This doesn’t seem right. First, there are stores and catalogues for the inmates to use, so not everything is going to be contraband. And second, once you’re out, how would the guys on the inside punish you accordingly?
Although I can understand leaving behind all your goods for the guys that are still locked up seems the honorable thing to do. I’m interested to hear from the GFactor’s source.
I was all C/P’d and ready to jump on this too. Who the hell are the guards and other felons to tell you what you can and cannot take out with you? I don’t think it likely anyone is going to try to smuggle out any contraband. Sounds like prison bad-assed bluster to me. I too have had a few ex con contacts (heh heh, con-tact), and never heard of such a thing. After serving one of his longer visits, my cousin brought home a ton of junk, mostly carvings and that kind of thing, but he had an old Walkman with him. He was one of those who knew how to play the system inside, but not outside. He was not a nice man. A sociopath, if that’s the right term for someone with no con (there I go again) science.
Anyway, he always was able to take care of business, because people on the outside were afraid of him. But that probably isn’t what cvbritton is asking, is it?
Welcome, newby, and an interesting thread, I must say.
Peace,
mangeorge
Source here
What do inmates do with all the stuff they accumulate while in prison. Many that have never been would be surprised at all the stuff an inmate will own after a couple months and more surprised after a couple years stay.
A person with nothing on the streets may accumulate all sorts of “Prison Wealth”
All this stuff must stay in prison. There is no law and a guard will let you take anything there is just a code. A couple pictures, maybe a few other small items. I have a jar of tooth powder that says - Tooth Powder 4oz Manufatured by Texas Correctional Industries. Sugarland, Texas.- And a few weird logos and symbols on it. I consider this an exceptionally rare item. I had to smuggle it out of prison form prisoners and It is questionable is the guards would have let me have it. It is about 12 years old now. Removing something from the prison economy is frowned upon. Legal to an extent but not allowed. The weeks and month approaching your release date most of your stuff is already claimed, traded, given away, or taken.
I will go into further detail
Yes some of you may have seen things from jail and some will bring some “crap” back from jail. Most of what you remove from prison is legal, unless it is state property of course.
The prison economy it tight. Almost every possible thing has value. Even wrappers and such. People make picture frames and other goods from just about everything.
Lets say you have some items of value. You have a few weeks or days left till your release. Some are just gonna take it. You wont do shit about it even if you are a bad ass. Why? How about not screwing up your release date over some piddly ass shit that you can get in the free world for almost nothing. The other reasons are you should give the shit away to your friends. People almost never take into consideration the friendships made in jail. You are with some of these people, every day EVERY day. Shower, shit, shave and sleep together. You have the time to really talk it out with your homeboys. Time to share everything about your life. Yea there may not be much crying and hugs but feelings and sentiment is shared. You are gonna drag all that stupid ass shit out to the world with you when you should be helping them out. Your Buds stuck some indigent. Like I said you can take it but really it is inconsiderate and if it is of value and it looks like you are gonna take it it will get taken. And you wont do much about it. If it is some crappy art project no one gives a shit. Unless the raw material is worth something.
Yea lesser jails and prisons are a bit differnt. The real deal you leave that shit.
So suppose I’m a landlord (actually, I am a landlord), and my tenant gets sent to prison/jail (falling back into the hypothetical here). Then what? Obviously he gets evicted for nonpayment, but do I get to throw all his stuff into a dumpster, or sell it on eBay, whichever comes first?
I’ll admit I was a little confused by that as well. Other inmates will pressure an inmate due for release for their property - either as payments for debts (real or invented) or as “gifts”. It’s common enough that we see many inmates intentionally getting themselves locked up in the box for the last few weeks of their sentence to avoid it.
But as guards, we don’t care. If anything, we’re more happy to see the excess property being carried out of the prison rather than passed on to another inmate. As far as we’re concerned the only limits are how much the inmate is capable of paying to have mailed home or how much he is physically capable of carrying out.
Missed the edit window.
Another factor is psychological. In prison, items like a can of tunafish or a tube of toothpaste are valuable. But on the street, they’re the kind of things you pick up at a dollar store. Giving away your “jail wealth” in anticipation of rejoining the real world economy is a step towards adjusting to the outside world. Clinging to these things is a sign you’re probably too set in prison ways and may not be ready for the streets.
Would you mind clarifying this, Nemo? Does the prisoner get to have his magazines, chocolate bars, etc in the box with him? I’m guessing yes, otherwise, I’d assume that all the goods he’s trying to protect would disappear while he was in, but I’d like more info.
I’m on the road right now. I’ll try to respond to this tonight unless someone else has.
Generally no, property is very restricted in the box. But it’s not just an issue of losing your property, there’s also the coercion to be avoided. If both Bubba and Big Ed tell you they’d like you to “donate” your radio to them, you’d prefer to not have to make the choice of which of these wonderful gentlemen you’re going to have to disappoint. So you tell the guard you’re refusing to mop the floor today, he locks you up, your property goes into storage, and you get released on parole directly out of the box a couple of weeks later without Bubba or Big Ed getting a chance to say goodbye.
It depends on the jurisdiction. I’d prepared some excerpts of state statutes on the issue, but then I found this summary of state laws on handling tenant’s abandoned property: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-R-0164.htm
There are two issues, really:
Must the landlord store the property and give notice to the tenant? Many states require this.
May the landlord treat the premises as abandoned and skip court? Some states permit this, although they often still require notice to the tenant and storage of the tenant’s property, at least if the property’s value is above a threshold amount.
Ah, of course, now I get it.