I was listening to the news this morning and they were talking about former Illinois Governor George Ryan starting his prison term of 6 ½ years for racketeering and fraud. They said that he will have an account that he can spend up to $300 per month on items from the vending machines and that he can bring his wedding ring (as long as it doesn’t have any stones).
I was wondering though how he’ll pass the time every day. I know they have assigned jobs and scheduled activities besides meals. But what else can he do? It’s got to be boring as all hell.
I’m sure that somewhere within our august members there are one or two who have spent some time in the clink and I’m not talking about getting tossed in the drunk tank because you pissed on a police horse at Mardi Gras. I mean spending a month or more behind bars.
You don’t have to say what your crime was but I would like to know how long you were in (you can be vague and say, “Over 6 months,” if you wish), security level (minimum, medium or max), state or federal and what you did to pass the time. Did you read? Take classes? Learn a skill? Play D&D? Personally I like the image of a bunch of hardened criminals sitting around with character sheets, rolling d20’s.
So, is anyone willing to answer? Thanks for your info.
I asked a related question once and got some good responses. I doubt he is going into a maximum security prison however so the lower levels will have more options. Martha Stewart should devote an issue of Living to making prison life as festive and stylish as can be. It would make for good pulp fiction if former Governor George Ryan was brutalized by former death row inmates that he pardoned from death row.
You work a few hours most days (if you don’t have any better job you sweep and mop the floors). You eat your meals. You sleep. You take a shower. You can watch TV. You can go to the yard and lift weights or play basketball or handball. You can play cards. You can read. You can go to the law library and work on your appeal. You can go to religious services or meetings. You can join an organization. You can cook a meal. You can call your family or friends on the phone. You can write letters. You can do crossword puzzles. You can play scrabble.
Someone recently told me, “Never play spades with anyone who’s been in prison or the military.” Based on that, I’d say that card games are very popular.
Shagnasty, Little Nemo, Qadgop the Mercotan, thank you for the info. The other thread was informative about life in a max environment.
Nemo, how often can you use the phones? You mention cooking so do they grant you kitchen time (I suppose under close supervision)?
How hard is it for the prisoners who committed non-violent crimes to be surrounded by more violent ones? Say, someone who has multiple convictions for fraud, embezzlement, etc. in a place where they might run across someone busted for assault or sexual offense. Would they be separated from those people or would they have to interact with them?
Just as an FYI, I don’t know anyone personally who is/has been in prison. A FOAF is on his 4th year of a 5 year sentence in a federal prison for killing endangered wildlife (yeah, he is a real POS) and everyone has written him off so there is no one I could ask these questions of.
[Slight Hijack] I always found it funny that one way to transport contraband in prison was to "Keister" it. Couldn’t cold hard criminals find a more manly word than "Keister" to describe what they were doing. Have you ever had to surgically remove any items from inmates that had been misaligned in their "Keister"??
My girlfriend did about a month in jail. Its a long story I’ll share if anyone is interested, but basicly she commiteed a very minor infraction and then was careless about how she dealt with the legal system.
There were no jobs for persons staying less than several monthes, she would have actualy prefered to work. She stayed in a large barracks style room, not a cell. Bascily their routine was wake up and have breakfast. They were then sent one at a time to shower. Then lunch. Then dinner. When not bathing or eating they had to stay on or very near their cots. Some women played cards. Others chatted constantly about nothing. They were quite ingenious at making things out of the few items they were allowed to have; oragami roses from toliet paper, tampons from maxi pads, etc. Letters from the outside were read and reread. Most women got very few letters.
There was a small collection of books in her baracks that she spent most of her time reading. They had all either been donated to the prison or left behind by other inmates. Most of the donated books were from church groups and highly relegious in theme. Most of those brought in by inmates were graphic descriptions of sex that were supposed to be romance novels.
It was horribly boring. It was probably the worst part for her. Most of the women she encountered were in for parole violations, drugs were the most common underlying charge. There were a few violent criminals mixed in who were being held temporarily until there was room elsewhere. She met one very young women who had murdered her baby because it wouldn’t stop crying.
I’d be happy to give more information or ask her additonal quesitons if anyone likes.
The phones are turned on at 6:00 am and turned off at 11:00 pm. You can use them anytime between these two times. They’re all collect calls only (and the phone company jacks the price up to outrageous levels) and you have to wait until a phone’s available. Which can be an annoyance if the guy in front of you is making a five hour call.
You can’t let anybody who wants to go into the kitchen because if you do you’ll quickly run out of food. Not to mention cooking utensils. So most guys cook in their housing unit. They have a multi-burner range and some pots and pans.
We seperate people in different security levels. It’s not just by how violent their crimes were though. A guy who murdered his wife may never commit another act of violence in his life so we can put him in with the embezzlers and such.
As did Hitler. So it’s an option if you have the inclination.
Don’t forget the time-honored activity of talking shit to the other prisoners about what a bad-ass you were before you went in, and what a bad-ass you’ll be again after you get out.
Why yes I am but I am incredibly cunning and hopelessly charming so I don’t know what prison is like on the inside. Even if the cops are ever lucky enough to catch me, I know the jury won’t convict.
One of my best childhood friends ended up killing a man execution style beside the road after he followed him to take his gambling winnings. He was likely a serial killer by that time but that proved inconclusive. He was up for the death penalty but his father made up this complicated alibi and stuck to it during the trial so he ended up with life in prison without parole in Angola. Speaking of which, Angola has one of the best rodeos around because it is the one time of year that the inmates can show how tough they are to their familes in person.
