The first thing you might think when you ask
yourself how you might survive prison is what prison are we talking about. Not all prisons are made equal, and you could
say there’s a big difference from life in Thailand’s infamous Bang Kwang Central Prison,
aka “The Bangkok Hilton,” and a progressive place of containment in the country of Sweden. We might also note Dostoyevsky’s famous
line: “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” We’ve all likely watched TV episodes featuring
the world’s worst lockups, but of course we can’t do a show on how to survive in
all the various types of prisons in the world. Today, we’ll talk mostly about U.S. prisons,
the good, the bad, and the very ugly. Welcome to this episode of The Infographics
Show, How to survive in prison? So, you’ve been handed a prison sentence
and have survived jail. It’s your first time inside, and you are
no doubt worried about how you’ll get along. You’ve watched the movies depicting daily
violence and a hierarchy of men living out a dog-eat-dog lifestyle. You are far from being a hardened criminal. Let’s say you’re in a large joint such
as California’s San Quentin Prison, a place you’ve likely seen on TV at some point. On your first day, you’ll be booked in,
and you’ll go through what is called an admission and orientation interview. This will decide what part of the prison you’ll
be housed in and if you have any special medical needs. You’ll also be given clothes and other stuff
like hygiene items. Yep, you’ll have to strip and do that bending
forward and coughing motion so that guards know you’re not hiding things in your posterior
crevice. You’ll just have to get used to this, so
accept everything you’re asked to do. Survival tip number one, which should be obvious,
is do what you are told and don’t make a fuss – obviously if you’re being abused
it’s a different matter. As we said, you’re no gang-banger, and you’re
not a former cop, sex offender, or police informant. You don’t need to be kept away from certain
people. You’re now in your new home, or “housing
unit.” How are you feeling? Well, the question was asked on Quora about
first day prison experiences, and the top post on one thread started with one word:
“Terrifying.” The person added, “I’ve never felt so
alone in my life. My first week in jail I had done in total
solitary confinement. This was like the opposite of that and yet
I still felt more alone.” Before we get to the matter of survival relating
to violence, you have to figure out how to accept you’ll be spending the next few years
in this place or another similar place and how to keep yourself from not going crazy. Believe it or not, a lot of people will tell
you that meditation is one thing that can help get you through prison. After all, close your eyes and be in the present
with only your breathing to concentrate on and, in some respects, you could be anywhere;
for a few minutes or more, you are not really in prison. In some places, you can actually join a “prison
contemplative program,” and if that’s available, we advise you to join it. If you read about these programs, you’ll
find those who joined them are less likely to be harmed, inflict self-harm, take drugs,
and have more balanced emotions and even a heightened self-awareness. We can’t express enough how much meditation
will help you get through your sentence. Reuters wrote about such a program in one
U.S. prison: “Men in the meditation group reported significantly larger reductions in
perceived stress, anxiety, depression, dissociation and sleep disturbances than the inmates who
didn’t participate in this program.” And yep, even the tough guys sometimes learn
that shutting down your busy mind a couple of times a day will keep the demons away. Okay, you are going in the right direction,
but meditating won’t keep bullies away. If you’ve ever spoken to someone who has
done a lot of time, they will likely tell you that to stay out of trouble DO NOT act
like a tough guy right from the start. You see, even if you are tough, there will
no doubt be someone tougher than you. If not, you can’t always fight with 4 strangers
or someone who has come at you from behind on the prison yard with a “shiv” in hand. If you want to stay safe, keep your head down. That’s not always easy because prison can
be a hostile place. One person explained his first walk to his
cell with other new inmates in San Quentin: “Arms are hanging out the cells, holding
mirrors, middle fingers from others. Trash is flying down from the upper tiers. Yelling and screaming the most horrible things.” It’s not exactly welcoming. He said he heard shouts directed at him, with
the words, “Fudge you”, “I’m going to fudging stab you”, “Let me see your
buttholes”, “You guys are going to die.” We have of course used fudge to replace a
harsher-sounding expletive. Prisoners are not generally averse to breaching
strictures of formal, polite speech. You are rightly fudging terrified as a newbie
walking down that busy floor to your cell, but just keep your head down and try to look
calm. Look as though this scene means absolutely
nothing to you. Don’t try to laugh to look cool as that
is only inviting trouble. Even do a bit of meditative walking. Now, you have arrived at your cell. You might be sharing the cell with someone,
and it is of the utmost importance that you two get along. Remember he was there before you, and you
should respect his space and help clean the place. As one British guy who wrote a book on prison
survival advises, having a sense of humor goes a long way in prison. Your life will be so much easier if you can
help the other guy in the cell and others in the prison have better lives by occasionally
making them laugh. Now you are there and settled. We’ve already told you not to break prison
rules, but there are also unofficial inmate rules. One former U.S. prisoner writes that it’s
not a good thing to get too friendly with the prison guards at the start as people might
think you’re a snitch. Snitching in prison is a huge NO-NO, and you
must remember that some prisoners are waiting for any excuse to beat the hell out of someone. Don’t give anyone that excuse. If you get labelled a snitch, your life will
be hell, and you might have to get moved to protective custody. So, from the start, don’t act tough, have
a sense of humor if possible, and be polite to other prisoners. There are some other things you should be
careful about. Some folks might be looking to take advantage
of you. If at all possible, try not borrow stuff in
prison. If you have cash, don’t tell people about
it. Don’t start asking people why they are in
prison. Try to stay away from drugs. Heroin might ease the day, but heroin quickly
takes back everything it gives. Getting caught with drugs will get you more
time, and borrowing drugs can lead to a life of pain. Despite what you might have seen on TV, one
former prisoner writes, “Avoid clicking up (joining a gang). For the most part, the only way out of the
gang is dying.” One way to help with this is by joining a
program. If you can study, study. If you can get books from the prison library,
then when will you ever have a better chance to educate yourself? Read and return to society a learned man. Another former prisoner on the same forum
writes that one word should be remembered in prison, and that is the word “respect.” That goes for doing things like changing the
channel on the TV or even picking up a pair of dumbbells. If in doubt, ask those around you if they
are okay with you doing something. You don’t have to sound weak, just polite. Talking about dumbbells, now is your chance
to get in shape. Have a regular workout routine, and with your
reading, programs, mediation, and working out, you’ll leave prison a better person
in some ways. All seems to be going well. You have a decent “roomy,” and you are
getting clever and fit. But as philosopher John Paul Sartre once said,
“Hell is other people.” You’ve tried to be respectful, but as one
former prisoner put it, “The occasional bully will try to push you out of your comfort
zone. It’s just like high school. Mistakes are a trifle more painful.” What should you do in prison if someone steals
from you, disrespects you, and tries to physically hurt you? You will have heard on countless TV shows
that if you don’t attempt to fight back in some situations that person or other persons
might try to hurt you or take advantage of you again. Hell, it’s not so bad getting a black eye
or a busted lip. You might not win, but fight back. Don’t ever go looking for trouble, but if
you can’t get away from it, don’t tell the guards and don’t just lie down. After one fight, it’s usually easier to
defend yourself in other fights. This doesn’t mean you have to get into fights. Many prisoners serve their sentence without
having to scrap. Okay, you are getting continual grief from
one person or several people. Do you really have to join a gang? Well, you saw how that turned out for Edward
Norton in the movie American History X. The website Inmate Survival writes, “Fitting
in with society is hard but to be accepted by your prison mates is even harder.” Ouch. The website tells us that of course you’ll
be identified by your race, whether you are Asian, African American, Spanish, Native American
or Caucasian. Now, as we said, all prisons are different,
but even if you’re in a place like San Quentin, which is infamous for gangs, you don’t necessarily
have to join one. On the downside, if you are continually extorted
by one, things can get hard for you. How can you avoid not joining a gang if this
happens? One former convict with a YouTube channel
called Prison Talk explains how this can be done. The host, who spent 10 years in federal prison
in the U.S., tells us, “I did my whole bid, I never joined a gang.” However, he adds that just to make doing his
time better he did hang out with a certain group he got along with. Prison life can be lonely and scary, so it
might be better to join what we might call an unofficial gang. You might just call them friends. He explains that if things turned ugly, he
would indeed help those friends and in turn they would help him. If you roll with certain people, you will
just have to help them if things take a turn for the worse. This doesn’t mean looking for trouble. It’s just self-preservation. Prison Talk tell us, “You do to an extent
have to get involved even if you don’t wanna get involved, it’s inevitable.” In conclusion, get some friends, but know
those friends might one day need your help. This is life on the streets, in school, and
even in the office. But you certainly don’t need to join an
official gang. Another thing we might add is that before
you make friends know who they are. Find out if they are gang members or even
if they are perhaps sketchy. Be smart and take your time when latching
on to people. Your reading and the self-awareness you gained
from meditation can help with making you be a better judge of people. Unfortunately, as many former prisoners will
tell you, like life outside of prison, life inside can just be unfair. Yes, you can have a hellish time even if you
have done as we said in this show. A researcher at Harvard University tells us
prison is a sexual jungle, and there are many predators looking for weak prey. The group Stop Prisoner Rape says around 200,000
men each year worldwide are raped while doing time. Often men are treated like animals, and they
become animals. Others are mean to the core. It’s also hard to get help because being
a snitch gets you in more trouble. What can you do? Well, sometimes you might not have a choice
but to ask to be moved. The Marshall Project even says a good amount
of sexual assaults are committed by the guards, so unfortunately there is no easy way out. One inmate interviewed while in prison said,
“If you appear to be weak and they think they can take advantage of you, that’s where
things start to go wrong.” Another inmate said, “Don’t shower naked,
wear your underwear.” Another said, “Staying safe is not snitching.” However, if you really have no way out, you
just might have to tell. Sometimes you just can’t fight five men
at once, never mind how tough you are. Sometimes you gotta get away. That said, with friends and a healthy lifestyle
and doing all the things we’ve told you to do, it’s unlikely you’ll be in this
position. Don’t think rape is just an everyday thing,
and you’ll become someone’s “punk” or “bitch.” Okay, we hope some of you guys can add to
this. How was your time in prison and can you give
our viewers any tips? Please share in the comments. Also, be sure to watch our other video called
Worst Prison Experiments Conducted on Humans. Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t
forget to like, share subscribe. See you next time!
