modified program… among those is my prison (Sierra Conservation Center). A modified program consists of below normal amounts of yard, dayroom, and/or jobs, and self-help groups. We understand that it’s because of Covid-19 and we’ve gotten kinda used to it, but for the past couple months my prison has been going through some sort of bureaucratic bull-crap that doesn’t have anything to do with inmates—but affects inmates. Randomly, throughout the week, multiple correctional officers won’t show up to work and we won’t get yard, or any program at all, and sometimes this happens multiple days in a row. Now, I’m not exactly sure why this is, but I’ve heard a couple of rumors. One is that the union cut a deal so they can take away vacation days whenever they want, just because they feel sick. The other is that nobody wants to work with the new sergeant that took over second-watch. Regardless of all of this,...