Back from Prison. Here's my story.

[SNIPERS]

So I went to prison in September as stated here and I got released yesterday for good behavior and house arrest for 90 days.

I was hoping Velious would come out, but there's a beta which is pretty cool I guess. Now, I'd like to share my experiences to help you potential first timers so you don't get violated physically and/or sexually.

- Medium security doesn't mean it's any safer than maximum security. You just get more rec time.
- Prison is all about respect and being tough. If you can't hold it together, you're going to get punked and viewed as a punk. Punks get beat, raped, or extorted and it doesn't end pretty.
- Within the first week, you will get a heart check and by heart check I mean someone is going to test you to see if you're a punk or not. If you decide not to be a punk (which you should else you will get violated for your whole term), expect to be in the hole for up to a week. Trust me, one week in the hole is much better than fearing for your sentence. I got my heart check during chow on my second day. Someone cut me in line and then when I confronted him, he asked what I was going to do about it. So I'll tell you what I did about it. I cracked him right in the jaw and knocked him out then proceeded to beat the living daylights out of his unconscious corpse until the PO's got to me. I was put in the hole for 2 weeks. Of course everyone watched and right then, right there I earned my respect. Noone's going to punk me.
- The hole sucks. It's solitary confinement with 1 hour rec time in a 10 by 10 fence outside on the yard. You do a lot of thinking, pushups, situps, reading to pass time by. There's also a lot of psycho's in there and it's hard to ever get peace and quiet.
- Once you get back to gen pop, take a job to pass time and get into a routine...it'll only help time go by faster.
- Make friends only with your race, but never trust anybody...ever
- Don't gamble. I've seen a person get hit with a tool for not paying his debts.

It was quite a life changing experience. If you're interested and want to know more I'll post some more tips and experiences.