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I’ve been in the system 14.5 months (still have 8 to go ;-) hurry up August!!!). I didn’t end up going to prison, I was allowed to go into a work release program at a local jail. I work all day, go in at night. I was lucky, I kept my career as a software developer, I didn’t get a conviction, I learned a valuable lesson – greed won’t get you anywhere. I did a few weeks full time before they let me go back to work, you get by. Just keep to yourself, mind your own business and read a lot – learn something if you can. The worst part of my situation was waiting on my final court date to figure out what was going to happen to me. I was looking at 15 years in prison. I didn’t know until the final moment what was going to happen. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through.
Comments like “criminals deserve it” really piss me off. Really, really piss me off. In my mind, a criminal is someone who causes harm to someone (theft, physical abuse, rape, etc). Just because you’re in the system does not make you a criminal deserving of any sort of physical abuse. Now a days people get locked up for being at the wrong place at the wrong time every day. Laws have been made to turn the system into a money maker for communities to generate revenue. People get setup and put into situations they normally wouldn’t be in for some cop to make a name for himself.
I’ve never seen any sort of sexual abuse happen – thankfully - but it’s a fact of life in and out of prison. In a lot of ways our fabulous media sensationalize the misfortune of individuals to generate ad revenue. Shows like Oz make it seem like it’s an everyday occurrence – its not. From what some of the other inmates say, prison isn’t too much different then jail, it’s just on a much larger scale (and it’s hard as hell to get work release ;-)).
Just remember:
Drive drunk? get in a bad wreak where someone gets hurt? You might end in jail/prison.
Sell drugs in college? Get busted? You might end up in jail/prison.
Do drugs? Get busted with the wrong amount on your way back from the dope mans? You might end up in jail/prison.
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I ain't often right but I've never been wrong
It seldom turns out the way it does in the song
Once in a while you get shown the light
In the strangest of places if you look at it right
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