Did they pay you to do labor?

Also if you don't mind me asking, what were you charged with? (no biggie if you don't want to mention it)

No, you receive nothing at all for labor, no good time, no money, not even an extra sandwich at lunch.

The charge I was there for was Burglary of a Building.

EDIT- Good time means you get out earlier, basically time off for good behavior.

EDIT #2- Also, there was no getting out early for good behavior. If you were sentenced to 2 years you did exactly 2 years no matter what.

Damn I thought they paid somewhat. granted I think it was pennies an hour and went in to your funds for commissary.

Nope, not in Texas. If they would have paid me I would have at least considered participating.

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My wife is a CJ major as well, and I have known some very awesome cops who should be very proud of what they do. I'm certainly not one of those people that hates entire groups of people based on the actions of a few, or even the majority. Judgments must be made on the individual.

I imagine I would have had a very bad time if I had ever found myself in Arapio's jail. I don't comply well and he doesn't seem like he would like that.

Well good to know, some are not as opened minded. I mentioned I was friends with current police officers before and that was not liked. Oh well, they are good friends to have and I know they are not abusing their power. Just collecting a pay check (and a few who think they can make a difference)

But yeah, even if you had no problems complying his jail would still be no good. The only thing I sorta of agree with/find funny is the hardcore offenders have to wear pink and their cells are pink.

How were the conditions of the facility?

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that there is no air conditioning and it's in Texas. Basically you are housed in these huge warehouse like structures made out of sheet metal, so it's hot as fuck.

Fuck all that noise.

I agree.

Were you in a open dorm where prisoners didn't have individual cells? Did shit go down at night during lights out?

Did you ever end up in the hole?

How many hours of work a day did you perform?

How much money went into commissary for the work?

Did you have any freedoms? I've heard of some farm prisons allowing prisoners to leave the facility for work related purposes.

-Yes, it was an open 52 man dorm. Along 3 of the walls were the bunks divided into groups of 4 and along the 4th wall was the toilets and showers. Lots of shit went down after lights out.

EDIT- To be specific, only medium security was 52- man dorms. M2 and Max were much smaller.

-Yes, I went to the hole quite often.

-I think the jobs were divided into 8 hour days, but to be honest I quit working within a few months of being there. When I first got there they put me in the fields but I refused after a few days. I would have gone to maximum security pretty quick over it but I happened to get put on a medication that had a sunlight restriction so it worked out. I then got place in the kitchen but got kicked out of there for stealing a cake. Then I was made an SSI, but I ended up going to max security after a few weeks so I couldn't work after that. I was actually in max during the attacks on 9/11 and didn't even learn of the attacks until almost 2 weeks after they happened.

-None, there is no pay at all for work.

-Minimum security (called low-risk) left the farm for work every day. They were the greenskeepers for a local golf course. They were also the ones who brought in most of the contraband for the unit, mostly tobacco. I never even came close to low risk status, and it would have been practically impossible for me to achieve anyway so I never tried.

What was the hole like? How long did you usually have to stay in the hole before they let you out?

It was nothing like the "hole" in the movies. Also, I never heard it called the hole. Segregation was on 2 floors in a big building that kind of made a semi-circle. It was bright and it was loud. Probably about 10 feet by 8 feet, with nothing in it but a bed and a toilet/sink. There was no limit to how long you could be in for, the longest stretch I did was about 6 months. Some people, such as "confirmed" gang members never leave, they are permanently in seg.

Was it air conditioned? I've heard of pens keeping the temp low in order to keep the inmates lethargic.

No, the dorms were not air conditioned and would often get well over 100 degrees. There were areas that were air conditioned though and would be used as punishment in winter. I got to find out about that the hard way.

So, a private run prison? When you got out, how much, if any, did you owe them?

None, when you got out you didn't owe anything.

Did you have classes that you had to take or classes that were offered to you?

For anyone ever convicted of a drug charge there was a program you were required to take your last 6 months if you were medium custody, but it was a very bad thing. People would often catch cases and go up in classification just to avoid it.

TDCJ has it's own school district, people without a diploma or GED are required to go if they are medium custody. There was also a woodworking class or something like that that was supposed to serve as job training.

What would be your advice, if any, to not land in prison?

Comply.

So, burgling a building is never a good idea.

What would be your advice for someone, such as your former self, ending up in prison?

First, I feel like I should say that I was charged with Burglary of a Building, I never said I did it. I did commit a crime, but what I committed was vandalism.

As far as advice to someone going to prison my advice would be don't join a gang. As far as the advice you always hear such as don't back down from a fight or something like that, I'm pretty sure that type of advice is pretty pointless. You're true nature will come out, either you'll make it or you won't. I saw some seriously bad shit come to those who were weak. So my advice would be don't be that guy but the reality is you either are or you aren't and you're not going to know which one you are until it happens.

Oh and also, always wear shoes in the shower.

That's some harsh time for Vandalism!

Don't join a gang.

Wear shoes in the shower.

Did they give you stuff to read in Solitary?

No, but you could receive books from the outside as long as someone purchased it and had the publisher send it to you directly. But if you were in solitary you couldn't have any personal property, so no reading in there. I have always loved to read and was introduced to A Song of Ice and Fire by an inmate there, so I read the first 2 or 3 while I was there. And a guy in a seg cell next to me had all of Tools lyrics printed out so I got to read that as well. That was about all the reading I got to do other than the bible and Quran.

How did you read Tool lyrics, the Bible or Qur'an in Solitary if you were not allowed to have these items?

The Tool lyrics my neighbor in seg had, they had been mailed to him. You are allowed mail in seg, and you are allowed religious materials no matter what.

Tool and Perfect Circle!

Can you describe what you experienced learning about 9/11 after the fact?

I was in maximum security when 9/11 happened and we had been on our worst behavior for a long while. Normally there was a TV in the day room we could watch once a day, but because of how crazy it had been we were locked in our "houses" (6-8 man cells) for a month or so. The guards really stayed out of our area, other than just walking down the walkway for count occasionally. There were never pleasant conversations with these particular guards, but they did turn on the Cowboys game a couple weeks after 9/11 and that's how we found out about the attacks.

Do you recall how it hit you on a personal, societal, spiritual level?

Yes, definitely. It fucked me up. I was a good person before I went, when I came out I wasn't anymore. And I stayed that way for about 10 years. I'm just now starting to get back to being the person I always was. Also, the fact that now it's pretty much impossible to get a good job sucks. Once you are a felon you are always a felon, and the stigma that goes with it can be heavy.

It's tough, most certainly but doable! Get back to the original you, and trust you always!

Damned, if I've not met you I met your twinner!

What was a typical day like, morning to night for you (and/or the other prisoners there)?

In Medium(regular) custody- You get up around 5:30 for necessities(laundry). Then you go back to your dorm for about half an hour and then breakfast. You are supposed to have 20 minutes to eat, but what you actually get is 5. In the winter you can wear your jacket and when they put the pancakes on your tray you put them in your pocket and the inmates will play dumb and give you more. Eat. Rarely any fighting in chow, as it's a major case in the chow hall. Normally it's a minor case, which doesn't mean shit. Then you go back to the dorm, and soon after turn out for work or classes. There is also rec Then lunch. Food sucks, really fucking bad. Back to dorm and then another rec. Our unit had weights, I believe we were one of the last in Texas to have them. Side note, my dorm also had dividers in the bathroom between the toilets and showers for my first few months, but the guards found out we were using the brackets as wrenches to get into the electrical sockets and took them all. Then supper and rec again and then lights out. And then fights.

Damn. That sounds... shitty. And not very "correctional".

Prison does nothing whatsoever to correct anything, if anything it makes people become the worst they possibly can. They say 80 something percent of people who go to prison go back and I don't doubt it. That's what it's designed to do.

was there elevated prison violence?

It was definitely violent, though not as bad as TV makes it out to be. Or I guess you could say it can be that bad, but it's not all the time. There were only maybe 3 full out riots while I was there in my dorm. Fighting was very common and could happen anywhere at anytime, though it was usually in the dorms and scheduled.

What would happen if you were to just flat out refuse to work

That's actually what I did. You get wrote up, it's a minor case. Once you get a certain number of minor cases, it becomes a major case, then the process starts over. Once you have a certain amount of major cases you go up a security level. Eventually when it's all said and done you wind up in maximum security.

How are these legal....? >_< So sorry you had to go though that twisted system

Nope, not in Texas. If they would have paid me I would have at least considered participating.

Prison does nothing whatsoever to correct anything, if anything it makes people become the worst they possibly can. They say 80 something percent of people who go to prison go back and I don't doubt it. That's what it's designed to do.