12. Women Get Creative And Make Intimate Toys Out Of Soap
“In my personal experience, I have seen toys made with soap. There’s a lot of different recipes, some women decide to make them with other things, that’s story for another time. But what they would do is take state issued bar of soap, most commonly in my experience, and they would shape them into the size that they want and the shape that they want and all that. But because you can’t put soap in your body like that, they would want a glove. And a lot of women were afraid to steal from staff, not me, that was my entire hustle. I’m not gonna steal from an inmate, I’m gonna steal from the staff. It’s us vs them in there. So, I would steal the gloves from the nurse’s station and I would sell that to the people who try to make those toys for the girlfriend. You wanna do that, if that’s gonna make your time better, cause we all have needs, cool! I’m gonna sell you the glove that I stole. Did I ever use that? Absolutely not, I was always too nervous of infection. Also, I cared a lot about my personal privacy and space, and you don’t get space in an open dorm. So, I would steal things, that’s a whole another video for another time. But that’s how they do it.”
13. Cancer Patients Are Transferred To A Medium-Security Prison For Treatments
“What happens if you get cancer and you’re in prison – where do you go, what do they do, do they send you home, do they give you treatment? Keep in mind, every facility is different, every state is different, every person is different, serving a different sentence. I have seen women that have cancer in prison, I was serving time very briefly at a medium security prison (I was kicked out of that and sent to max). What happens if you have cancer in this state is they would transfer you from maximums security to medium security where they would transport you to medical doctors to receive chemo. I did time with a woman that was so positive and encouraging and uplifting. She was in there for drugs and she had cancer, we watched her hair fall out, we helped her as much as we could. And she was such a badass, I wish I knew what happened to her. I’m not sure if she survived because I was transferred out of that facility before the end of her sentence. But she was a fighter and I am glad that I got to spend a little bit of time with her.”
14. Meals Have Just Enough Calories To Get You Through The Day
“So, what do inmates eat for breakfast. Now, this was difficult to pull up on Google, I finally found one that was kind of close, but just remember – every state is different, every facility is different. Jail and prison are completely different things. So I tried to find what is most accurate for what inmates are eating for breakfast in prison. So, we have juice, milk, coffee, pile of oatmeal, eggs and bread with a piece of butter. Only if you consume every single bit of that, all of the liquids and the butter, then you’re gonna get enough calories for the breakfast meal that you’re supposed to intake. But let me tell you something – that oatmeal is mushy and gross and weird and it’s so disgusting; the eggs are powdered, super super gross; and the bread is probably few days old. What I would do is take my eggs and my bread and get it down that way. If that’s not motivation to not break the law, I don’t know what is, fam!”
15. Money Is Just As Needed In Prison As It Allows Inmates To Buy Necessities
“Do you really need money in prison or is it just for the extra things? You need money. It’s not just for the extra. If you want to shampoo your hair, condition your hair, shave your legs (yes, they sell razors, but I guess every place is different). We could buy razors on commissary or sign them out in New York. Yes, you need money. You have to buy hygiene items, toothpaste that is not glue. The state issued paste is awful, it doesn’t really clean your teeth. You have to buy these items. You have to buy deodorant, they don’t provide that. You have to buy all kinds of hygiene items. If you want to write home, you have to buy stamps, envelopes and paper. If you wanna call home, that costs money too. Inmates need money, it’s not just for extra things like food, although we are always hungry in prison because they feed you the bare minimum and we were starving. So yes, we want to make food and have snacks. So yes, it’s a necessity, the money, anyway.”
16. There’s A Way To Substitute Careful Folding For Ironing
“How do inmates iron their clothes in jail or prison? Maybe you have a visit, maybe you have a court date… In prison you’ll have class A, and that’s an iron pressed starch uniform. But say we’re in jail and we have a court date and we want our uniform to look fresh. Because we care about that, don’t think because we’re in jail or a prison we don’t care about looking good, we do! We would spend a long time folding [white tee] exactly right. We’d fold it, then we’d take some water and put some water on the crease. After we get it just the way we want it, we put it under our mattress, sleep on it for a day or two, and it is going to be “ironed”.”
17. There Are No Secrets In Prison, So Everyone Knows Your Business
“How do you know why someone is in prison. Let me just start off by letting you know there are no secrets in prison. None, absolutely none. You have no privacy, everyone’s in your business. Everyone knows what’s going on, everyone saw you look at that correctional officer a certain way, you know what I’m saying? So, everyone knows everything. If you have a bad charge and you’re on the unit, everyone knows you have a bad charge (bad charge means chomo, somebody that hurt a child or a snitch). They know that you have that charge. And there’s a target on your back for that. If you don’t just know, if it’s not common knowledge in the unit, you can ask to see the paperwork, you can ask them, “What are you in for?”. And if they lie to you or if you get the feeling they’re not being honest about why they’re there, you just call home, write home, email home and say, “Look up this person.” Look up their number, their DIN number or inmate number you get when you go to prison, just look it up. You can very easily find out online why someone’s there. Or you can even ask a correctional officer, which I would never do because I hated talking to them.”
18. Jail Is Temporary, Prison Is Where You Serve Your Sentence
“What is the difference between jail and prison. So, everyone goes to jail after they’re arrested, everyone from capital murder to non-payment of fines, all goes to the county jail. They fight their case and wait, either get probation, get bonded out, you know. They are waiting there for resolution of their cases. But jail is, essentially, more often than not, every state is different, is a locked down facility where you just sit in there waiting to go. You might have a GED class in jails, you do. And that’s basically it. You just sit there and you wait, and there’s basically nothing to do. Prisons run like a little city. So, you’re sentenced, once you’re in prison. And it runs like a little city, as I said. Everyone has a job and their working assignment. And people take more classes than just GED class. Not that county jails can’t offer that, sometimes they do, but prison’s just where you go after you’re sentenced. And it’s just a whole different vibe where you get more “freedom” than jail, which sounds weird, I know.”
19. There Are Two Types Of Sleeping Arrangements—Group Or Paired Up
“What is it like sleeping in prison? Well, there are two kinds of dorms. One is the open dorm and it looks like a gymnasium with 50 bunk beds. And the other is a closed tier, so you’ll have one or two other cellmates. Now, sleeping in an open dorm caused a lot of issues for me because that’s probably where my PTSD comes from. I was always on edge and everyone would fall asleep and I would stay awake until most people were asleep and then I would feel comfortable enough to go to sleep. A lot of things happened at night. People would want to hang out or party or do whatever at night (party is a generous term for what was actually going on). There’s some girlfriend stuff going on at night, you gotta mind your own business. A closed tier where you have one other cellmate is where I felt most relaxed. And you sleep on the bed, not in the bed. Which means you have a blanket, you have to tie your mattress really really tight, and you sleep on top of that with one blanket that you keep either folded or in your locker (every prison is different). But you sleep on the bed, not in it, so your bed is always crispy and clean. Everything has to be clean in prison.”
20. Showers Should Be Kept Short Because There’s A Waiting Line
“What are the top 5 rules when showering in prison? Nr. 1 – don’t leave your stuff out. These are in no particular order, by the way, but don’t just leave your stuff and walk away. You will learn the hard way because you’ll leave your stuff there and then someone will take your stuff, and that’s a bad day. Nr. 2 – get in, wash your bits and get out. Don’t take a long time, don’t try to have a Celine Dion concert or whatever you’re into. Shower, wash your bits and get out quickly because other people are waiting. Nr. 3 – do not wash your body aggressively. Don’t get your shower water anywhere near me. If I get hit with your shower water, I’m gonna be so mad, so don’t. You know what I mean? That’s a big one. Of course, Nr. 4 – you have to wear shower shoes or you’ll get a fungus. Don’t ask me any questions, just trust me. And 5, if you drop soap that you’re using, you have to throw it out because the floor is disgusting.”
21. Inmates Have To Work Each Day, And Have Some Free Time In The Evening
“What do inmates do all day to pass the time in prison? Well, you have to work. You can’t just decide to stay in the dorm and chill on your rack or your bed. You have to go to your job unless there’s a physical limitation and you’re physically unable. A lot of senior citizens can’t physically stand for 12 hours a day in laundry, but you have to go to your prison job. After dinner chow, you can go back to your barracks and you can do whatever you wanna do, you can make a meal, you can write a letter, you can hang out with your people, you can take a shower, things like that. There are scheduled times to get your haircut, there are scheduled times to go to a library, there’s rec once or twice a day depending on the facility, every place is different. You can call your family. Now, there’s usually a line for that. There’s also a line for the good shower, if you know, you know. And on the weekends, your family can come visit you for a few hours. And that’s prison life, every day is the same.”
22. Women Fix Their Eyebrows Using A Thread Instead Of Tweezers
“So, how do inmates do their eyebrows in prison? Threading eyebrows is a whole hustle in prison and it’s always easier to do one site than the other, but that’s just the eyebrow game.”
