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Boredom Is a Hope Killer in Prison
I’ll never understand why the system keeps people down
Boredom is dangerous when you’re in prison. Other inmates being bored can often translate to them doing stupid shit, such as fighting, taking drugs, and just generally behaving like idiots. All those things are dangerous, but for me, what’s the most dangerous is the loss of hope.
I even struggle to stay on the right side of things when consistently faced with so much nothing day after day. Your nerves become frayed. Every little grievance becomes intentional, whether it is or not. You search for meaning, for purpose. Fuck, you just search for something to do that isn’t sleeping, eating, rinse and repeat.
This camp was not meant to hold inmates long-term. It’s what is known as a CRV camp, confinement in response to violation. When you’re held under CRV charges, your sentence is for 90 days. Most folks can do that standing on their head. There’s nothing much to do in CRV camps because of this. In NC there were two camps like this, now there’s only one. Because no, this camp doesn’t count as technically, it’s still considered to be closed.
After Hurricane Helene, we’ve been bounced around playing musical prisons. The state of NC requires once you have minimum custody (green clothes) you can not be housed in a medium custody facility. Of course, this can mean different things — some medium custody facilities are also minimum custody, so a camp like that would be acceptable. However, you must be moved if the camp isn’t rated for minimum custody offenders.
Where I was most recently, and where I obtained my minimum custody status, is strictly a medium custody camp at this point in time. It was previously rated for minimum custody but its classification was changed a few months ago. So, those of us who got our minimum custody were all moved to this closed facility.
The boredom here is a real struggle. Sure, it sounds like first-world problems (and I suppose in some ways, it is) that some of us are bored because we no longer have access to our tablets. You should understand, that the tablets not only provided a way for us to stay in touch with our friends and loved ones, but they also gave us access to some educational programs, reading material, and movies.
