If you haven’t already, why don’t you read, “What To Expect If I Am Going To Prison (part 1)“.

I feel that at this point it is important for you to be responsible for your actions. You did what you did, but now you are going to prison. The sooner that you accept this, the better. Excuses won’t help you now. Get yourself in the mind-set that you’re going to prison and start preparing mentally. If you are totally innocent (if you’re going to prison), it really doesn’t matter. You need to prepare for where you’re going. We aren’t going to summer camp, this is a place that you may never survive if you aren’t prepared. Get your head out of the sand and start preparing for prison.

Once you are sentenced, you are usually bussed from the county jail (unexpectedly in the early morning before dawn) to prison. They usually don’t notify inmates of the date and time that they will be transported, and they often avoid obvious routes and try not to set any patterns. This is to avoid any escape plans.

Inmates are almost always transported to some kind of diagnostic or reception institution. These institutions are potentially dangerous because at this point, the Reception Center doesn’t know who you are. A check forger or car thief might be bunked  in a cell with a rapist or murderer.

At these institutions, for the convenience of the prison system, inmates will be subjected to a number of tests; academic and mental. This information is used to decide which type of prison unit that the inmate will inevitably be transferred to. During this process the inmate will be interviewed and classified. The classification process usually uses some kind of mathematical point system. The points are calculated based on a number of factors; the inmate’s psychological state, attitude, length of sentence, nature of the crime, and prior convictions. Your best course of action is not to rock the boat. They process thousands of inmates a year and they never get personal unless you’re a celebrity. They simply don’t have the time and from seeing so many inmates, they’re numb. they just don’t care. You’re just another inmate. Prepare to be strip searched, deloused, dehumanized, and processed like a dog at the pound. In fact, that’s a good way to relate to how they feel. They just want to process you and get on with their lives. It’s really nothing personal, they just don’t care about you (or any inmate).

The psychological interview is one that should be handled wisely. You should avoid the temptation to act unnaturally or “play crazy”. It isn’t wise to try to mess with the doctor’s mind. Prison medical staff have found it very easy to manage inmates chemically. If they expect an inmate to be a lot of trouble, they simply drug him. Usually the inmate will welcome this as a chance to get high. Mood altering medications are nothing to play with. Once the cycle starts, it is difficult to break. It alters your thinking and before you know it, you’re a zombie and unable to stop taking the drugs. You may not even know it’s affecting you so much. And prison medical staff are not like your family doctor, they get paid whether you are happy or not. You cannot just go to a different doctor. When an inmate is placed on this type of medication, their health grade is often downgraded, this disallows the inmate an opportunity to work and earn time off their sentences. It can also prevent an inmate from earning work-release privileges and other custody level promotions.

Prison is full of predators. It is easy for an inmate to find others who they have something in common with. Good judgment is very important here because inmates are often judged, by prison staff, according to who they associate with. On that same note, it’s good to have someone that can watch your back. I’m not saying that you have to join a gang, but you can always find someone that you both can help to watch out for each other. Also be very aware of your surroundings anytime your activities takes you away from the eyes of the prison staff. This especially includes the shower and bathroom. It is not necessary to take friends along on every trip to the bathroom, but they can be nearby and watching. You have to shower sooner or later, so just be careful.

You will be in this Receiving Center for a few weeks. One day they will inform you (after lockdown for the day) that you’ll be leaving in the morning for whatever institution that they have decided to send you. Don’t try to fight it. You might as well know right now that you can’t fight them. They make all of your decisions for you now. If you make a fuss, you’re still going to the institution of their choice. The only difference is, if you fight them, you’ll go from the hole and once you get to your Parent Institution, you’ll go to the hole there as well. It’s better to start out at your Parent Institution with a clean record, don’t you think?

Well, That’s it for now. I’ll catch you later and we’ll get into how to cope at your Parent Institution.

Take care…

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