What is Prison like?

Prison is like a daycare centre for adults. Imagine a daycare centre for children. Then imagine adults being there instead. The prison officers shout and swear and treat the adults as though they are children.

High security

A high security prison is like living in a cage. Bars and cage structures. High walls. When you go outside, you are in a caged area. Looking through bars. Small dirty cells containing a bed or two (bunks), desk, toilet, seat, shower, tv, mirror. Lots of noise: doors banging, people shouting.

When you start your sentence, you are put in a small cell alone and watched regularly though a hole in the door. This is called suicide watch. You are watched like this for a few days to see if you are going to try to kill yourself. After this you are moved to another area where you might have to share a cell with someone else. A bigger cell that opens to a common area where you spend the day. You can read or watch tv or walk around or chat.

There is an outside area where you can smoke. There is a phone you can use. The calls are timed so that they cut off at 15 minutes and they are expensive. Food is brought in 3 times a day. It is a boring life and you are stuck there. On some days they take you out to an exercise area where you can use the gym or walk around outside.

There is work available. A commercial laundry or something else where you work every day for a few hours. Prison officers don’t watch you all the time and there are places where prisoners can be unobserved, and that’s where fights happen. Prisoners bashing each other. If the prison officers notice signs of injury, you will be confined to your cell area and not allowed to work. Every day is the same.

Medium Security

Not every State has medium security prisons. Queensland has low and high. Victoria has low, high, and medium. Medium security give you more space and less bars. A cell for yourself alone which you can lock from the inside. A bigger cell, a window, desk, shower, chair, tv, mirror, toilet. Bigger common area with phones and table tennis and pool tables. A bigger area outside to walk around. A library. Also work areas and choices of work.

Low security

These prisons are like living on a farm. Only farm fencing keeping you in. Easy to climb over, but when you are caught, you are put in a high security prison and 6 months are added to your sentence. Lots of space to walk around. An oval to run around or play sports on. Bicycles to ride when permitted. Long walks along country style roads. Lots of choices of different sorts of work. Different sorts of accommodation. Initially dormitory style rooms opening on to a common area with a kitchen. Then moved to units containing 6 people where you cook for yourselves. Most prisoners take turns cooking for the others. Low security is a lot better than high or medium, but it is still prison and you can’t leave.

Before you go to prison

If you know that you might be going to prison, you should do some self-defence training. You need to be able to defend yourself if someone attacks you. Prison is a very boring place. Most verbal language consists of two words: F and C. 70% of all words consist of these two.

Also don’t borrow anything from any prisoner and don’t gamble. Some prisoners will take advantage of other prisoners who are in debt to them. They will demand certain things that you might not be willing to provide.

Prison is frustrating

Phone calls are limited and expensive. So regular mail and visiting is vital for the prisoner’s well-being. He or she can’t leave. The best way for a prisoner to cope or get through each day is to establish a regular routine. Doing set things each day. Like exercise and study and other things to make time go by. There are some opportunities to do courses of study or learn practical trades. You might as well use your time to increase your skill level.

They may resent the prisoner for doing whatever caused them to be in prison. So prisoners need to understand that their loved ones are suffering too because they have to live life without the prisoner.

One prisoner wrote a book about someone who looked after them in prison and protected them.