5 Ugly Things It’s Doubtful You Know About The Prison Industry

It’s touched the lives of 10s of millions of people in the United States.

Photo by Devon Wilson on Unsplash

Since October 2021, this account has been (mostly) about the reality of prison life. When I accepted the reality of my situation before leaving for prison, I wanted to learn as much as I could about what I was getting into. Having never been to prison, all I knew about it, for the most part, was what I’d seen in movies and on television.

I had some family members who’d been there for short periods of time, but I didn’t exactly trust their word about their experiences. Going online didn’t exactly give me much either — the forums like Quora do have a lot of information from those who have been incarcerated and there is some good information out there from those folks, but there’s a lot of shit to wade through from people who think everyone who is in prison deserves the worst life has to offer.

Demeter and I wanted to create a place where those who may be facing incarceration, and their loved ones, could find real information without wading through the bullshit. We also wanted folks in the real world to understand what it’s actually like on the inside, not some Hollywood version, but more importantly, not what the government wanted you to think.

The longer I’m here and the more research Demeter does on the outside for our articles, the more we learn. Neither of us expected this to be a walk in the park by any means, but I really don’t think we knew just how corrupt the system truly is.

5 Ugly Things It’s Doubtful You Know About The Prison Industry

1. 1 in 3 Federal and State prisons are built in close proximity to toxic sites — Do you know what a Superfund site is? I didn’t until Demeter began researching the corruption in the prison systems. They’re contaminated land zones, identified by the EPA as polluted with hazardous materials to put it simply. They require the sustained removal of these materials. The toxins have been linked to cancer, heart disease, pulmonary disease, birth defects, depression, and tooth decay.

Some prisons are not only built close to these sites but on the sites. Governments and…