For those who have never been incarcerated, it's hard to know what going to jail or prison is REALLY like. Sure, we've all seen movies set behind bars, but are they accurate? Or just Hollywood's version of things?
As it turns out, Quora has a large community of men and women who have experienced it firsthand, and post about it in spaces like Prison Talk. Below are some of their most illuminating submissions which tell the true story about what it's like to do time:
1. "I served 18 years straight. I'd say somewhere around the seven or eight-year mark, my view of the situation changed. It was no longer prison; it was just my life. Nothing ever changed. Every day was the same. You get into a never-changing routine, and before you know it, five years go by. Then 10, then 15. The real world becomes a fantasy. Something you see on TV, or pictures in a magazine, but it's no longer real. One day, you look in the mirror, and your hair is receding, and it's turning gray. In your mind, you're socially stunted and in a lot of ways childlike, but you're old. I went in at 18 and came out a 37-year-old man who didn't know how to do anything. I'd never used a cellphone or computer. I'd never driven a car or filed my taxes. The world was too big, too loud, too fast."
"My second day out my sister took me to Walmart, and I had a panic attack and had to go outside and sit in the car by myself. I could make a tattoo gun out of an electric razor, boil water with an extension cord, and sit for months on end by myself in a room with a sink, concrete bunk, and metal toilet without breaking a sweat. But I couldn't hold a job, operate any electronics without help, or go to Walmart without freaking out. I didn't know how to cook, or how to pay a bill. I sat home by myself for months, afraid to go anywhere or talk to people. A big part of me wanted to be back in prison where things made sense, where I thrived.
I've been out for over five years now, and while I've learned to do a lot of things, it's still not easy. I dream a lot of being in prison. Where it's easy. No responsibility. And believe it or not, less stress and anxiety. I've been in institutions my whole life, since I was a little kid. Foster homes, group homes, treatment centers, juvenile detentions. It's what I know. It's where I'm comfortable. I don't know if that will ever change."
—Ant, Quora
2. "I spent eight months in county jail prior to going to prison, and I thought I knew what to expect, but the first day in prison was one of the worst days of my life. The trip was excruciating. Fully shackled for more than nine hours and chained to another woman. We were black-boxed, which caused the handcuffs to painfully dig into our wrists. No toilet breaks, and after a few hours, you feel like your bladder is going to explode and you cannot do anything but hope not to pee yourself, which would make the situation even more miserable. After nine hours sitting on hard seats, everything hurts: your back and neck muscles, shackles burning your wrists and ankles. A couple of girls got carsick and threw up all over themselves. Someone else peed on herself. It was pure hell. Once we finally arrived, we were processed and treated like a bunch of cattle. It was intimidating, scary, and overwhelming."
—Susan Smith, Quora