# I just spent 40 years in prison. \[What do states provide to prisoners after leaving prison?} **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2018, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511 "2018-08-30T09:56:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/21 "2018-08-30T15:46:38Z")
> [@szabrocki](#): > > A one way buss ticket to anywhere buss’s run? In New York, you get a bus ticket to any location in the state. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/22 "2018-08-30T15:48:22Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Thank you. > > My son is a corrections officer at a prison in Florida. He _loves_ his job. I used to ask if “anything interesting happened at work today” but I stopped because what he told me freaked me out. I used to tell people the unofficial motto of corrections is “We keep interesting things from happening.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/23 "2018-08-30T15:51:12Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I presume you’d have the same eligibility for welfare as anyone who had not worked in 40 years. > > They obviously can’t toss you out in a prison uniform or with on clothes on, so there would be some form of clothing process. They may or may not have your clothes from 40 years ago, but those may not fit. (or are buried in the evidence archive in the courthouse) We provide prisoners with a suit for release. We also do that for a court appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/24 "2018-08-30T15:56:15Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > A job bagging groceries until you hang yourself. **Moderator Note** Given the OP’s circumstances, this is an extremely jerkish thing to say. No warning issued, but let’s stick to the question asked. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/25 "2018-08-30T15:59:04Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > **Moderator Note** > > Given the OP’s circumstances, this is an extremely jerkish thing to say. No warning issued, but let’s stick to the question asked. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator Pssst, the OP joined in 06 and has made occasional posts since. I think this is a hypothetical though awkwardly written. ETA: apologies to all if I’m wrong or have been wooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/26 "2018-08-30T16:01:23Z")
> [@szabrocki](#): > > … Say, I just got out of prison after a 40 year sentence, no probation. (Don’t need answer fast)… > [@kayaker](#): > > …Does anyone really serve a lengthy sentence and not get out with parole/probation?.. I’m not sure if this is the same everywhere but (around here) probation is a suspended sentence with conditions similar to parole in lieu of jail time. If you serve any time that would preclude probation. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/27 "2018-08-30T16:05:12Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > A job bagging groceries until you hang yourself. > [@Colibri](#): > > **Moderator Note** > > Given the OP’s circumstances, this is an extremely jerkish thing to say. No warning issued, but let’s stick to the question asked. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator > [@kayaker](#): > > Pssst, the OP joined in 06 and has made occasional posts since. I think this is a hypothetical though awkwardly written. > ETA: apologies to all if I’m wrong or have been wooshed. Yes, I believe \*\*Colibri \*\* and yourself have missed the reference. **Wesley Clark** ’s post was alluding to Red (Morgan Freeman’s role) in Shawshank Redemption. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/28 "2018-08-30T16:08:00Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Yes, I believe \*\*Colibri \*\* and yourself have missed the reference. > **Wesley Clark** ’s post was alluding to Red (Morgan Freeman’s role) in Shawshank Redemption. I got the reference, but the OP is a hypothetical regardless, verdad? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/29 "2018-08-30T16:10:39Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > After forty years in prison, do you actually have any family or friends at all or a place to go? I think I would destroy some sinks in the washroom and get my sentence extended. That seems like a much better option than going out into a world that you don’t know with nothing and nowhere to go. You could have siblings or cousins and maybe children. You might have friends who were in prison with you and are now out. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/30 "2018-08-30T16:11:05Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I got the reference, but the OP is a hypothetical regardless, verdad? Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/31 "2018-08-30T16:12:37Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I think Texas give you a coffin and an unmarked grave. > [@bump](#): > > Pretty sure we give you a marker too, if that’s how you’re leaving prison… > > [Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Joe_Byrd_Cemetery) **Gatopescado** may have been referring to the bodies found on land that used to be part of the Imperial State Prison Farm, a sugar plantation that was also the basis for the song “Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos.” [Mass graves in Sugar Land unearth horrifying chapter the history books forgot [Editorial]](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Mass-graves-in-Sugar-Land-unearth-horrifying-13124798.php) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/32 "2018-08-30T16:15:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Pssst, the OP joined in 06 and has made occasional posts since. I think this is a hypothetical though awkwardly written. > ETA: apologies to all if I’m wrong or have been wooshed. > [@Sparky812](#): > > Yes, I believe \*\*Colibri \*\*and yourself have missed the reference. > **Wesley Clark** ’s post was alluding to Red (Morgan Freeman’s role) in Shawshank Redemption. Yeah, I admit that I didn’t look at the join date, and it wasn’t clear that the OP was a hypothetical. So I withdraw the note. Even so, if you are going to make references of this kind in GQ, it’s best to indicate the source. I’ve seen Shawshank Redemption, but haven’t memorized every line, and most other posters haven’t either. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/33 "2018-08-30T16:25:03Z")
Here’s a good [NY Times article on the subject](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/magazine/you-just-got-out-of-prison-now-what.html). ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/34 "2018-08-30T16:30:11Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Yes, I believe \*\*Colibri \*\* and yourself have missed the reference. > **Wesley Clark** ’s post was alluding to Red (Morgan Freeman’s role) in Shawshank Redemption. Red, didn’t hang himself, Brooks did. When Red get’s out prison and is staying in the same halfway house, he finds that Brooks has scrawled on the beam that he hung himself on, “Brooks was here”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/35 "2018-08-30T16:37:27Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Red, didn’t hang himself, Brooks did. When Red get’s out prison and is staying in the same halfway house, he finds that Brooks has scrawled on the beam that he hung himself on, “Brooks was here”. “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/36 "2018-08-30T16:51:09Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Red, didn’t hang himself, Brooks did. When Red get’s out prison and is staying in the same halfway house, he finds that Brooks has scrawled on the beam that he hung himself on, “Brooks was here”. Yes, you’re correct. I was trying to keep it simple. Red followed in Brooks footsteps after release but did not follow through with hanging himself. ---
**Author:** ![szabrocki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@szabrocki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/szabrocki)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/37 "2018-08-30T16:52:06Z")
Sorry, it was hypothetical. My bad on a poorly placed comma. Thanks to all that responded! You confirmed my suspicions that you are pretty much on your own. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/38 "2018-08-30T17:08:23Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I presume you’d have the same eligibility for welfare as anyone who had not worked in 40 years. Convicted drug felons can not get food stamps or most other forms of what passes for “welfare” these days, so you are incorrect at least on that point. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/39 "2018-08-30T19:45:46Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Convicted drug felons can not get food stamps or most other forms of what passes for “welfare” these days, so you are incorrect at least on that point. Cant get welfare, cant get a job with a record, and probably too old, probably no support from family etc. after 40 years. What’s wrong with this picture? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511/40 "2018-08-30T20:08:49Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > The municipality has spent lots of money housing, feeding, and guarding the prisoner. Has it? Aren’t American prisons (at least, those at which someone would serve a 40-year sentence) operated by or at the behest of the state or federal governments? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-spent-40-years-in-prison-what-do-states-provide-to-prisoners-after-leaving-prison/820511.md?page=3)