21 Ex-Cons Share Something the Rest of Us Don't Know About Prison
Thanks to movies and shows, many of us have an idea of "the inside" that's either dramatized, or wholly incorrect.
Published 2 months ago in Wow
Prison is rough. Everyone knows that. But thanks to movies and shows, many of us have an idea of "the inside" that's either dramatized, or wholly incorrect.
But these former inmates are here to set the record straight by sharing secrets about being in prison that the rest of us might not know. It's a lot more difficult, and a lot more expensive than you might think.
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Everything has a cost. Parole? You pay a parole fee. Ankle monitor, on your tab. Can't pay? Parole revoked, back to jail with no chance of re-parole.
The biggest scams are the halfway houses. They were about $1500 a month in my town, to share a dorm room with, well, another ex-con. Can't pay? Parole revoked, back to prison.
You have to do regular drug testing. It was like $128 a month for 2x a month drug testing. And my conviction wasn't drug related.
I did the math and I owed about $2200 per month in mandatory court expenses, that if I did not pay I would go back to jail. And remember that you're supposed to be paying all this on whatever job you can get as a felon.
But the best part was that the judge that sentenced both of us owned the halfway house. He was a partial owner. The system is absolutely, 100% designed to send you back to prison. There is simply no way a normal ex-con can get out of the ‘cycle’ on their own.”13
“A lot of people don’t realize how much trading goes on inside. It’s not just cigarettes, everything has value, from ramen noodles to stamps. The barter system is huge, and sometimes it feels like an economy all on its own. We used packs of fish mackerels as money. Three fish mackerels equaled one cigarette.”14
“I’ve never been in prison, but I would employ ex-prisoners at my Taco Bell, and heard absolute horror stories about Polk County Prison in Florida. Every single one of them had some sort of PTSD, if you moved too quickly by them or moved things around their head they’d get very jumpy and defensive very quickly. Polk county is 100% one of these places meant to keep you in the system. The Sheriff owns half the town's property at this point. 32 years or something in power.”16
“It's illegal to smoke in prisons in my country, so they have nicotine gum. They're sold in "sleeves," and go for $5 a sleeve. That's inside currency. Transfers will cost you $90 for 10 sleeves. That's when they get someone on the outside to send money to your outside account, and you buy sleeves inside for them.”21
“The name of the game is patience. There's certain things you can put in requests to purchase, like discmans or a fan. Expect to wait three months. They'll order it in a few weeks, it'll arrive a week after, and it will sit in V&C for two months before they open it and give it to you. Harass them, they'll put it in property, and you can have it when you're released.”