The Inside Scoop

The people employed to monitor us and who dictate most of our day activities are called correctional officers (C.O.s). There are normally three in every building. One in the tower and two on the floor. A good C.O will pretty much leave you alone. He won’t give you a hard time over petty things. He will make sure that you get what you are entitled to—like a shower and yard/dayroom free time. If a good C.O. searches your cell, he will respect your stuff by not throwing stuff on the floor or disorganizing everything. Also he won’t confiscate petty things like lines for hanging laundry out to dry. Basically, they will be respectful of the position we are in. We’re already separated from society so other than for security and safety risks, why should they make our lives any harder? For those C.O.s that do make our lives harder, it is seriously hindering people’s chances of rehabilitation. How can you feel confident and optimistic about going back out into society and contributing to civil...

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...

This is just a general idea of what a day of mine might look like--they are by no means constant though. 6:00am – Wake up, get dressed, and make bed. 6:30 – Go to chow and eat SOS or something close. 7:00 – Brush teeth, stretch, and prepare for the day. 8:30 – Go to dayroom, work out, and phone call or shower. 11:00 – Back into cell to eat lunch. 12:30pm – Go to substance abuse/self-help class. 2:30 – Come back and work on college material. 4:30 – Count time! 5:00 – Watch world news. 5:30 – Go to dinner and eat slop or close to it. 6:00 – Come back, brush teeth, and see what’s on TV. 7:00 – Unroll mattress and make bed. 9:00 – Go to sleep unless something really good is on TV until 10:00 10:00 – Bedtime. Time management can be a challenge because you are always at the will of the institution. Sometimes they will pull everyone out of the building, out of nowhere, for a search. Another example is how I have to plan my exercise around when I can get a shower....

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 ...

This week I’m sharing an “assignment” we were given not long ago regarding our feelings/opinion etc. about covid: When I first heard of covid I was in Calipatria State Prison, which is a level 4, so there isn’t a lot of freedom. I was lucky enough to drop points (your points determine what level you go to by how good or bad you are) and be one of the last buses to transport prisoners before covid restrictions came into effect. I found my self on a pretty decent level 3 that was fairly close to where I used to live (and where my family still lives). I was also very lucky that the prison yard I was on barely had a handful of cases throughout the pandemic, so not only did I not get covid, but we never went into full quarantine lockdown like a lot of other prisons did. I was recently able to get vaccinated, so I’m glad for that. It makes me feel much safer. One thing I will always remember is watching covid seep into television—at first it was all over the news, then slowly but surely ...