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Rodney · 10-31-2005, 06:03 PM

You've never been in a jail, have you? I've never served time, but I've visited. Some thoughts on the negatives:

* Your companions will in the main be poorly educated and impulsive, and many will have drug problems (see below). Jail is full of people who haven't grown up or aren't ever going to. You won't like most of your fellow inmates, and since there is little or no privacy, you can never get away from them. Think middle school, only even more more stupid and brutal. Doesn't matter how nice a guy you are. Somebody's just going to decide they don't like you; and if they're well-connected, you're in trouble.

*You will stay in your cell all day with very little to do. You will have a cellmate, or two or three in a cell only meant for two. Many jails are very, very overcrowded. You say you don't want to work, but most inmates are _really happy_ to get work. It's something to do, and it might get you out a little faster.

*You will have absolutely no control over your life. The rules are all. Nobody wants to know your feelings, or trusts anything you have to say. You're being warehoused. The rules of society as you know it, no longer apply. For that reason, if another inmate steals something from your -- and they will, if they think they can get away with it -- what are you going to do? Are the guards going to believe you? And how are your fellow inmates going to respond if you _do_ go to the guards?

*There are plenty of drugs in jail. They get in all the time. There are little power groups built around drug dealing or other kinds of illicit activities even in non-metropolitan jails. Better not get in their way.

Also, everything I'm talking about is at the county jail level. Things get worse at the state level. Here in California, we have a corrupt and powerful state prison guards' union which protects bad guards from prosecution for systemic abuse; including things like putting two badasses who hate each other in the exercise yard at the same time, alone, and letting them go at it without interfering. While the guards place wagers.

There are some countries in the world where jail or prison can be a positive experience. Getting busted in Finland, I'm told, can be a positive, life-changing experience. Here in the states.... not so much. I think you should hunt down some friend who's done a little time and ask him about the good parts of jail. His reply, after the obligatory opening, "Are you NUTS?" will be very enlightening. County sheriffs would be good to ask, too -- they run the jails -- and you'd probably get the same answer.

But the fact that you propose this at all, even as a lark, indicates that you are probably from a socioeconomic class in which nobody you know has _ever_ gone to jail. If you had, you wouldn't be asking the question.

10-31-2005, 06:03 PM	#13 (permalink)
Rodney Observant Ruminant Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town	You've never been in a jail, have you? I've never served time, but I've visited. Some thoughts on the negatives: * Your companions will in the main be poorly educated and impulsive, and many will have drug problems (see below). Jail is full of people who haven't grown up or aren't ever going to. You won't like most of your fellow inmates, and since there is little or no privacy, you can never get away from them. Think middle school, only even more more stupid and brutal. Doesn't matter how nice a guy you are. Somebody's just going to decide they don't like you; and if they're well-connected, you're in trouble. You will stay in your cell all day with very little to do. You will have a cellmate, or two or three in a cell only meant for two. Many jails are very, very overcrowded. You say you don't want to work, but most inmates are _really happy_ to get work. It's something to do, and it might get you out a little faster. You will have absolutely no control over your life. The rules are all. Nobody wants to know your feelings, or trusts anything you have to say. You're being warehoused. The rules of society as you know it, no longer apply. For that reason, if another inmate steals something from your -- and they will, if they think they can get away with it -- what are you going to do? Are the guards going to believe you? And how are your fellow inmates going to respond if you _do_ go to the guards? *There are plenty of drugs in jail. They get in all the time. There are little power groups built around drug dealing or other kinds of illicit activities even in non-metropolitan jails. Better not get in their way. Also, everything I'm talking about is at the county jail level. Things get worse at the state level. Here in California, we have a corrupt and powerful state prison guards' union which protects bad guards from prosecution for systemic abuse; including things like putting two badasses who hate each other in the exercise yard at the same time, alone, and letting them go at it without interfering. While the guards place wagers. There are some countries in the world where jail or prison can be a positive experience. Getting busted in Finland, I'm told, can be a positive, life-changing experience. Here in the states.... not so much. I think you should hunt down some friend who's done a little time and ask him about the good parts of jail. His reply, after the obligatory opening, "Are you NUTS?" will be very enlightening. County sheriffs would be good to ask, too -- they run the jails -- and you'd probably get the same answer. But the fact that you propose this at all, even as a lark, indicates that you are probably from a socioeconomic class in which nobody you know has _ever_ gone to jail. If you had, you wouldn't be asking the question.