Ask The Former Prisoner

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

Such a broad question and time continue to change.

The places I have been you can get away without gang membership. As I understand it it is possible to not enter gangs for the most part. You will have to deal with them though.

It is a different world inside. Very.

Some what true in my experience. But remember this. “Homies on the stand” Almost no one goes to trial. I have no numbers but I would be willing to bet cash that over 80% of non murder cases are plead out. It is probably true for the situation he was writing or very serious cases, not for the standard inmate.

I am a healthy individual and rarely needed care in city,county, or state facilities.
In county a medicine cart was wheeled by several times a day. for those on prescription. You could get some over the counter meds just by standing in line. I usually two Advil every day weather i needed it or not. I feel it helped me sleep and made the hard mats more comfortable. Plus they are sweet and taste good.

I will answer from my gernal knowledge of not really any specifics.

City Jail has nothing. IF you are about to die they will take you to the hospital.

County has infirmaries and it is quite hard to see a doctor. You have to fly a kite.

Quick diversion. To speak with anyone except a guard you have to send a form. They will have to take the form and move it along the paper shuffle. This is called “flying a kite.” You are in the hands of the guard they can loose it drop it or not even take it because they are “busy.”

It may be as long as several days before you get to see a doctor or nurse or whatever. I don’t know if their hands or tied or what but care seems to comprise of trauma and life threatening issues. A bad stomach ache or flu will go ignored.

Prison is better because well it is set up for long term housing of inmates. They know you are gonna be there for a long time so they may want to keep form things getting worse. In shorter term housing I think the goal is just to keep you alive till conviction.

On a side note I had an acquaintance that did hard time for a 18 years. He has been out for about ten and he is getting older. He can hardly work anymore and has numerous health issues. He intends on going back to prison in the next couple years. Kinda like a free retirement home. They will take care of him. At least give him the proper meds and some standard care.

Qadgop the Mercotan I don’t know if I answered you question at all.

My first time in jail was probably almost 20 years ago. Mt last time was about 9 years ago.

For those following along there would seem to be a one year discrepancy because I have been sober for 10 years this Friday.

I had some nay problems keeping good on my probation. At one time I started to do really good. I mat have had 6 month clean and the probation officer allowed me to move to Colorado. I started drinking lightly while in Texas. Within 6 months I was doing coke and got a DWI. I knew they were gonna screw me hard and I had lost all hope in my existance. I hitchhiked to Alaska to… Kill myself. Basically drink and overdose myself in the vast Alaskan wilderness. I don’t know what happened but in the middle of a Bush Genuine Draft Tall Boy can I dumped it out and have not had a drink since. I met a wonderful woman. My current wife, and she got pregnant. She was diving up home one day because I still did not have a license. There was a mistaken problem on her license and she was arrested. (This was deemed a mistake and later was apologized to) They let me go but noticed some nervousness on my part I went to to bail out my pregnant wife. That was a couple weeks before my 1 year sober anniversary. The officers did their homework and arrested me when I went to jail. I was extradited to Texas. I was well loved in the town and respected. I had about 30 people in town from cab drivers to business women and men write letters to the Texas Judge. I also had a paid attorney. It took 4 months to got to court in Texas. When I finally got there they resentenced me as a misdemeanors and let me go with an apology. I got back to California were my wife moved while I was incarcerated a week before she had our daughter. We moved back to Alaska about a year later.

I have only been pulled over one time as a driver in the last 11 years. One time about 6 months ago. No ticket or harassment.

62

It has been a long time. Almost 20 years ago. I have never mentioned it in any way to another human.
Here you go. Listen if you wish my best description of what has been locked up in my mind for 20 years.

If I remember correctly this was my first time in county jail. I was at most 18. White as can be with crazy red hair. I was in city jail before but that is nothing.

Upon entry to most county jails you are placed in a holding cell. Just a big cell with a couple benches. You may be siting there for days before getting processed and put into a proper cell. You are then sprayed down with a solution to delice and disinfect you. A quick hose down to rinse you off. Handed jail clothing, a roll of TP, some simple toiletries, bedding and a hard mat. It is hard to carry the mattres and the other property. So upon entering a 30x30 cell with about 35 strange men in it and and armfuls of awkwardness, I was immediately accosted with catcalls and craziness. There were 16 bunks. You all are some of the smartest people on the net. So the math should be easy. Incredable overcrowding, hardy even a place to walk.

I found a place to lay my mat. I am breathing a bit hard at the moment and I am having trouble getting the scene set properly.

Over the course of the next several hours I was approached by several individuals, wanting my possessions. I tried to make a stand and was kicked. I gave away all my stuff. Days and weeks went by and things got worse. Maybe at times made to make coffee and shit for others. Roll their smokes do their laundry. (We were responsible for our own laundry by using a smallish sink.) Resistance I though was futile. I was called bitch and a punk. (I was not the only one there was a another.)
My actions and lack of fighting made others embarrassed for me and actually mad at me. So it got worse. Overt sexual threats started. Detailed rape threats and various assaults were talked about. I was even made to prance around in my underwear before. At one time and this was the word day.I was told to get up on a table and dance in my underwear puled up like a g-string. I gained courage and was beat down. So I did it. It encourages some, excited a few and pissed several others off. I was tackled off the table out of both anger and protection by a few. A wizened older real prisoner waiting to go back to the penitentiary gave me a long talk. He told me about fighting. About not worrying if I loose. He finished up the talk by saying that he would beat me to near death and send me to the infirmary before allowing me to submit myself to such acts again. He set something up. I don’t really know what happened but another weaker inmate tried something on me and it was my time to prove myself. To make a stand. I was gonna get raped soon I knew it. In fact one time on the phone with my parents someone grabbed the phone form me and told them. (This did not provike them to help me with a 500.00 bail)

I fought.

Remember the song by Kenny Rodgers “Coward of the County”
If someone so much as looked at me threateningly I fought. Yea, many times I lost and was beaten badly. But I was no longer an easy target. In fact I became well liked and all my other times in jail went just fine. No on ever took my food or possessions again. I could laugh, read, watch TV ,work out, play cards. Do as I pleased. Do the normal things to pass the day away. Much fear was lost to because I learned how to take a beating. Once you are no longer scared of getting hit you can become a good fighter. Fear is reduced somewhat. Later I learned the best defense is attack.

The things one may do to occupy the day varies. The main depending factor is they type of housing. From school, work, sleeping all day, writing, reading, taking, cards, and dominoes. Someplace’s you are not allowed to sleap at all during the day. others you can sleep for weeks at a time. Real prisons in general population are a complete society. Just behind bars.

That may answer a few questions about what a punk is and what my worst day was like. And why some people join gangs. And why as Kenny put it, “Sometimes you have to fight to be a man.”

63

fifty-six, I think this may be the least pointless thread I’ve ever read on MPSIMS. Thank you.

64

After reading so far, I do have to just wonder “aloud” how this is for you emotionally to answer these questions and talk about such painful issues in detail.

I guess what I’m saying is—take care of yourself and back off if we get overwhelming here.

65

Are the elderly in with the general population? How does the fighting aspect work out if you’re a feeble 80-yr-old?

66

You shared your experience in this area, so yes, you certainly did. Thank you.

It saddens me to see our jails and prisons being used to house so many folks with mental illness and/or drug/alcohol problems. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper and more effective to treat those problems than it is to keep those folks incarcerated.

But our society is at present very punitive, rather than rehabilitative, for those sorts of situations.

67

Hey, criminals are all scumbags who deserve to rot away in pound-me-in-the-ass prison. They deserve it. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. At least that’s the current “reasoning”, right?

fifty-six, I’ve got a question. Of all the institutions you’ve been in, what was the worst? I mean prison, jail, or county lock-up?

At first thought, prison seems like the worst. But thinking about it, a holding cell seems like the worst. From what you’ve described, there are few beds, no medical attention, and mixing with the general population. And this is all before you’ve even been convicted of anything. It really sounds like hell.

68

Just in case you don’t know fifty-six, **Qadgop the Mercotan ** works as a prision doctor. He has posted severl times on the situation from his side of the story. It’s really great to see the other.
I wonder if you think that some sort of ‘socialized health care’ where it’s all paid for by the government would reduce crime.
Another question, where does your user name, fifty-six, come from?

69

Thanks for being the PD apologist so I didn’t have to be.

There has never been a case that I didn’t care about. I had a full scholarship plus stipend to a top-tier law school. I chose this job, and I don’t know a single person here who was a PD because they couldn’t hack it as a “real lawyer.” If anything, we work twice as hard as other attorneys for half the money and a quarter of the thanks, and if anything I see us getting better deals than many paid attorneys because the prosecutors and judges know us and work with us every day, and we know their idiosyncrasies and pet peeves and don’t trigger them. A well-known defense firm around town tells their clients to sit out in the hallway…so they don’t see that a PD in frayed khakis is getting their client the same deal that they just paid $5,000 for.

I would start an “Ask the Public Defender” thread, but I’m not exactly anonymous here.

70

Let me chime in here to say that the way some jurisdictions handle public defenders is shameful. Some jurisdictions do an OK job, but not most. The county next door to me has a pretty good system, they have an office that does nothing but public defense, and it’s not too bad. But my county is horrible. My county gives out contracts to private practice attorneys to do public defender work in a certain court. The contract was for $2000 a month, last I checked. They get that regardless of how much work they do as a public defender. Keep in mind that these people also have a full caseload of their own, paid clients. Who do you think they will spend more time on?

Here is a pretty standard scenario (happens at least once or twice a week)- someone will have had a violation of probation filed, and will be in court for a trial to determine if the violation is true. I will be sitting in the courtroom, and the public defender assigned to the case will come up to me and ask me to point out the person he is representing, as he has never met them. He will then ask me for a copy of the violation paperwork, because he has not even bothered to obtain a copy of the allegations. Then he will go and introduce himself to the client. And this is FIVE MINUTES before he will be going to trial. He has never met the person, talked to them, reviewed a single piece of paper relating to the case. If his client admits the violation, the public defender can be on the golf course in 15 minutes. If the client wants a trial, he could be in court all afternoon, and not get paid a dime for his extra time. Which do you think he will try to make happen?

The judges don’t help matters either, as they ask up front which attorneys have clients that are admitting, and which ones want a trial. Then they get all of the admissions out of the way before they start on the trials. If an attorney is going to trial he will have to sit through maybe 20 admissions before his case is even called. Add to this that judges don’t like attorneys who fight everything, as it clogs up the court, and fighting too many violations might result in the judge not renewing his contract.

Let me add for the sake of Drain Bead and/or any other attorneys: I’m not saying every attorney is like this. In fact, we have some public defenders who do a better job for their clients than paid attorneys do. And I admire those attorneys for doing a good job when they don’t have to, and when they are not paid to do a good job. A lot of the problem is that there is no financial incentive to do a good job as a public defender, and plenty of incentive to do a bad one. Also, my experience is limited to the couple of counties where I have worked, so things may be totally different elsewhere for all I know.

71

Hey fifty-six.

I don’t have many questions that you haven’t already answered personally or in this thread, I just wanted to say something to your character.

I’ve known fifty-six in real life for about 5 years (wow, I didn’t realize it had been that long), he was my boss for multiple years, most recently at the restaurant he owns this past summer. He’s been one of my best friends, even though there is a 15 year age gap between us. He’s probably one of the most together people I know, and has helped me grow as a person tremendously by always being there to talk and give me advice when I need it. So thanks, 56, for always being there, and to everyone else, know this is a really great guy.

72

Did he ever try to pay you in cigarettes? :stuck_out_tongue:

73

Thanks everyone for allowing my sloppiness with the standard English conventions. Even though I own several businesses and I am considered successful by others I never passed the tenth grade. I failed to pay attention after about the 8th grade.
I get by on these boards by short easy to edit posts. The lenght and at times emotional content make it harder for me to find my mistakes. I hope not to soil one of the great places on the net.

Yes, You can learn form older more experienced prisoners. Same as on the outside. You can learn from older bothers and sisters and friends. The good bad and ugly. It depends on your place in life, and your style, hope and potential the info one seeks. I did seek info of a anti-social type. I sometimes still do. The curiosity has never left me. I just don’t act on it any more.

There are plenty of drugs in some prisons.

Sex offenders are in what is called protective custody. They are separated from the general populations. Same with former cops, and well whoever else will likely be killed.

I do enjoy talking with youth about how I turned myself around. Youth are very comfortable around me because I am no nonjudgmental to them. They come to me at the restaurant often and tell me things they don’t tell their best friends. I listen and usually have loads of good things to say. I love the youth and talking about teenagers and my teen years are usually the only thing that will ever make me shed a tear.

I have been all over. Almost every state I have been to the Aleutian Islands, spent three months on at a half-way house on MLK Blvd. in Texas. I was born on the east coast, married a Californian Girl, grew up in Texas and lived in ghettos, been homeless and have had nice houses. I have abused every drug twice, from regularly huffing paint thinners and gasoline to speed, crank,shooting coke and smoking crack, heroine, and doing multiple hits of acid, more often that not many at once. Annihilated my credit and have built it back up to a stellar rating. I have two kids a vary http://margiescholl.com/ . I built the computer and found and repaired the chair I am sitting on. I was super religious for a time and went on a mission in Mexico. I have spoken in tongs. I have had most kinds of sexual experiences and seen the rest. I had had hookers and been in the shady back rooms of adult arcades.
There is goodness in everyone I have ever met and I love to share my experiences with anyone. There is nothing to hide anymore. It is all experience. In fact there is a professional councilor in Anchorage that calls me with regularity seeking advice about her patients.

I do wish to share and speak especially to more teens.

74

That is hilarious.

I think I may have.

75

I really appreciate this thread, too, fifty-six. My son was given a shot at freedom after a felony evading arrest charge. He was given an adjuticated sentence (is that the right term?) but kept failing his drug tests. Stoopit kids! He went to court appointed rehab several times. (I think they were about to send him to that Felony Drug Abuse place you mentioned upthread.) All for pot!

He had to do community service, and he was on probation. Eventually he just took their “deal” and did 6 months in county. (Has anyone mentioned that probation costs money every month when you see your P.O.?) It’s hard to keep a job when you keep getting thrown in jail for a few days for assorted crap, including failed drug tests.

Anyway, you’ve helped me see what he had to put up with in county. Overcrowding, crappy food, and fighting to not get “punked.” I remember seeing him on one visit all banged up, and I told him to stay out of trouble! I guess he was. :eek:

That was about 3 years ago now, and he’s gotten his shit together. He’s a waiter, and recently got promoted to bartender. He pays his bills, too.

It’s a hard row to hoe, and I’m proud for you.

76

By the time I got to this reply I have already written about my last time in jail.

As for what made me quit, clan up my act?

I still to this day do not know.

Maybe it was Alaska, maybe it was a girl, maybe I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired.

It sounds so cliche but I really did have a moment that I was able to see the light at the end of a long tunnel. I got a taste of hope in the middle of a Bush Genuine Draft Tall Boy. I poured the rest out and was done.

I had a lot of work to do to paste all the pieces back together. Including doing a bit more jail time, and many other things that I still battle to this day.

That past life is always there waiting for me. I can go get drunk and get some good drugs tonight and lay it all down. Become a criminal and escape to a different reality. It calls me every day.

Hope keeps me alive and I am not even a believer in hope. I actually hate hope. Hope to me is a last resort feeling. When you don’t have anything else to go on. A last stand. It is like a prayer to the universe. I wish I could with a more solid feeling or action. I wish I had something else to say about it. I don’t.

77

You’re very right in that it varies between jurisdictions. I’m lucky–our county has a PD’s office, we get paid a half-decent salary with great benefits and a guaranteed pension. Our caseloads are insane, but our office has great support staff–six or seven investigators, about ten social workers, and countless interns to run our errands and do busy work. That leaves us more time to focus on the law. I couldn’t imagine doing private defense work and having to deal with finding the time to hire out all the work that my co-workers do for my cases. That frees me to do what I know how to do–practice law and help my clients understand and navigate the system.

78

I do know that he is a prison doctor. I was actually super excited to see him and a few other Doper Idols come to this thread and post.

I don’t think socialized heal care would reduce crime unless it involved legalization of drugs and treatment of additions.
Fifty-Six has been my favorite number for many years.
I could say cool things like:
It is the atomic number of barium or
56 is the sum of the first six triangular numbers (making it a tetrahedral number)
56 is the number of times the word “Yeah” is used in the song lithium by Nirvana.

But to tell you the truth when I was pegged to state my favorite number as a child I chose 56 because I like the sound of it.

I am in the process of changing my favorite number to negative twenty-three.

79

People like to be listened to. And it is very apparent that I have been given the ear of some very respected individuals. I have lurked on these boards for years. I started subscribing for the search function and with hope that one day I would be creative, intelligent or funny enough to bring something positive to these boards. Some of it has been a bit emotional but it is not hard. Bring it on. I will answer to the best of my ability any question anyone may ask. No matter how personal. You all have helped me in many ways with great knowledge, wisdom, insight, and humor on about every subject. I owe you all.

80

56 was my number in high school basketball for a year or two.