Survive Prison — Ask the Inmate
Surviving prison, mentally, physically, and with your record intact, requires a set of skills and strategies that nobody teaches you before you go in. The adjustment is enormous, and how you handle the first days and weeks sets the tone for everything that follows. This section covers the practical realities of daily life inside a correctional facility, how to navigate the social environment without becoming a target or a participant in activities that will extend your sentence, how to protect your mental health during a long sentence, what the research shows about maintaining family connections and why they matter for survival, how to use the time productively rather than letting it use you, and what the people who come out strongest have in common. The guidance here comes from someone who served 66 months in the federal system and built a business around helping the people left behind. Do the time. Do not let the time do you. See also our sections on Prison Violence, Prison Discipline, and Re-entry and Rehabilitation.
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The journey ahead seems impossible right now. That feeling is real and it is shared by almost everyone who has ever faced a significant sentence. But here is something worth knowing: not knowing is actually worse than being there. Once you arrive and begin to understand the environment, the human spirit finds a way to adapt and prevail. The most important decision you will make in the first weeks is who you are going to be inside. Everything that
Read moreThere is NO internet access allowed in prison except at the state level where the Kansas Department of Corrections allows monitored Internet use. It is the only such area that does. At the federal level, there are email pilot programs in use that I used often, but there was no internet access. There are delays in the messaging and the charges were high but it was convenient.
Read moreThe separation from family is terrible, but it's tougher on them to go on without you. But the worst thing that I had to deal with was the death of my mother. I was not there for others suffering, for her funeral nor was I able to feel closure.
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