prisoner21-blog

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MY PRISON BLOG PART 07:

Two years… I was shocked. I didn’t even spend two month in prison and it was absolutely the hell. Now I’ll have to spend 24…

The judge went outside also the guests. My lawyer came to me and wished me good luck before he also left. A guard came and said “I have an offer for you. It’s your first sentence and it’s less than 4 years so you’re a candidate for an education program.”

He put a sheet of paper on the desk so I could read. “you’ll have to decide within the next 30 minutes because to which prison you’ll be send depends on this!” I read:

“CHAIN GANG CONTRACT

Prisoner 800477 [the number was filled in by hand], further called ‘inmate’ applies for the chain gang program.

Conditions:

#1 By participating the chain gang program the prison time can be reduced to 50%. Inmate is immediately released when the program is absolved. Starting time is 50% of the original sentence.

#2 Inmate is committed to work six days a week in a chain gang, sunday and official holidays are free but there can be education Programm lessons.

#3 Violations of the rules lead to solitary confinement according to the penalty list. Times when the inmate doesn’t participate the program because of solitary are added to the full time. Only days when the inmate goes to work or educational lessons counts as absolved.

#4 frequent violations of the rules can lead to cancelation of the program. The rest of the original sentence must be served in normal prison. (for this rule it doesn’t matter how many time of the program left)

#5 by signing this contract prisoner accepts his obligation to absolve the full program. Cancel the program just because the inmate changes his mind is not possible!”

I read it. There wasn’t much to think about. I would do everything to reduce my time and till this day prison was nothing to do and just waiting and working would make the days go by faster. I signed the sheet which wasn’t easy with stacked handcuffs when I signed it the guard lead me outside and down to the garage of the court house. He put me in the back of a van without windows.

Again I had no feeling for the time. The handcuffs I had to wear since the morning cut into my wrists. After an eternity the van stopped, someone got off and then the door and the barred door of the steel box inside the van was opened. I was lead outside and to a barrack. Then my cuffs were removed. A man in military uniform called me to strip. I stripped the orange jumsuit, socks and at last the boxer shorts. He put on latex gloves and searched every inch of my body. Even if it wasn´t the first time I had to go through this procedure it’s everytime again embarrassing. When he was done he called me to take a shower and when I came back on the ground there were my new clothes

Again a jumpsuit this time black and white striped. Again bright orange boxer shorts and orange shoes. A towel, a toothbrush, a plastic cup and a linen. I put on the wide ugly jumpsuit. It was even more crude and ugly than the orange one. When I was ready he also gave me a pair of heavy black boots. “These are your work boots. You’ll have to keep them clean in your time here!”

I was woken up by an siren. The lights in the barrack were turned on. All of the inmates jumped out of their bunks and quickly put on their jumpsuits. I also did it and we went to the tables where everyone got a table from a trolley. After breakfast we went back to the bunks and took our boots. The other inmates showed me to put the jumpsuit inside the boots. We stould in a line between the beds when the guards came in with a long chain and a bunch of padlocks. They started to lock the chain around the right ankle of every inmate one after the other and with around two meters of chain between them. Then we went outside and over the prison yard to a waiting bus. It wasn’t easy to walk chained together and the tightly locked chain hurt my ankle. I thought “It’s day one of 365… In normal prison it would be much worse!”

The bus had just a small barred window gap so we had no chance to see where we drove. I asked other prisoners where we’ll work today. They told me the cities gave assignments to the department of corrections where a street is to sweep and such things and then the DOC sends the groups there depending on how many people are needed. We’re a group of 10. When the bus stopped and I stepped out I gulped. I knew this street. I not just knew it, I lived here. Just 2 blocks away from the corner where the bus parked. On the other side of the street there was my old supermarket… “Oh fuck. Please can we go somewhere else? I can’t stay here!” “You’ll have to! You’ll stay here till the end of the workday! And now shut up. No talking to each other or to people passing by. And guards are called 'Sir’!” fuck. I’ll have to hope that we’re done before my former neighbors or my roommate come home and maybe go shopping! I ask my cellmates “Can we please hurry?!”

The guard came and told: “So 800477 will experience on the first day what it means to break the rules? Okay one day in the hole!” “What, noo!” “TWO. And for every word when your´e not allowed to talk, one day will be added. Days in the hole doesn´t count as absolved so it´s not just punishment but also you increase your sentence!”

In the evening in the barrack two guards lead me to a row of cell doors on one side. Not barred. It wasn’t barred doors bug steel with little holes. When they locked it from outside it was dark. There was no light in the cell, just the light from the dormitory in the barrack. When I got my meal through a flap in the door a guard gave me nine pairs of boots and shoe polish. “So because you´ll stay ‘at home’ the next two days when your mates are working you´ll now have time to say thank you that they do your work. In the next two evenings you´ll polish these boots! Also yours. If they arent shiny in two days you´ll spend another one here. I started to work. No chance to resist. The guards are in charge and in worst case I would have to spend the whole sentence! It was disgusting. On the boots there were dried mud. In the boots there were the smelly socks of the other inmates obviously worn for days. The ventillation doesn´t seem to work in the hole so the smell immediatly filled up the wohle room. It lasted three hours until I got ready with all the boots. They left them and their smell in my single cell. I laid down on the matress but didn´t fall asleep for hours because I didn´t get something to eat in the evening. In the morning also was woken up by the siren. But they didn´t pick up me from the cell. They took the boots and gave me a table with my breakfast before the other inmates left. A guard took the empty table and left me alone. In the evening the other inmates came. As promised I got the boots again. This time full of mud. The guard grinned develish when he slammed the door. While I did my best to make the boots shiny again I took an important decision. I WILL ESCAPE THIS HELLHOLE!

[prisoner21-blog]

18 year old convict having his ball and chain checked by a guard circa 1908

Innate #1010 seems to have a fresh headshave and some serious dirt from hard labor!

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Jacob Houck, 17, and Nicklaus Haggerty Lefebvre, 18, sentenced to a year in the county jail and 3 years of probation for criminal sexual conduct

[prisoner21-blog]

Stripped jumpsuits at it's best

If worn properly and with the help of a bellychain...

...they're going to help the judge seal your fate in prison.

This is the old fashion.

But don't waste the opportunity to show the world how committed you are to preserve it.

[prisoner21-blog]

VIDEO Collection #3

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TWO TEENAGERS IN AN ADULT PRISON

Here is a better, more extensive version of the clip of my last entry.

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I wish I were this guy.

[prisoner21-blog]

TWO TEENAGERS IN AN ADULT PRISON

Here is a better, more extensive version of the clip of my last entry.

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[prisoner21-blog]

Puppies out for Walkies

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[prisoner21-blog]

Inmates in full transport regalia!! Orange jumpsuits, orange slides, belly chains, stacked black boxes, leg irons, and prominent ID cards clipped to your only pocket.

The white prison van and youthful CO add to the ambiance!