Because prisons are full of people who are assholes.
Never drop the soap in the shower. If you do, kick it until you get to a neutral corner.
As someone whose father spent a long time in prison, and he wasn’t a tough guy, more of a lowlife scammer with a drug problem, prison at any level is very survivable. It’s not like wimps go to prison and get killed. But life can be pretty miserable. For him, the best approach was to find fellow non-violent offenders. Didn’t do much for protection, but it also meant he wasn’t alone. Joining a gang is a double edged sword, more protection but also more violence.
Folks are going to form teams for mutual protection. Given that these are generally not smart people, what basis is the easy obvious one for picking team mates?
The most tattoos?
There needs to be a way of telling who is in what gang so each gang can police its own members. Skin color works because it is easily identifiable, can’t be faked, and can’t be changed.
I think it’s just that people’s natural xenophobia is greatly magnified by the violent atmosphere and heightened suspicions.
You might have cause and effect backwards here. Perhaps people who get along with people of other races stay outside and people who can’t end up in prison.
It says something about the US prison system that this has become a running joke - police doing interrogations on TV shows use the lines like “you’re a pretty boy. You’ll have fun in prison” or “we might accidently reveal that you’re in for child molestation” as a means to put pressure on suspects. Violence in US prisons appears to be accepted as normal.
(The Jewish/kosher meal thing was a running joke in “Orange is the New Black”, which is a show about a women’s prison, not a show about the White House.)
Maybe, maybe not. If suicides and accidents are easier and cheaper to process than homicides, I can see where deaths on the inside might not get as thorough a look-see as those on the outside.
I wouldn’t have a hard time convincing anyone I was Jewish. I have an Old Testament first name (Aaron), I’m pretty knowledgeable about the Bible (both sections), and in a pinch I can memorize a few prayers in English and Hebrew. Something to keep in mind should my number ever come up. On the downside, I’d have to swear off pork rinds from the commissary.
It was true a long time before the show went on the air.
Don’t worry about putting too much effort into this. In prison all you have to do to convince somebody you’re Jewish is say “Jewish” when they ask you your religion during the intake interview. There’s not going to a quiz afterwards.
All deaths, even those with obvious natural causes, get an automatic police investigation if they occur in a prison. At least that’s the policy in New York.
Apparently it varies by state.
There’s that, but it’s also the protection thing. My Dad, a Jew, was in a couple of Aryan gangs when he had to be, depending on the prison.
But yeah, generally ignorant views among inmates, including racism, are much higher than in the normal population.
Every death in state custody gets a hell of a lot of scrutiny. Suicides especially. Suicide rates are tracked, and suicide awareness/prevention programs are updated regularly, with staff required to attend the program yearly.
In Wisconsin, anyone who dies in custody gets a complete autopsy, with toxicology testing too. Once the internal reviews are completed and collated, with input from security, medical, psychological and any other concerned disciplines, the whole report is reviewed by another group composed of people both employed by corrections, and outside public interest representatives, to see if the findings are reasonable, the action plans to correct any errors/flaws in the inmate’s handling/processing (which often had absolutely nothing to do with the death) are appropriate, and only then do things get signed off. WITH a timetable for review on whether needed corrections were made. Local police are immediately notified of all deaths, and have access to all results. Along with said police having discretion to investigate to whatever extent they choose. Some sort of report is always made by them too.
Deaths in prison generate a LOT of paperwork and review and oversight, even the expected ones who are in our hospice facility, expiring from their cancers, etc.
As for the OP, I’m down with Little Nemo’s plan for how to survive if I ever get wrongly convicted. I think every corrections employee has considered how they’d handle such a circumstance.
What’s the background of the “never borrow anything, even with the owner’s permission” rule those of you in the know would follow? Is it against prison rules to borrow anything even with permission? Or do other prisoners give you permission, then claim you stole it from them? Something else?
Another such book is Hillary Clinton’s Pen Pal: A Guide to Life and Lingo in Federal Prison by Reinhold Aman, a professor of philology and medieval literature who was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment for threatening his ex-wife. (He admits sending nasty letters to her, but denies that they were criminally threatening.) Aman’s “basic survival techniques” boil down to the following:
[quote=Reinhold Aman]
[ul][li]Above all, you must realize that you’ll be a prisoner like all the others, reduced to just a number, and no better than an illiterate Cuban whore or white trailer trash.[/li][li]Don’t be uppity and your cold, snotty, domineering self. If you are arrogant to other prisoners, you’ll alienate them and create many enemies. This could prove fatal.[/li][li]Always be respectful and polite to other prisoners, regardless of how weird they may act or dress. First, because you don’t know who or what they are, and second, because respect and personal dignity are the most valued possessions left to a prisoner.[/li][li]Never tell another prisoner what to do or give anyone orders. Don’t tell the noisy ones in the law library to be quiet. Prisoners deeply resent being bossed around by another prisoner. Their likely response – even to a polite request – is, “What are you, a fuckin’ cop?”[/li][li]Never stare at another prisoner for more than a second or two. She may be a walking powder keg, set off by an intrusive stare. She may either assault you on the spot or wait until darkness. Even if she doesn’t kill you outright, your face will never look the same again.[/ul][/li][/quote]
Essentially the other prisoners will treat it as if you’ve entered into a contract with them, and will abuse the fuck out of that contract. So Big Bubba might, say, offer you a squirt of his toothpaste when you’re out. Take that toothpaste and now Big Bubba will treat you as if you owe him. May be money, may be other favors.